“Siri, what does the future hold for you?”
“Would you like me to search the internet for that?”
Don’t worry, soon Siri should be able to answer this directly. That’s because the digital world is evolving in ways that prioritize efficiency and ease of use. Soon, texting and typing by hand will be obsolete. The human voice is becoming the keyboard’s replacement. In fact, by 2020, experts predict that voice will operate 50 percent of all search engines.
The shift toward voice search is impacting more than just technology’s consumers. Here are the top three ways voice commands will evolve in the future.
Improved responses
Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and other digital assistants will soon be intelligent enough to provide more personal, contextual, specific answers to questions. Some are already gaining a lead on this front, namely Google. Even though Amazon’s Alexa controls more than 70 percent of the market, Google is more sophisticated. Comcast has already achieved a leap into the future by letting their customers search for shows and movies by talking into the remote control, as does AppleTV and many other currently manufactured TVs.
Multiple devices
The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming embedded in more than just smartphones. Due to the small amount of screen space on mobile devices, the voice is becoming a crucial part of the smartphone experience. The voice feature is now expanding beyond the smartphone and into other everyday devices. In the next five years, experts predict that voice command will operate on almost every device. That includes home appliances, cars, speakers, and more.
Increased security
With payments being made increasingly through voice, privacy is a concern. These types of transactions are bound to become mainstream for executing financial transactions. That requires security to be more seamless. Features like voice identity verification will become part of the experience of secure voice purchases.
The inevitable presence of voice commands in every digital experience means radical changes for us not just us as individuals, but also for enterprises. Businesses must optimize for voice search to stay relevant and ubiquitous. Given how far voice has advanced thus far, the future is evident, and you might as well “speak up” to get on board now.
