Voice Solutions For Business: 8 Use Cases From Global Brands
Technological acceleration is a major force shaping modern society — artificial intelligence, robotics, and IoT solutions disrupt the way we live and work. Now everyone’s got a personal assistant in their pocket, called Siri or Bixby, and a smart speaker at home connected to a bunch of hi-tech appliances. These digital helpers answer our questions, do our chores, manage our schedules, our houses and our entire lives. There is no doubt that voice technologies won the hearts of many users, and some companies have embraced this fact as an opportunity. A number of well-known brands already provide hands-free control over their products, making those compatible with existing voice assistants, or even introducing similar solutions themselves. Let’s take a look at the most successful use cases to discover the whole potential behind this technology.
#1. Amazon
E-commerce giant Amazon doesn’t stay away from the progress — not being a tech company originally, they’ve developed their own voice assistant Amazon Alexa and a series of smart speakers called Amazon Echo.
These devices are able to perform the basic functions provided by the analogues, like checking the weather, playing music, asking for recipes or cooking advice, controlling smart home devices, and much more. Additionally, Amazon put a special focus on online shopping functionality, allowing users to place orders and get product recommendations.
#2. Uber
Another tech leader implementing voice technology is Uber. Ordering a ride has never been easier — now you just need to give a corresponding command to Siri, Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. Trying to enhance the user experience and safety features for both passengers and drivers, the team has also added a voice-activated pick-up function to their app, so that the drivers didn’t have to distract and use the screen anymore.
#3. Spotify
This popular music streaming service is compatible with most existing smart speakers. By giving voice commands, you can play particular songs, playlists, artists, albums, or receive recommendations based on their interests. As well, the app can search for your friends, pause the songs and adjust the volume — it practically does everything hands-free.
Additionally, the service offers Spotify Voice for their Premium accounts — their own voice assistant service available on mobile.
#4. Disney
A beloved entertainment company found a unique way to target tech-savvy kids. Together with Google, they’ve brought their famous Disney Little Golden Books to life — as the stories are read out loud by kids or their parents, Google Home smart speakers add sound effects and soundtracks to make the experience realistic and interactive. Disney Games also offer a number of story-based adventure games compatible with smart speakers, including Mickey Mouse, Cars, Moana, and others. The company has used Google Home products in their marketing campaigns as well — in 2017, the popular “Beauty and the Beast” movie was advertised via smart speakers.
#5. Dominos & Pizza Hut
For true pizza lovers, it is now easier to order their favourite meals than ever. The two world-known chains provide voice-controlled features in their apps, allowing to make a full-fledged conversation with a voice assistant, that will accept and place your order. There’s also an additional feature for frequent customers — when ordering pizza via voice commands, the apps will save the order and payment information so that you could reorder it later.
#6. Starbucks
Following the trend, Starbucks has introduced AI voice-controlled feature to their mobile app. It is called My Starbucks® barista and allows users to make orders and pay for them using voice. Earlier, the company has already created Amazon Alexa reorder skill and cooperated with Google Assistant to provide Starbucks Rewards™ members with a hands-free order placing.
#7. Whirlpool
Meanwhile, Whirlpool is successfully embracing IoT technologies. A world-known home appliances manufacturer collaborated with Google and Amazon to make some of their devices compatible with smart speakers. Thus, the customers can now buy voice-controlled microwaves, dishwashers, fridges, washing machines, and more. The brand is also introducing Amazon Virtual Dash Buttons to its refrigerators, letting the owners order groceries using LCD touchscreens located on the appliances.
#8. Philips
Another electronics manufacturer offering voice-controlled solutions to its customers is Philips. The company has launched a series of lightbulbs connectable to Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit and Microsoft Cortana. The so-called Hue lights turn on/off individually or in the entire room, as well as change brightness and colour following voice commands.
Now it’s your turn!
Since voice technologies are still quite rare in the global market, the pioneers adopting them first gain a unique advantage over the competitors. And, as you could see from the use cases, such solutions facilitate practically any business model. So, it really doesn’t matter whether you are a manufacturer, an app or a restaurant — some of your customers would like to do stuff hands-free.
In Liki, we help companies add voice-controlled functionality to their products. Ready to boost your business as well? We can help you out.
