Alexa, how much is in the till? Increasingly talking dollars and cents (or should that be sense?) is less a conversation held person to person than person to bot. And across channels, from virtual assistant to mobile, the conversation has to be seamless – which entails some moving (tech) parts, as USAA AVP Darrius Jones tells PYMNTS.
Talking about personal finance is never easy.
Talking about personal finance with voice-activated assistants might not be easy, either, unless access to and management of data – oh, and interaction between user and device, of course – are seamless.
As anyone who has used an Alexa skill might know, the movement toward conversational finance, or financial conversations, is a tricky one, as specific instructions or questions (okay, they are commands, really) have traditionally been needed to spur the assistant to retrieve information.
To that end, USAA has sought to bring a natural cadence and flow to the conversation, one that builds, and built, on its experience in the PYMNTS Voice Challenge last year.
This past summer, USAA debuted a virtual assistant that integrates with Amazon’s Alexa. Through USAA’s chatbot, members have been able to ask about their USAA account balances and spending details.
In an interview with PYMNTS, Darrius Jones, assistant vice president of USAA Labs, said the goal had been, and is, to mimic – and even go beyond – the basic financial conversations a member might have with a USAA rep on the phone.
By answering finance questions with a device, this might help free up that agent to tackle more complex member needs. Through the skill, and after opening the account, members can ask questions such as, “Alexa, how much money do I have?” or “Alexa, can I spend $200 on dinner?” The answers will detail balances in accounts or average expenditures tied to, in this case, meals.
Security features include options for voice PINs, the company has said.
Jones told PYMNTS that “one of the things that differentiates us from other organizations doing similar things is that we do not look at this as a voice play, but as a conversation across a multitude of platforms. If you think of Alexa and Google Home being voice-based, both of them offer some type of text-based input to the same services – whether you have a mobile app or with several Google substantiations, like Hello. That is one of the things that we truly took our time to think through: Is this really about voice, or is it about something bigger?
“What we really focused on is the whole topic of conversational commerce, with voice just one of those ways to have a conversation.”
Jones told PYMNTS that though the pilot had focused on traditional banking products, they are also focusing on other verticals to support their customer base, such as life insurance and investments. Additional initiatives may branch out into wearables.
“The strategy has been to get on as many platforms as possible, with a multitude of services covering the entire business … we want consistency, and to make it extremely easy to use.”
Ease of use as a guiding principle means that interacting with USAA’s skill should be intuitive, said Jones, “so that if you had never used another financial services skill, you would still know what to expect. Whether it would be the account linking process, starting on an Amazon platform and cross-linking over to USAA’s platforms or just some of the nomenclature we use throughout the skill – it all creates a familiar experience if you use our mobile app, which a majority of our users have.”
Mobile first has also been a guiding factor, as Jones continued, “we took a lot of those design principles into that speech experience that we deliver on Amazon, and used relevant language that our members are used to hearing from us on other platforms, including our conversational assist [products].”
Providing linked information to different accounts (offering, for example, aggregate availability in checking and savings) has meant that USAA also had to address what might be seen as inevitable consumer concerns about security and sharing information.
“We went through a couple of design iterations and ultimately decided that we wanted to support the exact same authentication flow that we would do on the mobile app,” he said, with positive feedback – “because people knew that they were going into USAA vs. the apprehension of ‘am I giving my credentials to a third party’ – and this was a confidence booster.”
How to avoid overwhelming the user? “It goes back to how conversational our skill is at this point. If we are having a dialogue about personal finance, and we have shared finances, you are not going to ask me how much money is in my checking account. You are not going to ask how much is in the account that ends in number 2754.
“Instead, you are going to ask ‘how much money do I have available right now?’ – and if you need to know specifics, like which account is it in, then you’ll dive into a subcategory, like a checking or savings account.”
Writ large, the executive told PYMNTS of the interaction with Alexa, “it’s reminiscent as to the conversation two college roommates may have about who is going to pick up the bill.”
Here at PYMNTS we cover the Connected Economy as well as banking and payments. You can call it the smart economy or the digital economy. However, as Karen Webster wrote when she introduced the concept and our research methodology for defining it, “that connected economy will be the result of the full force of the Internet of Things (IoT) in action. Just about every device will be connected to the internet and capable of enabling a transaction – between every possible permutation of machines, people and businesses. In this new connected economy, we will find ourselves living in a world where new networks, intermediaries and enablers will change what is today considered the payments and commerce status quo.”
