Monthly Archives: February 2018

Implementing Voice Recognition Technology online in an ever changing and diversified market. The benefits and risks towards integration of voice technology into a businesses virtual interface in order to simplify and update the checkout and customer service elements.

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  Voice recognition Technology (www.vensi.com)

The face of technology as we know it is constantly changing and the fact that over 26 million amazon voice recognition devices have been shipped out in the third quarter of 2017 (Kinsella, 2017) shows the massive scope of its growth and adoption. In 2012 Kenealy highlights that an outmoded technology backbone may be inhibiting technology-savvy people from joining businesses which questions whether it is a necessity rather than a choice to invest in new technologies as it might be damaging the companies reputation and harming recruitment capabilities for the future. This blog post will highlight the benefits and risks behind the implementation of this type of technology outlining whether it will be beneficial for firms to integrate this sort of technology today.

Benefits

  • Increased sales through reduced checkout times.

TechRadarPro highlight that the time saving factor behind voice recognition technology is what drives business and consumers to adopt it. This is because it makes it quicker to communicate with consumers as well as document data. In 2016 Serasinghe and Vasanthapriyan note that in todays world people do not waste their valuable time waiting and that reducing the waiting time of customers at checkouts improves customer satisfaction. This implies that consumers demand quicker checkout times as well as that reducing customer waiting time directly leads to improved customer satisfaction. Furthermore in 2007 Shapiro highlights that customer satisfaction significantly influences purchase intentions, the amount of dollars spent and quantity purchased which means that improved customer satisfaction has a direct relationship with increasing sales.

  • Reduced complaints through self service capabilities.

Sestek‘s blog on speech recognition notes that businesses which provide customer service benefit from the technology in a way that enriches customer experience and reduces organisational costs. Voice recognition can be used to simplify checkout processes and make a businesses webpage more accessible to a wider range of abilities. It is also feels a bit safer giving confidential information to a Voice recognition  system rather than typing it down and sending it over an encrypted (or potentially not so encrypted) platform. The use of Voice recognition  technology in the banking sector led to less people reporting problems and complaints, and notably 82.4% of customers said that their most recent interaction was right first time, up from 77% a year ago (IoCC, 2017). In 2000 Matthew et al denote that self service technologies delivery options can be an excellent means of creating a competitive advantage for a business which in turn will effect the businesses image.

Virtual Helping Hand (www.whatsnext.nuance.com)

Some content which illustrates the benefits of voice recognition technology further can be found >> HERE << and >>HERE<<

Risks

  • Customer susceptibility to hacking and fraud.

RMMagazine highlights in their blog that Nathan Wenzler, a chief security strategist at a leading consultancy firm, says that the addition of voice absolutely increases the risk level for technology users. He says that when you add more features to a device, you are also adding complexity and more code and, as a result, you are introducing more avenues for people to hack into the device. TalkTalk recently reported a loss of £60million in revenue and 101,000 customers due to a hack (TheRegister, 2016) which shows the level of damage they can cause. In 2004 Schneier stresses that computer security is not a problem that technology can solve. He says that security solutions have a technological component, but security is fundamentally a business problem and that whether a business continues to use the resource is measured through a cost-risk ratio therefore the benefits for the firm and consumer must outweigh any risks in order for the venture to be considered.

A great piece of content which illustrates the TalkTalk hacks further can be found

>>HERE<<

  • Customer information leak, including private and confidential information. 

In Kapersky’s blog Kuksov notes that in relation to voice recognition technology the first possibility that comes to mind is the leaking of personal and corporate data. He highlights that some dictate their credit card numbers and one-time passwords to fill in forms online which has a direct link to information leak and potentially identify theft for customers. Furthermore he says that some systems are unable to differentiate people by voice therefore if a voice recognition device is stolen or used by someone else it is possible for them to make purchases online as well gain confidential information about the owner. In 2009 Kirkpatrick stresses that if you think your computer network is well protected against attack, you might be right however your company may still be highly vulnerable. This is because employees are still vulnerable to social engineering techniques (which is the use of psychological techniques to extract information from people in order to gain access to computer systems). In 2017 Engadget reported of an Equifax security breach which leaked the personal information of 143 million US consumers (about 44% of the whole US population). This led to the share price of Equifax falling severely which shows how detrimental an information leak can be.

