24 May
Top Voice Bot Use Cases In Different Industries
A few years back, voice search and voice-based assistants were more a novelty than common parlance. With the advent of more powerful AI, natural language processing (NLP), and speech recognition technologies, AI-based voice search and voice support have come to the forefront in various industrial use cases. Statista research shows a whopping 154% jump in the voice AI market share is expected from 2020 to 2026.
Voice bots and other voice-based assistants have taken conversational AI and traditional IVR to the next level. Powered by advanced AI and NLP technologies, voice bots allow consumers to communicate with the bot in natural speech and have them respond in their own natural voice. They analyze the linguistics and intent behind the user’s request and respond accordingly, be it answering queries, delivering on a request, or pulling essential information for the user.
Convenience is the name of the game when it comes to voice bots. Indeed, customers’ have a natural tendency to prefer voice over chat support, especially in times of a crisis, simply because speaking is faster and more hassle-free than typing. 2022’s voice statistics reveal almost 50% of all searches in 2022 are done speaking.
Moreover, by personalizing voice bots according to a brand’s identity, organizations can elevate employee experience, scale-up employee support, reduce costs, and potentially set the company apart from competitors.
Voice bots play different roles in different industries, be it healthcare, banking, insurance, or eCommerce. Let’s take a closer look.
Unique Voice Bot Use Cases for Various Industries
U.S Bank launched an AI-enabled Smart Voice Assistant embedded in its Android and iOS app to allow users to carry out banking requests using conversational language.
Acting as a digital bank teller, the AI voice bot starts listening when a customer taps on the microphone button in the app. It then enables customers to pull up bills and spending history, carry out transfers, and manage credit cards.
Most recently, the bank has debuted a Spanish-speaking version of this voice assistant. Users can use this feature simply by changing the U.S. Bank mobile app language preference to Spanish.
So let’s explore some of the other popular use cases of voice bots in different industries.
Healthcare
Consumers’ interactions with healthcare services have dramatically shifted amidst the rise in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research by voicebot.ai found that just 7.5% of U.S. adults had used a voice assistant for a healthcare need v.s. 21% in 2021.
Voice bots augment the way healthcare is administered today. By handling both various routine tasks, voice bots have paved the way for more efficient telehealth services, some of which include the following
- Scheduling doctor appointments
- Pre and post-surgery check-up calls
- Preliminary health analysis and initial health assessment
- Symptom triage and diagnosis
- Accurate and reliable healthcare information
- First aid and emergency tips
- Healthy nutrition advice
- Reminders for appointments and prescription refills
- Accessible reports and test results
Banking
AI-enabled voice bots have revolutionized the banking sector as well, answering queries quickly and helping customers seamlessly execute routine banking functions, thus taking the burden off the customer support staff.
Voice bots carry out secure, encrypted conversations in natural language, ensuring customers receive the most accurate information and get transactions completed without compromising on security, speed, privacy, or quality.
Voice bots fulfill the following functions within the banking and financial services industry
- Manage credit cards
- Pull up past billing and spending history
- Provide tailored financial tips depending on customer profile
- Perform critical transactions, such as transfers, blocking a lost card, etc.
- Assess the risk appetite of customers
- Recommend suitable financial products for clients
- Make reminder and follow-up calls for debt collection and loan repayments and gather information about the probable date and mode of payment.
As part of its digital-first organic growth strategy, Kotak Mahindra Bank in India launched Keya, an AI-powered voice bot in the banking sector that augments the phone-banking helpline and traditional IVR.
Customers needn’t go through the complex menu and myriad options offered on the IVR. Instead, they just need to give a single command. Built on advanced AI and speech recognition technologies, Keya understands and verifies the caller’s intent, thus ensuring accurate routing, speedy resolution, and improved customer satisfaction.
Insurance
A few months back, Edelweiss General Insurance (EGI) launched an AI voice bot to enable hassle-free, real-time registration of motor claims 24X7. Available in three languages, the voice bot answers any questions registered by garage representatives and routes complex queries to EGI agents, besides being a claims assistant.
EGI’s voice assistant makes insurance easy, superior, and seamless.
- Guiding users step-by-step through processes like filing insurance claims, making payments, etc.
- Automate routine information collection for customers by integrating with the CRM, customer databases, etc.
- Sending timely reminders for policy renewal and payment of premiums.
- Update customers on processed payments and activated policies.
- Collect customer feedback
Retail and Conversational Commerce
Communicating via voice is the most natural and flexible way of human interactions. And eCommerce brands have surely picked this up quickly. Voice bots can analyze purchase history, understand customer preferences and past behavior, and proactively recommend suitable products.
Users can even ask the bot to suggest complementary products, explain product specifications, and help with order management. Assisting with return/exchange, tracking order status, and sending delivery updates and reorder reminders are some of the most common use cases of voice bots in e-commerce.
What’s more, users can offer product feedback or request product support, and the voice bots can seamlessly automate time-consuming queries, ensuring shoppers get quick, personalized, and round-the-cloud service.
Flipkart, an Indian eCommerce brand acquired by Walmart, has launched a voice assistant on its mobile app that allows customers to order groceries in the language of their choice, English or Hindi. Owing to its ability to comprehend different languages, colloquial terms, and mixed-language commands, Flipkart has made buying groceries as easy as shopping from a local store.
Walmart has developed a voice assistant for employees at more than 5,000 Walmarts in the US. The “Ask Sam” voice assistant answers employees’ queries about locations and prices, sends alerts about emergencies and policy changes, and helps managers broadcast the latest company updates.
Manufacturing
Voice bots for manufacturing play a significant role in streamlining operations at the factory level or on the field, resulting in improved efficiency, reduced man-hours, and enhanced employee experience.
Voice bots connect to the backend manufacturing systems for direct input and quick retrieval of data. Moreover, they can help synchronize operations by easing the communication between different departments and functions.
Additionally, some companies have taken AI-powered voice automation to the next stage by providing a hands-free connection to the plant equipment, making it an IoT-enabled manufacturing plant.
BSH, a leading European home appliances manufacturer, implemented a voice control solution that allowed workers to operate heavy machinery hands-free by speaking into a headset connected to an embedded voice recognition system. The technology supports various languages and accents.
Voice automation helped the company increase production line efficiency, improve ergonomics, and reduce yearly manufacturing costs.
How can Acuvate help?
As the world moves towards voice technologies, it is evident that voice bots are the future of customer service and employee experience in various industries and are set to deliver exceptional engagement and impressive ROI.
Acuvate helps clients in several industries develop voice bots for several use cases with our enterprise-bot building platform called BotCore. Additionally, as a Microsoft Gold Partner, we leverage Microsoft’s low-code platform, Power Virtual Agents, Azure AI services, and powerful machine learning (ML) and NLP technologies to build bots that provide human-like support and positively impact user experience.
To know more, please feel free to schedule a personalized consultation with our experts
You can also learn more about the advantages and essential capabilities of a voice bot here..
Abhishek is the AI & Automation Practice Head at Acuvate and brings with him 17+ years of strong expertise across the Microsoft stack. He has consulted with clients globally to provide solutions on technologies such as Cognitive Services, Azure, RPA, SharePoint & Office 365. He has worked with clients across multiple industry domains including Retail & FMCG, Government, BFSI, Manufacturing and Telecom.
Abhishek Shanbhag