As voice technologies become better able to understand our languages and speaking patterns, voice will begin to overtake other forms of input devices. It has been predicted that by 2020, 30 percent of web searches will be carried out without a keyboard or screen. Customers will talk to their devices and skip the process of typing or scrolling through information. The customer experience is quickly being transformed by voice recognition systems. With advanced voice recognition, your voice can be used as a password. There are some banks that are already using advanced forms of voice recognition to perform transactions through voice commands without the need for a password or PIN. The hotel industry is leading the way too with devices like Hilton’s “Connie”, a digital concierge who answers customer questions asked in plain English. The travel portal, Kayak uses voice-enabled natural language technology to help travelers find their next trip. The world is swaying towards voice enabled technologies because it is what people do naturally. Our voice is how we communicate, and now we can create machines that we can talk to. That is why so many large companies are investing millions in these technologies. They see the writing on the wall and know that to stay in business and ahead of the competition this is what they must do. It is apparent that we are slowly becoming used to the idea of talking to our devices and there’s no turning back now. The day will soon come when the keyboard will go the way of the phonebooth. ]]>