By: Andy Lau, Deputy Head - Software Engineering Services, LTI Canada

It is irrefutable that voice command technologies applied in assistants like Siri, Alexa, Cortana, or Google’s Assistant are taking the user experience to a level that was unimaginable 10 years ago. Voice command capabilities and sophistication has grown and improved rapidly, and today they are embedded into products directly or indirectly, impacting key or common areas of our daily life.

Some current uses:

• Home: switch lights on or off, make an appointment, listen to music
• Vehicles: find nearest gas station, navigate, search point-of-interest, select radio station

Statistics show that voice-search trend is in, and not a new idea or food for thought:

• Microsoft – 72% of surveyed respondents reported using a digital assistant.
• PwC – 32% of people aged 18 to 64 use voice searches daily

Using voice commands in Transfer Agency

Certain asset management applications in the market are AODA-enabled. The goal is to remove barriers for users with special needs. This can be achieved through a voice-based interface with accessible auditory. Back to the context of a typical Transfer Agency System, it usually takes 2-minute, 5-screen navigation to retrieve an entire segment of information on the screen, whereby 80% of the information may not be critical. Thus, it has a barrier to the user with a mandate of ‘I Want it Fast!’ Considering user experience and speed, that can translate into the notion of – Asking one single question to get an accurate and clear answer, rather than overload me with unnecessary information.

Building voice commands into systems

The idea of enabling voice commands within Transfer Agency Systems is future forward. Application providers must have a clear vision on what information is needed and provided, and also how it is presented. When building voice-command functionality, the design team must determine what information can be exposed, and more importantly, how the data can be translated, aggregated, or presented to users to ensure no risks of violating any regulatory and compliance rules. Protecting data is always the top priority of any product.

Thinking out aloud

Investment advisors and clients have a significant preference for liquidity in wealth management, resulting in a strong demand for information like market performance data, benchmarks, and trending products. This can be retrieved through a Transfer Agency System, even though it is stored outside of the system.

Some commands can be enabled to help Investment Advisors while protecting personal information, such as: –

• What is the current price for Global Portfolio Fund?
• Get the current S&P TSX Composite Index.
• Does Account X have active systematic plans?
• What is the AUM for Account X?
• How many free units does Account X have in Global Balance Fund?

Voice-based Transfer Agency Systems are still at an early stage, but conceptually will be more advanced than Robo Advisors. Visionaries who can design and implement these will have a competitive advantage to win over new clients, provide new services and disrupt the industry.