Finance Monthly November 2019 Edition

used to speed up over half of the tasks currently being undertaken by employees within these organisations. Responding to emails, writing up meeting notes, crafting client communications and recommendation letters... All are jobs on the to-do list which, although important, eat up precious time unnecessarily. And, as the saying goes: in business, time is money. By deploying speech recognition technologies, the time and therefore cost associated with these administrative duties is reduced significantly – from an average of 275 minutes to just 73 minutes per day. As a result, the burden often associated with admin is reduced and employees are able to channel their efforts into other areas of the business or take on a higher number of clients to create additional income. Of course, there are some tasks for which speech recognition cannot be used. Client meetings will always require the human element, as will product and provider research. But, given that we talk up to three times faster than we type, there is an undeniable potential for speech recognition to support productivity within FS organisations. But that’s not the only benefit voice technologies could bring to FS businesses. Looking after your most valuable asset In today’s gig economy, employee expectations are at an all-time high and loyalty is far from guaranteed. If FS businesses are not meeting these expectations, they risk losing their talent to their competitors. The goal for every business, regardless of size or sector, is to create a workforce which is happier and – therefore – more motivated. Achieving this will likely lead to increased investment from individual workers and a boost in overall business productivity. Voice technologies can support these efforts for FS businesses by granting employees the tools they need to do their jobs effectively. If implemented in a way that involves employees from the offset, encouraging transparency and ensuring that they are aware of all the potential benefits - voice technologies can help to engage an entire workforce. In fact, recent research showed that employees working in environments where advanced technologies – such as voice solutions – are in widespread use are 56% more likely to say that they are motivated at work. This could have a huge impact on overall business output. After all, everyone knows that a happier workforce is a more productive one. Looking ahead In today’s competitive landscape, there’s no denying that increasing employee productivity is a core goal for any business – regardless of size or sector. It’s almost a given that those failing to meet this goal will miss out. By providing employees with the tools which will enable them to effectively use their time and do their jobs FS businesses can boost productivity significantly. Voice technologies could offer an answer to some challenges which have plagued the financial industry for years. With these solutions playing an ever-increasing role in our personal and professional lives, it’s time for FS businesses to realise their potential and embrace the power of voice. 47 www.finance-monthly.com FINANCIAL INNOVATION & FINTECH - SPEECH RECOGNITION