I\u2019ve worked on voice projects \u2013 and only voice projects \u2013 every day for nearly 20 years. I\u2019ve kept this laser focus because I believe, like many others, that voice command technology is one of the most important automation technologies of our time. It\u2019s how we keep people, and therefore business, moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Voice communication is natural communication. It\u2019s the fastest way to get information across to someone else or to receive information from someone. It\u2019s why some people just prefer to pick up the phone and talk rather than send a text, IM, or email. It\u2019s why super-busy professionals \u2013 doctors, researchers, even executives \u2013 have used voice dictation for decades. They don\u2019t have to worry about proofreading what they\u2019ve written or making the mistakes that are so common with manual data entry. They can just say what needs to be done, and it can automatically be captured on paper or, more recently, in a digital record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is also the reason why voice technology first captured the attention of business leaders in fast-paced supply chain environments two decades ago. If we can audibly tell a store associate, warehouse worker, factory worker, nurse, or restaurant server where to go and what to do next, they\u2019re going to get there much faster because they don\u2019t have to stop to find and read information on a screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps that\u2019s because so much effort was put into automating data capture via barcode scans first that very few people really considered how many manual interactions it still took to use those data collection devices. Handheld mobile devices, wearables, tablets, and even barcode scanners are all fantastic \u201cautomated data capture\u201d technologies. However, if you\u2019re only automating barcode scans and RFID tag reads, then how much are your workflows really being automated? Probably not as much as you think if workers are still having to manually key in data or push buttons to share and validate that data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even if you\u2019re layering what I\u2019m going to call you \u201clegacy\u201d voice technologies on top, you still have way too many people pushing way too many buttons and swiping screens far too often every day. A voice may be telling them what to do, but you\u2019re not giving them a way to use their voice to tell the data collection device what to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s why you need to mentally and physically part ways with the old-school voice technologies that you\u2019re probably relying on today. Understand what \u201cvoice technology\u201d should mean, what it can do, and how it works today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was asked to sit down with Zebra\u2019s Transportation and Logistics Industry Lead, Andre Luecht, to talk about this more on a recent episode of the Your Edge podcast. Many Zebra sellers, solution engineers, and industry principals have been fielding questions from customers about voice. What\u2019s the right approach? What\u2019s the right hardware? What software is best? Why have we had so much trouble with voice in the past? Have you heard of \u201cvoice-command automation\u201d and how is that any different than \u201cvoice-directed technology?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They came to me for my input as well, so I was happy to share my perspectives in a more open forum. I hope you\u2019ll check out my conversation with Andre as I think we answer many of the questions you may have as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n