5 Reasons Why Self Service Mobile Apps are the Next Big Thing

Hitting the Starbucks drive-through is a regular morning ritual for some people. The drill is so common; everyone knows what to do. You pull up to a little speaker, tell them what kind of beverage you’d like, then drive around to a window where a friendly server supplies your request. When Apple introduced Siri, it was like taking that drive-through speaker with you all day long.

You tell the phone what you want, and it helps you get it.

According to Ashley Furness at Software Advice, Siri is just the beginning. In her recent column “How Siri Created the Next Big Thing in Customer Service,” Furness offers her research on why mobile customer service is ripe for development, and introduces a two companies who are using voice technology to deliver easy access customer service.

1. More Smartphones. “Smartphones have become ubiquitous.” No longer a luxury, smartphones have become a tool that people use from sun-up to sun-down. What other tool travels with you from bedroom to breakfast table to car to work and back home again? More and more customers are looking for convenience of their smartphone to meet the need for service support.
2. Smarter Smartphones. Our mobile devices now harness more processing power than our old home computers. As a result, they can run applications that are much more sophisticated.
3. Simplified Development. Creating a 3rd-party app for mobile devices has never been easier.
4. Advanced Technologies. Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and speech recognition technologies utilize a massive amount of compiled data (10 billion conversations annually) to improve speech recognition, intent and context.
5. Combining NLU and speech recognition technology. Siri–developed by SRI International–led the way in developing a mobile experience that combine technologies to deliver a highly intuitive product.

According to Forness, multiple companies are already releasing applications that provide a customized self-service experience using speech recognition. Companies like Spanish banking giant BBVA work with SRI International to develop a mobile application that emulated the real-world conversation customers might have with their top service agent: Lola. Named after her, the Lola application can “determine the context and intent of the question” to help customers get specific help for their accounts.

This is just the start. A flood of Siri-like apps are coming. Who knows? Soon you might just tell your phone that you want a Latte from Starbucks.

You roll down your window and voila! You’re a sipping a warm beverage in moments.