| |May 20189CIOReview- How to strengthen the connection the consumers feel with brands when it comes to the products they purchase ­ is the current relationship only of convenience or whether a brand is `top of mind'. Will the consumer ask for it by its name or be swayed by what the ecosystem recommends.- To ensure that people love the brand enough and will want to give a blanket approval for voice to register it for monthly subscription shopping....to be brought into the house again and again.- Finally, how are they making the brand a lot more "Use-ful" to the consumer, is there a greater momentum to better the customer experience ­ one that is more relevant and hyper-personalized. What's the friction/pain point the brands are removing?Some brands have already embarked on this route, Spirits brand, Patron Tequila, Patron partnered with Amazon's Alexa to bring its 'Cocktail Lab' recipe library to consumers via voice activation. They created a `Bot-tender' for voice devices, which suggests recipes and creations based on local trends, insights and personal preferences ­ and it can even get the ingredients delivered to your door. Dominos is another brand that's trying to reduce the friction of conventional order-ing for the consum-er. The Consumers who've already set up user profiles through Domino's and enabled the Domino's "skill" through Amazon's Al-exa app can have a pizza delivered by saying "Al-exa, open Domino's and place my Easy Order." They can also track their order progress with specific voice commands.Also, users will start expecting actionable services as the output, and with devices talking to each other seamlessly, one voice command will intuitively set up a chain reaction of consequences without the user hav-ing to do anything. Apart from the early adopters, it will seriously change the way of life for the "Next Billion" ­ the less tech-friendly, probably less educated, consumers of regional content, el-derly or consumers who might have sight or mobility impairment. It will empower them and make them a lot more independent and their interac-tions with brands will change drasti-cally, thereby opening up a wider set of choices and easy access to them. In the near future, we will see the "voice assistant" becoming our new operating system, a gateway, and glue to all devices we own. And brands need to be ready to make sure they make the consumer evaluate what he asks for and also have an answer to what he might ask for. Kundan Joshee
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