What voice-driven data analytics offers today’s businesses

When voice search for smartphones first came out, the experience was a mixed bag—but it was clear the technology was here to stay. Nearly a decade later, the next iteration of that technology—smart home speakers—grows at rapid rates.

Around 26 percent of the U.S. adult population owns a smart speaker. What’s more, adoption grew by roughly 40 percent between January 2018–2019 to reach 66.4 million people.

As titans like Amazon, Google and Apple battle it out for market share, it’s about time we wonder what’s next in the voice-search realm.

That something is voice analytics.

We can’t even begin to conceive of all the ways voice search will aid enterprises in the future, but here are a few surefire benefits in the here and now.

Aids Data Adoption in the Workplace

Many organizations are stuck collecting mass amounts of data without enjoying the benefits that can come with it. Per a NewVantage Partners survey, 84 percent of organizations have deployed advanced analytics capabilities, yet less than 60 percent have experienced success. The survey found that workplace culture, not technology, hinders adoption. This is one of the reasons for the rise of a relatively new C-suite member—the chief data officer.

However, voice analytics changes the debate a bit. It’s the first technology that offers the potential to break down workplace barriers and promote data-driven cultures.

After all, one-quarter of U.S. adults own a smart speaker, and the vast majority of U.S. adults own a smartphone equipped with voice search. Introducing voice analytics in the workplace isn’t the same as trying to implement other types of tech in that we already know how to use it. More importantly, we like using it. Because voice search replicates the consumer experience in the office, businesses won’t have any trouble convincing their employees to incorporate it in their workflows.

Makes Data Fast and Accessible to the Enterprise

Companies have turned to business intelligence technologies for decades to gauge operational health and evaluate past performance. While these legacy tools were better than nothing, insights were limited to a handful of technical employees. Consequently, these employees carried the burden of having to translate those findings to business leaders.

If anyone else in the organization wanted even a morsel of business intelligence, they had to go through a tedious administrative process detailing what they were looking for. Only after days, sometimes weeks, would an answer return. Advanced analytics tools that incorporate artificial intelligence and text-based search features have shifted analytics programs to be self-serve, but voice-driven analytics makes the transition official. Now an entire company can harness the power of their organization’s data, doing nothing else besides voicing their curiosities aloud.

Provides Insights for Employees Everywhere They Are

Not everyone making important decisions sits at a desk. In fact, some of the most integral employees in a company work on the floor, ensuring that business is carried out appropriately. Due to the ease and mobility of voice search, employees ranging from the manufacturing line and warehouse to the retail store and hospital corridor can ask questions on the spot and quickly receive accurate answers. Better still, executives often desire data on the go, and only mobile analytics can offer that.

ThoughtSpot is one of a few companies currently offering ad-hoc voice analytics. Their feature, SearchIQ, uses natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to automatically deliver the most relevant, accurate answers to users’ spoken queries. The interaction can be understood as conversational analytics because, much like the millions of homes that ask smart speakers about nearly anything that comes to mind, so too do professionals on the front lines—except their personal genius fits in their pockets.