A Voice From the #WFH Front

A few weeks ago, although it seems like forever since the #COVID19 shutdown, I looked at how voice technology might change the workplace as it becomes more integrated into business apps and technology.

Now for many of us, the workplace has shifted to our homes. As companies are planning to begin reopening, they’re realizing that working from home will be a big part of the #NewNormal. So, it’s worth looking at how the voice technology that will change the office will transform the #WFH experience, too. Some of these changes can happen right now, with technology most of us have. Others will require integrating voice into existing business apps or developing some new services.

Ironically, it may actually be easier to adopt more widespread use of voice while at home rather than at the office. Open plan offices really hamper our ability to use voice effectively (Interestingly, many businesses are planning to get rid of the open office layout in the physical redesign of offices in response to the #Pandemic). In the privacy of our own homes, composing emails, texts, or documents via voice (or even doing our whole Slack interface via voice), seems much more approachable.

It’s also a good way for everyone to start learning the nuances and efficiencies voice can provide, even if it is as basic as using the voice composing features already available on most computers and software. By starting to test and get comfortable using voice while WFH, we’ll be able realize its benefits in the workplace faster.

The First Wave: Using the Voice You Have

One way voice can be a real boost to working from home is by helping employees deal with the unique pressures of combining home and work life in the same place.

When you WFH you can be bombarded by little tasks such as adding to a shopping list or making a note to fix that leaky faucet. Making quick notes like that can be done with a simple voice command without having to switch apps or open a new document on your laptop while you’re working. A smart speaker makes it even easier to put things like that on a virtual list and even set a reminder if you forget about the leak a couple days later.

Or, let’s say you’re on a conference call and the doorbell rings. Is it a delivery you’re expecting? Instead of interrupting the meeting to get up and check, you can ask your smart speaker to show you a view of your front door camera. Put the computer mic on mute and talk to whomever is at the door there – even unlock the door if it’s one of the kids who forgot their key. The same busy parent who suspects the online activity in the kids’ room is gaming, not studying, a simple voice command can disconnect the gaming system from the Internet.

Don’t forget that most laptops today have a voice dictation feature that lets you speak instead of type, for text messages as well as longer documents.

Looking Ahead: The New Administrative Assistant

One of the biggest roles for voice is to act in place of administrative staff. At home, there’s nobody to set up conference calls, coordinate schedules, or take deliveries. Voice recognition soon will be able to do much of that work for you, or at least make it easier.

For example, setting up a video conference right now can be tedious; you need to pull in schedules, create the meeting, get all the emails you need to send contacts to the participants, and make sure to include all the right phone numbers if it’s international. It would be much easier to simply tell the computer “set up a video conference with Fred, Wilma, Barney and Betty tomorrow morning after 9 am” and have everything done automatically. That’s one area where you can expect to see voice play a role sooner rather than later.

As voice is incorporated into business apps, it also will let people working at home stay better connected to the company. At the office you’d walk down the hall to talk to someone in HR about benefits or PTO. Working from home you might have to email and wait for a reply. It would make a lot more sense to be able to query HR with voice to schedule your vacation, check the balance in your flexible spending account, or change your 401(k) allocations. You could do the same for travel needs, when business travel begins to return to a more normal pace.

When the same kind of technology is adopted by schools, as online teaching becomes more routine, busy parents trying to balance work with on-line school for the kids will find it helps them stay connected with school and teachers. If you could ask to see their assignments, or a report on whether or not they’re connecting with the online lessons, that would make your role as “home school manager” easier.

 Building the Future the Right Way

As we add voice features to more apps in the home and the office over the coming months to make it all work, we’ll also need to consider a few related issues, some of which go beyond voice:

Technology and bandwidth: Some people have great technology at home, maybe better or more up-to-date than what’s at the office. Lots of others, though, will need some upgrades ranging from higher-speed internet connections to noise-cancelling microphones and headsets. Employers who provide that technology to their people (or at least subsidize it) will probably find it delivers a solid return in productivity.

Security: Always important, there are new dimensions when voice is involved. You probably don’t want your work system to let the set up a video conference with their friends – or have them ordering things via the company. People who share a home office with a partner or housemate also will want to keep their commands separate. As systems get more sophisticated, they’ll be able to tell one voice from another, but until then, you probably want to be able to switch off mics or add a verbal PIN for sensitive commands.

Maintaining Balance: As easy as voice will make WFH, we also need to be careful it doesn’t become so easy that your home and work times merge. We all need to keep that separation.

If you’re one of the millions working from home and you want to see what voice can do, get an Amazon Echo or Google Home device (if you don’t have already) -- but get the models that have screens. As I’ve said before, visual feedback is a lot more efficient and appropriate most of the time with voice. Screen-based devices let you begin exploring a multimodal world, and what the world would be like if you could speak into mics that are ubiquitous, and get responses on your smartphone screen. That can not only help while you WFH, but also show you how that could impact your business and company going forward.