Considering the Challenges of Voice Integration and Security Implications in the Financial Services
brought to you by WBR Insights
As an increasingly recognizable host of apps and devices allow consumers to interact through voice, executives within the financial services are starting to take note. Given the pace of innovation around fintech, priority must be placed on surprising and delighting customers lest disruptive competition bring them away in search of something better.
Today, one of the tools that are making waves within the financial space is the ability to interact with a device to enable transactions, balance checks, or authorize other actions solely using voice recognition and spoken commands. While voice activation represents a level of convenience that is sure to impress customers, these features also carry with them security and technology challenges that banks must be sure to address. In order to better understand the current landscape within the financial services as it pertains to voice technologies, WBR Insights reached out to gather responses from members of the Future Digital Finance database. Below are some of the preliminary results of the research.
To date, a steadily growing minority of respondents are leveraging voice activated commerce strategies. These include tactics such as voice passwords, balance checks, and even transfers. Using a personal identifier such as voice holds several advantages for customers. They are able to log on and gain utility while hands-free using a unique, biometric identifier. However, implementing voice commands creates another avenue for potential security issues. Voice recognition needs to be fine-tuned enough to accurately recognize a voice that may be off-pitch due to common factors such as a cold, even while delineating between a close but not accurate match.
A lack of internal resources is the most common factor that prevents executives from implementing voice recognition tools, followed by a lack of perceived demand on the part of executives who feel that their customers are not yet fully ready to embrace voice solutions. Interestingly, security was listed as a chief concern by one-quarter of respondents, which most likely reflects the fact that the majority to date have not yet begun to roll out these technologies. Challenges related to implementation will likely rise in profile as more and more bank executives begin to roll out their own voice activated tools.
For the full data set gathered, along with a deeper level of analysis, stay tuned for the full research report on voice connected devices and security. The report is scheduled to be published on the Future Digital Finance website on January 21, 2019.