Learning the language
Just like a human learning a new language, Santander UK’s voice assistant will bene t from experience communicating with customers before it picks up on certain aspects of the English language, Metzger said.
As the technology is first rolled out, developers are manually changing how the software is programmed,
so that it can “learn” from that experience. However, Metzger said, as the technology develops and becomes more re ned, it should be able to learn from its interactions with customers and improve without help from human developers.
“Fundamentally, one of the checks you have to do with this technology, the ultimate control, is what did the customer say, and what answer did we give back to the customer, do we think that was the right thing to do,” Metzger explained. “There’s a manual stage in the tuning, because you cannot 100 percent rely on machines to do it, especially in the early days, so there’s a manual element to it. As the technology develops, obviously the models become more predictive and we can let the models deliver more of the improvements in performance.”
Security, the voice of reason
While the current use of voice technology in the Santander app is limited to actual specific banking activities, like analyzing card spending to help users manage their nuances, using voice biometrics for authentication purposes may not be far off, Metzger said.
“We want to test one thing at a time,” he said. Regardless, as with any bank technology, security “is critical for us and our customers,” he said. The voice technology, he said, sits behind the bank’s existing security.
But there are still additional precautions users should take.
“If you’re in a crowded place, you should be aware of your surrounding – the same way that when you withdraw money from an ATM you should be aware of who’s around you,” he said.
What’s next?
How far Santander will go using voice technology will ultimately be guided by customers, according to Metzger.
“Creating some things won’t be suitable for voice, being able to understand the evolution of my nuance is something that is best done visually,” explained. “But the theory is that the technology is very flexible and we can expand it as far as customer demand pushes us.”
When the 2.0 version releases in the fall, Metzger said, “we’re going to move from simply asking informational questions to doing transactions.” This will include being able to execute payments using voice commands, he said. Also included in the update will be account alerts that can be set up using voice commands.
And then there are the questions themselves, which are currently the backbone of the customer experience with the voice technology within the app.
“We’re also expanding the informational questions to include a little more complexity, like ‘how much did I spend on holiday?’ as opposed to ‘how much did I spend last month?’” Metzger explained. “So, in other words, a little bit more contextual rather than driving by time period.”
Thinking outside the app
Naturally, the nearest extension to the current student app voice technology incorporation would be into the main Santander UK app. But, as Metzger explained, there’s plenty of opportunity to bring the voice recognition software into other places outside of a smartphone context as well.
“As far as where it goes, and this is pure speculation, but obviously we have currently something in an app, there are lots of other channels for what your voice could be used, to interact with machines, and there’s obviously a lot of excitement in the marketplace if you look at the Internet of Things,” he explained, citing Amazon Echo and Apple TV as devices “where voice is used for a wider range of things.”
For the time being, however, Metzger and his team are determined to establish voice technology tools on mobile apps before adding them to other channels.
“Right now, we’re very focused on the mobile channels because that’s now one of the main ways we interact with customers and it continues to grow in popularity here in the U.K. as a channel,” he said.
Metzger said that there has been “a lot of interest” in voice technology from other divisions of the bank outside the U.K. When it may rollout beyond his geography, he could only speculate. “Clearly, when will they launch much depends on local market conditions and different markets in different stages of maturity, mobile technology, app usage and also the use of voice.”
So what if you want to know when your bank will have voice technology incorporated into its app? You may want to try asking Siri.
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