Voice will never be the next web
Unless the stakeholders collaborate
Many are over enthusiastic about the new Voice channel. Including me. Yet the more I talk with companies who have a big stake in retail and data it is clear that at the foundation there are large issues to overcome. Who gets the data? Who owns the shopping cart? When will you need to pay? The solution to these issues lies not with the two main market makers Google and Amazon but with the stake holders brands and organizations. They need to collaborate and form the Voice Task Force to ensure at least a layer of common good. Want to join?
The internet started as a common service, voice didn’t
The internet started as a common service run by public initiatives like the W3C and the IETF. These are working groups who manage the standards and the continuous development of the core technologies that make our daily surfing possible. Because they have no commercial intent they were able to deliver the infrastructural work without favoring any commercial party. Some even say that the internet has hippie roots and share many of the values the communes of the 60s had.
Yet this has changed. Over 50% of all internet traffic is now from Google properties like Youtube. Most shopping is done via Amazon. Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram own your social life.
The next web, not
In comes voice. The new channel where you just ask a question to have it answered or give the order to turn off the lights. The next logical step in interface development. The initial adoption numbers prove this. 40+ million devices sold in the first 3 years. That is faster then the web or mobile.
People say that it will be the next web.
It won’t be.
The wrong recipe
Voice is not the new web and not the new mobile. Yes it is a new channel but that is as far as the comparison goes.
And it may even have a worse start then the internet, the web or mobile.
The reason is the intent. For the internet and the web, the intent was the common good. This is what drove the workgroups like the IEFT and W3C. On top of the common initiatives the current empires of Amazon, Google and Facebook were built.
It is a new playing field full of opportunities. Yet there are two sources in this ocean which color it with the wrong intent. Amazon and Google their intent is not the common good.
The intent of Google is data collection. Amazon’s intent is retail. And both are driven by share holder value. That creates a wrong recipe for a broadly carried new channel to emerge.
Hurdles for all industries
The retail industry doesn’t want to work with Amazon because they loose control of their shopping carts. Amazon determines how thing are sold in their network, in the new voice channel. And they don’t want to work with Google because the loose access to the data. Which may be mined and used for ad targeting and more.
The Heath industry can’t have their highly private medical data go through the current voice pipelines unless they know for sure it is encrypted even for the provider. Same goes for banks
It can get even worse. Both behemoths may start charging for each request. The non common share holder driven intent of the emerging voice channel is holding large players back.
Any organization who’s data capability and maturity is high realizes that the are facing a playing field which is extremely unfavorable.
Snips is currently the only independent voice platform but how they can go against the two main players is not clear. More is needed.
Bring the common intent back
The question is how to counter this. The behemoths have billions in cash, expertise, capability and experience. Not much can be done to alter course or ignore their primeval traits of data, shopping and who they serve. Well, maybe not counter but at least a new workable model that has the spirit of the original common intent.
Therein lies the challenge. What is the new workable model and how to get it off the ground. Like a IETF for Voice. They will be the standards body and the new care taker and guard of the channels independence.
This new body will be a collaboration of all companies, brands and organizations who see the opportunity. By collaboration they can help create a VPN like layer where a common intent is guaranteed and is non biased.
Let’s call it the Voice Task Force.
Lets get this going. Are you with a large organization ready to conquer the voice channel in your locale or category but help back by data and shopping cart issues. Lets discuss. What would you need? And lets build it. Contact me at maarten@lens-fitzgerald.com.
Maarten Lens-FitzGerald
Public speaker, entrepreneur, and consultant for voice services.
Founder of Layar, Teamily, Open Voice and Conva Conversational Services.
www.lens-fitzgerald.com
@dutchcowboy on twitter.
