Artificial intelligence (AI) is having an extremely profound impact on society, rapidly and wildly reshaping the way both consumers and businesses go about their daily processes. AI is already being leveraged in numerous industries, as the optimization and automated capabilities AI offers are remarkably flexible, helping drive digital advancement in all sectors. Among the variety of capabilities and mediums AI can be leveraged for and on, one of the fastest growing in today’s world is the use of voice AI applications.
Intelligent Voice Assistants are conversational AI voice tools based on understanding human language, trends, and experiences, which have already permeated the world of consumers. Voice AI, such as Siri and Alexa, are already used daily by citizens to look up information, set calendar reminders, and overall add ease to their daily tasks. However, while these are commonly used every day by consumers around the globe, voice-powered AI assistants like Alexa can also offer a plethora of advantages to enterprises as well.
For example, voice AI can offer around-the-clock support for both employees and customers, offering real-time analytics for more informed decision-making from employees or in-depth answers for consumers. The technology also helps create a smarter work environment, where voice-powered AI can alert employees when something is wrong or can even be employed to carry out repetitive tasks or perform secretarial duties.
Voice AI is currently one of the fastest-growing technologies out there nowadays, with more than one in three (35 percent) of US consumers possessing smart speakers in 2022. Furthermore, the global market value for voice AI is expected to grow at a CAGR of 31.2 percent, reaching an estimated value of $30.74 billion by the year 2030. Nonetheless, as enterprises increasingly look to adopt their own highly efficient and resilient voice-powered AI to reap the myriad of benefits, these numbers may surely grow past what experts are predicting.
Recently, Unified Office, a managed services provider offering highly reliable, cloud-based business communications services, IoT services, and business analytics, announced its new Alexa-powered AI-based Performance Notifications Suite. This new offering integrates Alexa-powered communications into Unified Office’s AI-based notifications platform. It integrates the voice assistant capabilities of Alexa and links them to Unified Office’s set of premium business communications, AI, and IoT capabilities.
“The convenience of receiving Alexa notifications beyond receiving packages and smart home integrations has now been integrated into our Total Connect Now premium AI-based notifications platform,” said Ray Pasquale, Founder and CEO of Unified Office. “This offering now provides for the timely delivery of mission-critical notifications via Alexa-based products, creating increased visibility and convenience for our customers, allowing them to react quicker to serious issues that might impact their business.”
Hotel customers, for example, can ask for notification of how many people are checking in or checking out today, ordering room service, checking out early, and so on. Alexa will build a report on the fly for them and display that information on any Alexa-powered device, anywhere, instantaneously. For restaurant customers, it can report trends, using Unified Office’s advanced analytics and historical data, to predict when refrigeration equipment might fail or need maintenance and/or to alert them if a walk-in cooler door has been left open after the business has closed.
Unified Office uses the latest in linear regression techniques, predictive analytics, and AI, coupled with software integrations with Alexa’s voice assistant technology and other business software programs. It helps managers track almost anything in their operational infrastructure, including interactions with employees and customers – and all via voice commands, with no computer interaction required. This offering uses the convenience of voice to do what Unified Office has done for years now with AI, IoT, text messages, and other data.
This offering shares the same benefits as other services offered on Unified Office’s Total Connect Now Platform:
- Integration with leading vertical and horizontal customer management software and ERP systems;
- Centralized operations portal to remotely view, configure and manage communications services, including dialing schemes, messaging, and workflows;
- No more dropped or clipped calls, busy signals, placing customers on hold, or sending them to voicemail;
- The ability to customize communications workflows that reflect operational needs;
- Uniformity of services enables staff to bring their offices home with them easily or wherever they happen to be throughout the facilities on any given day;
- A hybrid, on-premises, and cloud-based solution that enables the highest quality VoIP offering available with the most reliable and resilient service platform;
- Business continuity eliminates downtime by finding and fixing problems in most cases before the customer becomes aware of them;
- Superior customer service, 24X7, provided by Unified Office;
- Rapid installation of services without interrupting their business;
- Real-time analytics for customer service training, coaching, and other types of operational performance assessments;
- Cost savings from eliminating outdated systems, expensive legacy PBXs, and the need for costly legacy T1 lines and MPLS circuits; and
- A single end-to-end managed service solution provided by one vendor means one call gets it all done with one partner.
“Voice is as important and relevant as ever,” Pasquale added. “This technology is yet another example of the power that voice-assisted technology can bring to a business. We designed this in response to the ever-increasing demands on small business owners and operators. We were already providing these services via our IoT and text messaging offerings and are now extending Alexa-powered devices.”
Edited by
Erik Linask