A great piece of content which shows Equifax’s response can be found

>>HERE<<

References

  • Bakanay, H. (2014) “The Advantages of Speech Recognition”, Available at: http://www.sestek.com/2014/11/the-advantages-of-speech-recognition-technology/(Accessed: 21st February 2018).
  • Channel 4 (2016) “TalkTalk hack: a closer look at the scammers”, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYvVtsqNk6Q (Accessed: 21st February 2018).
  • Deschenes, S. (2012) “5 financial benefits of voice recognition technology”, Available at: http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/5-financial-benefits-voice-recognition-technology (Accessed: 25th February 2018).
  • Equifax (2017) “Rick Smith, Chairman and CEO of Equifax, on Cybersecurity Incident Involving Consumer Data”, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh1gzJFVFLc (Accessed: 25th February 2018).
  • Hall, K. (2016) “TalkTalk admits losing £60m and 101,000 customers after THAT hack”, Available at: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/02/talktalk_hack_cost_60m_lost_100k_customers/(Accessed: 21st February 2018).
  • Kirkpatrick, J. (2006) “Protect your business against dangerous information leaks”, Penton Media, Inc., Penton Business Media, Inc. and their subsidiaries, Cleveland.
  • Koksov, I. (2017) All ears: The dangers of voice assistants, Available at: https://www.kaspersky.co.uk/blog/voice-recognition-threats/8443/ (Accessed: 25th February 2018).
  • RM Magazine (2017) “The Risks of Voice Technology”, Available at: http://www.rmmagazine.com/2017/10/02/the-risks-of-voice-technology/ (Accessed: 21st February 2018).
  • Howell, D. (2016) “How voice recognition can be a major asset for your business”, Available at: https://www.techradar.com/news/software/applications/how-voice-recognition-can-be-a-major-asset-for-your-business-1321534 (Accessed: 20th February 2018).
  • IoCC (2017) “Is voice recognition a secure enough customer service tool?”, Available at: https://www.instituteofcustomerservice.com/media-centre/customer-service-news/article/is-voice-recognition-a-secure-enough-customer-service-tool (Accessed: 21st February 2018).
  • Kenealy, B. (2012) “Technology upgrades can help attract younger workers; Legacy systems, outdated devices deter tech-savvy”, Business Insurance, vol. 46, no. 40, pp. 17.
  • Kinsella, B. (2017) “Bezos Says More Than 20 Million Amazon Alexa Devices Sold”, Available at: https://www.voicebot.ai/2017/10/27/bezos-says-20-million-amazon-alexa-devices-sold/ (Accessed: 20th February 2018).
  • Lawler, R. (2017) “Equifax security breach leaks personal info of 143 million US consumers”, Available at: https://www.engadget.com/2017/09/07/equifax-hack-143-million/ (Accessed: 25th February 2018).
  • Mauro, A. (2015) “Artificial intelligence: Bringing the humanity back to customer service”, Available at: https://whatsnext.nuance.com/customer-experience/artificial-intelligence-turns-customer-service-into-something-consumers-love/ (Accessed: 21st February 2018).
  • Meuter, M.L., Ostrom, A.L., Roundtree, R.I. & Bitner, M.J. (2000) “Self-Service Technologies: Understanding Customer Satisfaction with Technology-Based Service Encounters”, Journal of Marketing, vol. 64, no. 3, pp. 50-64.
  • Schneier, B. (2004), “Hacking the business climate for network security”, Computer, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 87-89.
  • Serasinghe, M. & Vasanthapriyan, S. (2016) “Intelligent Retail Checkout Management System”, IEEE, pp. 929.
  • Shapiro, M. & I. Gómez, M. (2014) “Customer satisfaction and sales performance in wine tasting rooms”, International Journal of Wine Business Research, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 45-60.
  • Techquickie (2015) “Voice recognition As Fast As Possible”, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWWjN1QqoYY (Accessed: 20th February 2018).
  • Vensi (2017) “Voice recognition Technology”, Available at: http://www.vensi.com/voice-recognition-technology (Accessed: 20th February 2018).