We bet Amazon was listening with Alexa. It presaged the popularity of digital wallets. You could even say it predicted the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).
The connective tissue for the connected economy comes in the form of devices with the phone at the center. And it’s shaping consumer’s day-to-day interactions. A new PYMNTS report, “How People Pay: Consumer Preference for Connected Technology,” uncovers how device ownership is shaping payment behavior and what it means for financial services professionals.
“This isn’t just about smartphones anymore,” states an article about the report. “Consumers are accumulating an array of connected devices, from smartwatches and tablets to voice-activated speakers and even cars with built-in capabilities. The report dives into how this increasing connectivity influences payment preferences, revealing that those with more devices are likelier to embrace digital wallets and online shopping. It segments consumers into distinct personas — Basic Tech, Mainstream Tech and Connected Tech — based on their affinity for and ownership of connected devices. Understanding these personas is crucial for businesses looking to stay ahead of the curve in the rapidly evolving payments landscape.”
There’s some brilliant stuff out there in the smart or connected device world. Check out LG’s smart mirror refrigerator that connects to Instacart. But there’s a lot of other “connected” or “smart” products that have us shaking our heads. Remember “there’s an app for that” a few years ago? Get ready for “my app is cooking my pizza.” Here’s a decidedly incomplete list of somewhat bizarre, connected devices because well, you might need one.
Tired of the arduous task of controlling your toilet manually? The Kohler PureWash E930 Bidet Seat transforms your humble porcelain throne into a voice-activated command center. Compatible with both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, this connected commode responds ponds to verbal instructions to clean itself, activate bidet spray functions or turn on the dryer.
Narcissism reaches new heights with the Selfie Toaster, a $70 smart appliance that burns your facial likeness onto bread. Using laser technology similar to a printer, this culinary curiosity transforms ordinary toast into a vaguely recognizable version of your face. While the results might not capture your best features (and often lean toward the unsettling), there’s something uniquely post-modern about literally consuming your own image for breakfast.
For those who find manually sprinkling sodium chloride too taxing, the connected salt shaker brings app-controlled seasoning to your dining table. This battery-powered salt dispenser connects to your smartphone, allowing you to adjust the quantity of salt dispensed with precision, track your sodium intake, and presumably impress dinner guests with your commitment to tech-enhanced condiments. At several times the price of a traditional salt shaker, this gadget proves that even the simplest kitchen implements aren’t safe from the compulsion to add Bluetooth.
The HAPIfork takes dining discipline to new digital heights by vibrating whenever you eat too quickly. Programmed to ensure you extend your meal to at least 20 minutes, this connected utensil monitors the speed of fork-to-mouth movements and provides haptic feedback when you’re shoveling food too rapidly.
WordPad’s MouthPad transforms your tongue into a computer mouse through a dental-grade resin mouthpiece that sits on the roof of your mouth. This 3D-printed oral intrusion allows users to navigate iOS, Android, PC, and Mac interfaces through tongue movements. While ostensibly designed as an accessibility tool, the concept of turning your mouth into an input device raises questions about both hygiene and social acceptability. Imagine the conversation starter at your next business meeting: “Sorry for the mumbling, I’m just scrolling through my presentation with my tongue.”
Looking suspiciously like a character from “Among Us,” Samsung’s Ballie is a mobile spherical robot equipped with a projector that follows you around your home. This AI-powered companion can project YouTube videos onto any surface, including your ceiling, and uses its cameras to detect your position, monitor your sleep, and presumably watch you when you least expect it. While the technology is undeniably impressive, there’s something slightly unsettling about an autonomous ball rolling through your home, projecting content and collecting data while you sleep.
For those plagued by egg-related anxiety, the Egg Minder connects your refrigerator’s egg tray to WiFi, allowing an app to track how many eggs remain and when they’re approaching expiration. This solution handily replaces such complex egg freshness detection methods as “looking at the date on the carton” or “the float test.” With built-in LED lights that indicate which egg has been in the tray longest, this smart egg babysitter ensures you’ll never again face the existential crisis of egg uncertainty—provided you remember to place each egg precisely in its designated sensor-equipped slot and regularly check the companion app.
While the Internet of Things has genuinely transformed industries and improved efficiency in meaningful ways, these particular innovations remind us that connectivity doesn’t automatically equal utility. As we continue advancing into an ever-more connected future, perhaps the most valuable skill will be discerning which smart devices actually make life better and which will end up in a tongue-in-cheek roundup on PYMNTS.