COLUMBUS, Ohio—One analyst believes voice banking via digital assistants needs to be aided by a visual display.
As more credit unions begin to introduce voice banking via smart speakers, Keith Riddle, EVP of enterprise solutions development at Corporate One, told PYMNTS.com that his organization is building a skill that incorporates visual displays of financially sensitive information.
“Ask and display allows for more discernment than ask and response,” Riddle told PYMNTS.com. A member using voice to interact with the credit union may not want his connected car or television or Echo speaker to read out the balances in his accounts, Riddle said.
And if members want to review their balance, they may not be looking for the sum total — they may want to know how much is in each account and whether they’ll be able to cover upcoming utility payments, credit card bills or even personal expenses for special occasions like anniversaries and birthdays, added Riddle.
Riddle told PYMNTS.com that voice-banking is also an opportunity to cross-sell. In that instance, Riddle said, it would be easier for members to understand their options if they were placed in front of them on a display rather than read to him aurally.
There are other benefits to combining voice and visuals, Riddle told the publication. Seeing the information on the screen of an Echo Show, a dashboard or another screened device ensures that the response is consistent with the ask. Screens are helpful for communicating more complex information, such as offers and mortgage loans. There’s also an opportunity for a financial services order-ahead function that members could use to set an appointment at the credit union to discuss an offer, he said.
All of these scenarios could be triggered by voice, said Riddle, even if the experience is concluded through a different avenue of interaction.
“A future scenario of voice commerce in banking could be sending money between participants in a video conference. For instance, the Echo Show could run a facial recognition check for identity verification to quickly identify and analyze the sender and recipient prior to moving money,” PYMNTS.com noted.