Voice assistant answers clients' questions – CSS Kickbox

Speak, don't type

Older people especially find it difficult to navigate their way through today's digital applications. Finding out their benefit cover or deductible by themselves can cause them a great deal of incon­ve­nience. This gave Manuel Sanchez the idea of using voice recognition: "Almost everyone is capable of natural human speech," says the usability engineer. "Users with a question can simply speak into their smartphone microphone and receive a response." A simple idea that can offer our self-service clients added value.

Step by step to a successful pitch

The IT employee developed a prototype over the last few months based on language recognition and generation. The software filters relevant keywords from the speaker's query about topics such as premium levels, deductibles and benefit cover, and then answers ac­cord­ing­ly. A computerised voice reads the information displayed on screen and asks the user questions if necessary.

Manuel Sanchez developed his solution step by step. "I got both younger and older people to test several iterations of the software. The survey findings then enabled me to optimise it further." The experienced software developer suc­cess­ful­ly presented his redesigned version to the body of experts.

Additional time budget as reward

Manuel Sanchez's idea secured him a GoldBox – making him only the second CSS employee to be awarded one. He has thus reached the final phase of the three-stage Kickbox process and can now devote a considerable amount of his working time to the project. He says: "I'm grateful for being able to pursue my idea through CSS Kickbox and look forward to the next steps."