Voice Technology is everywhere. More than half of U.S. adults have used voice commands and that number keeps growing every day. Belgian consumers are also signing up for it.

According to a study by Wavemaker, more than 29% of Belgians used a voice assistant in 2019. It makes perfect sense. The technology itself keeps improving and the possibilities keep expanding every day. But despite the growing popularity among consumers, VoiceTech adoption in the office is still limited.

This could have several causes, such as the rise of the open workspace and a lack of privacy amongst colleagues. These limitations disappear however in our home office, where Voice Technology can inject some real added value to your (work)day. These challenging times are an ideal moment to give it a try. 

Before introducing you to some great VoiceTech tools, let us take you through the different types of devices on which they can be used: 

• Smartphones: Most smartphones have a pre-installed voice assistant. Apple iPhones use Siri and Android-devices use Google Assistant.
• Smart Speakers: Amazon and Google dominate the Smart Speaker market, with an estimated cumulated market share of more than 85%. Amazon speakers come with Amazon Alexa,the Google Smart Speaker range comes with Google Assistant. 
• Computers: Mac-users are able touse Siri on their computer since Mac OS Sierra. Microsoft-users can choose to use the voice assistant of Microsoft, Cortana or can download Amazon Alexa. 

10 VoiceTech tools you can use in your home office today

1. Project and task management tools
   Many established tools such as Zapier, Slack and Trello have an integration with Google Assistant. For example, create new Trello cards easily and hands-free by just saying: “OK Google: Create new Trello card X.” 
2. Automated meeting notes
   Are you spending multiple hours a week drafting meeting notes? That’s a thing of the past. Tools like Otter.ai & Reason8.ai draft automated meeting notes based on Voice Technology. They can even define next steps and help in your follow-up processes. 
3. Dictate your Word-documents... or anything basically 
   In Microsoft Word there is a dictate button. Just select the language you want to dictate in, push the button and you are ready to start. But you can also dictate your texts with your smartphone. Already tried this? Instead of typing text messages, emails, or anything else on your smartphone, try the microphone button and speak what you want to write. Your smartphone converts it to text.
4. Pomodoro technique
   Although Google Assistant doesn't have a highly developed Pomodoro Technique skill, you can build your own by saying, "Hey Google, set a timer for 25 minutes, and another timer for 5 minutes." That'll give you 25 minutes of focus time, followed by a 5-minute break interval. When your time's up, just stay "Stop" (no need to utter "Hey Google" first), then set up your timers again. 
5. Manage your mails with your voice 
   Astrobot, an AI-powered Alexa-skill helps you to manage and prioritize your mails. You can even answer them right away. Speaking e-mail does the same job and is available in both the Apple and Google Play stores. 
6. Control your videoconferences
   Just say, “Hey Zoom, start meeting” to start a prescheduled Zoom-meeting. 
7. Phone calls
   Use Google Assistant or Siri to call anyone you want by saying “Hey Google/Hey Siri, call {Name of contact} or {Phone number}”. 
8. Sticky notes
   Say “Add a new note to Google Keep” and Google assistant will guide you through the creation of an online post-it. 
9. Online music provider
   Manage your (background) music by giving voice commands to your smartphone, computer or Smart Speaker. Both Spotify and Deezer have integrations with Google Assistant, Siri and Amazon Alexa. And if you own a Sonos system, you can also control it with voice. 
10. Have a translated conference call
    Now it gets really neat... “Microsoft Translator Live” (apps for Windows, Apple, Android and Amazon) allows you to start a conversation with someone else with both of you speaking your own language (it used to be a feature at Skype as well). Similar to this, on smartphones, you have Google Translate: it also allows you to speak a sentence and hear the translated one. Warning on this one: this technology is still rather low on the maturity curve. 

The following bonus tool hasn’t got integrated Voice Technology yet but you can operate it using your voice with the tips in section 3 above.

11. Bonus for when COVID-19 depression strikes
    Feeling a bit down? Have a chat with Woebot, a charming AI-based robot, developed in collaboration with Stanford. 

We hope the tools above have broadened your VoiceTech-horizon and will help you make this challenging period more productive and comfortable. If you happen to know of any other great voice services that make home working more efficient, do share here.

On top of that, you can also use this period to think about how you can leverage Voice Technology. This is the time to optimize your voice search strategy, start with voice commerce and leverage voice in your personalization processes. 3.4 million Belgians are already using a voice assistant. The time to act is now.

Eager to learn more? Download our Voice Canvas or discover how we can help you.