Key Idea 8 - the voice will remain a critical communications method between businesses and their customers

People still want to talk to people.

It may seem an obvious statement to some, a mark of passé thinking to others. For this week's article, I've invited my colleague Cliff Mann to share his investigations into the question of how relevant voice is in an age when so many other communications options are available.

(Banner image sourced from pexels.com)

The Critical Role of Human Support and Voice Security in Digital First Service Organizations

By Cliff Mann

To date, our series has focused on deepfake technology through the lens of voice technology, and the role of voice authentication in protecting and securing customer interactions in the face of modern threats.

But who’s going to be using their voice anymore? Is anyone going to be making phone calls in a year from today? Will any of this worry around voice authentication and audio deepfakes even matter?

Is the voice channel dead?

For some of you reading this, I suspect your day-to-day interactions with your bank, your favorite retailer or your motor insurer are pretty much all digital (web, phone app, chat). In fact, I suspect you could choose to do much of what you want yourself, online, with limited human assistance.? You may even struggle to remember when exactly was the last time you phoned for support.

The trend is undeniable, and customers and businesses are realizing genuine value as a result.? Through digital self-service, customers can increasingly meet their service needs anytime, anywhere, through their channel of choice, without costly human interaction.? Investments in cloud computing, automation and AI are accelerating this further, enabling more complex needs to be met through increasingly human-like interfaces.

Let’s face it, very few of us these days wake up in the morning looking forward to the prospect of a live phone conversation with your service provider – I know that I don’t

The trends, however, point to a surprising outcome. Microsoft, Salesforce and others tracking the data note that voice channels, and voice interactions, remain an active and perhaps increasingly important method by which businesses engage with their customers.

Counterintuitively, and in contrast to predictions about the extinction of voice interactions, what actual tendencies show are that with the increasing number of options for people to interact with businesses, their use of all options have become more complex and blended. This encapsulates the spirit of omnichannel paradigms.

New modes of communication in the 21st century provide a wide array of options for people to communicate with businesses. And yet traditional voice interactions by phone have not been displaced.

Note how in that last graphic, the numbers add up to more than 100%; the options are not mutually exclusive.

So it's not a zero-sum game. How does one reconcile this?

Digital channels allow for simpler tasks suitable for self-service to be achieved quickly. In fact, the word "quickly" is what's key here: this is what consumers want from their interactions. There is no underlying battle between e-mail, the telephone, chat, or any other options, as though people were picking sides. What users are really looking for, at any given moment, is the answer to "What is the fastest and most efficient way I can <do the thing>/<get the info>/<etc>?"

Users aren't choosing a single communication method like it was their favorite sports team; they're looking for the fastest, most reliable way to get something done, and will use any combination of tools that'll get them there

In that case, what is voice being used for?

• Some of the efficiency gains achieved thanks to digital service can become offset by new support needs and increased failure demand
• Contact center staff become increasingly focused on complex, high value, high-risk transactions alongside the “long-tail” demands that remain.?The average value per call now increases
• The value in digital experiences can be more fully leveraged with targeted human support, with incremental gains in customer experience and revenue generation over and above self-service savings
• Customers still expect a human interaction – on their terms, when they want it.? Those ?who are time pressed, stressed, anxious, frustrated, in need of assurance or just plain stuck will pick up the phone if that is what suits them best in the moment. They may even choose to use multiple channels to complete their transaction
• The voice channel often emerges as a critical channel of last resort for digitally active clients who need urgent support on enabling, securing, troubleshooting or restoring their digital experience
• Critical service industries, such as government agencies & banking, are increasingly obliged through regulation to retain comprehensive service offerings that collectively allow them maintain inclusivity for the general public of all demographics

Indeed, the web, smartphone apps, AI chatbots, social media, have all disrupted communications and how businesses engage with their customers. But that disruption has transformed the nature of voice interactions.

The phone calls haven't gone away, they're just more focused on important things that require (or benefit from) human interaction.

Considering that the voice channel will remain, and voice interactions have increased in importance and sensitivity, then voice authentication and resilience to deepfakes have become more important than ever before

A few recommendations on securing voice channels

When it comes to security, consumers have never been more concerned than they are now about how emergent technologies might compromise their safety, and they trust firms less.? Customer confidence is key and firms have a duty of care as well as a commercial imperative to act responsibly (e.g. Key Idea 6) and deliver performant security solutions that meet their clients’ expectations.

As fraudsters become more sophisticated in their methods (Key Idea 1), your detection and preventative controls must keep pace if they are to remain fit for purpose (Key Idea 3).

Fraudsters actively seek out and attack the weakest line of defense. Organizations cannot stand still in the face of an ever-evolving threat.?

Wherever the loss occurs, the contact center remains a key part of the fraudster playbook.? Proactive fraud discovery and analytics are indispensable.

Fraudsters target vulnerable customers, a core population that will be disproportionately represented in the contact center.

Fraudsters attack unprotected customers.? Enrolling clients in voice authentication gives them the best available protection and accelerates future time to serve.

Business leaders are rightly excited about the opportunity to deliver gold standard, intelligent, on-demand, digital services for their customers - the horizon of opportunity may never have been greater.? Those that succeed will recognize the necessary and complementary need to deliver best in class service and security in the human channels.

Here are some operational best practices for call centers to consider:

• Be clear on the role of the contact center in your service mix and balance your investment accordingly to ensure it remains fit to serve customers securely, effectively and efficiently in the face of an ever-evolving service and threat landscape
• Put voice authentication at the heart of your multi-layered security posture
• Maximize the opportunity to enroll genuine customers in voice authentication?
• Use voice authentication and other security tools on every call.? Protect your customers & colleagues from being victims; disrupt fraudsters and detect new threats by systematically investigating mismatch and fraudster alerts and leveraging biometric analytics tools.
• Continually review & renew the underlying voice authentication AI models (again, Key Idea 3) and keep pace with the latest releases to protect against evolving threats
• Treat voice security as fundamental to your transition to digital.? Keep customers safe in the contact center and beyond, exploiting the capability as a portable token that can be surfaced in other channels (video, app, online, face to face)

What does the voice mean to us?

I've sought to outline the critical function and value that human interaction delivers to organizations with a digital first focus and through this have argued the need to ensure that organizations retain investment in the voice channel to ensure that it remains fit for purpose and – critically – secure in the digital age.

I’d love to hear your views in the comments and would be particularly interested in hearing about how your organization has approached the challenge – successfully or otherwise – of driving investment in a digital strategy, whilst ensuring that traditional customer interfaces complement your digital offering in a way that is secure, effective and delights customers in those moments that matter.

Perhaps to close, I'd like to reflect more broadly on the human voice itself, the ability to express oneself and to be recognized and heard.

The voice is a fundamentally human method of communication, representing our very being; it is more enduring and more natural to speak in your own voice, to be recognized and be heard. Close your eyes and imagine the voice of your partner, parents, your grandparents or your child’s first words – there is nothing quite like it.

As we look forward, wherever and however it is expressed, wherever and however it is heard, it is hard to bet against voice. Those who master the capability today to interact through voice naturally, personably, intelligently and – perhaps most critically – securely, will surely set the standard for us all.

Finally, in a future where we effortlessly and naturally interact with digital assistants or avatars, will we continue to use keyboards, touch screens or remotes? Or will we just be our natural selves, and speak? That will be a question for another time.

tl;dr

contrary to popular belief, the voice continues to be a primary channel for people to communicate with businesses

Instead, people increasingly use the voice channel for complex, sensitive and high-value tasks

It is therefore more important now than ever before to be able to authenticate users in the voice channel and maintain resilience to deepfakes