Agrahyah Technologies, a Mumbai based software and content company, announced India’s first ‘Voice agency’, with a vision to provide brands an innovative and inclusive strategy to leverage the power of voice assistants to engage their customers.
Over the past six month, Agrahyah has already been working with multiple Indian brands, helping them create relevant technology solution and content for Alexa, the Amazon’s voice assistant.
Agrahyah is listed as preferred partner by Amazon for Alexa Skills development in India.
Taking their deep understanding of the emerging voice assistants platforms, Agrahyah Technologies is now offering enterprise clients a complete voice managed service, which starts from conception of ideas, creating strategy, designing and developing technology solutions, and sustaining the efforts through content creation such as text and podcast that are tailored to engage audience through voice assistants.
Brands have always relied with a technology partner to create their digital assets such as websites, and mobile applications, but the high penetration of internet usage means brands must also create content at sustainable levels or they risk losing engagement opportunities with their audience. This is where Agrahyah makes a difference by offering an end to end service, its 36 member team houses capabilities in both voice technology prowess and original audio content creation.
Over the past few years, thanks to growth in applied AI and NLP, voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, Cortina, Google Assistant, have steadily transformed the personal and professional way in which humans interact with computers and machines.
28% of online search is already voice based and the number is growing at 270% YoY. In 2018, having a voice strategy is not an options for brands, but a business imperative.
The above scenario is set to impact the brand engagement and marketing world drastically. So far, the ‘voice’ of a brand had essentially been the written word – either on traditional print, outdoor or digital media in the form of websites and blogs, e-mailers and newsletters. However, amidst the rising popularity of Voice controlled devices, brands and marketers are slowly waking up to the need for a literal ‘Voice’ identity. AI-powered Voice assistants are already redefining the ground rules of consumer engagement for brands, with several Indian companies across Retail, BFSI, Hospitality and Real Estate segments exploring innovative ways to reach out and connect with the consumers.
With a potential to reach out to consumers with visual disabilities, illiterate and the vast non-English speaking consumer market, Voice offers a vast potential for innovative brand engagement, with the scope of designing an intimate consumer experience dominated through Voice. Speaking about the need for a ‘Voice Agency’ and if Indian consumers and brands are ready for the rise of the new media, Mr. Sreeraman Thiagarajan, Co-Founder, Agrahyah Technologies, said, “Just as the invasion of digital and social media marketing disrupted the traditional media landscapes and eliminated barriers between brands and consumers, ‘voice’enabled services are creating a new playground with new rules for brand engagement and recognition.Voice search and screen-less content consumption are growing rapidly and this trend will increasingly impact media and information consumption habits of consumers in the future. As a result, understanding the potential and pitfallsof this technology and leveraging it to the fullest is vital for brands to stay relevant in the fast emerging voice first world.”
Apart from engaging with consumers, Voice also holds a huge potential for driving direct purchase behavior. During the 2017 holiday shopping period in the U.S.A, 25 percent of shoppers utilized voice assistants, and 40 percent of adults use voice search every day for making multiple purchase decisions. Speaking about the potential in India and how Indian brands can leverage the medium.
Sreeraman also adds “We at Agrahyah believe in creating an inclusive digital and voice environment for consumers and help them create a strong ‘Voice’ for themselves and stand out amidst its competitors.”
Last week, Amazon awarded us “Agency of the Year, Top influencer.” at their annual Alexa Agency Summit held at Bangalore, the award was earned for our contributions to grow the entire voice as a category and influencing all stakeholders including brands, agencies, developers, and marketers to enter a voice first world, where Alexa is at the centre of it.
The award also validates our commitment to growing the nascent but promising category of voice.
Agrahyah is also partnering with leading advertising agencies including Landor to offer voice solutions.
“Using voice as a tool to create differentiation has always been a focus for us at Landor. With voice technology the universe in which we operate to create value for both businesses and consumers has become limitless. At Landor, we believe in being agile and pushing the boundaries for our clients so they can leverage the power of brand in a digital landscape. Partnering with Agrahyah Technologies to help our clients navigate the voice landscape is an exciting step forward” said, Lulu Raghavan. MD, Landor Mumbai
While Voice as a platform is still relatively nascent, both brands and technology solution providers are waking up to its vast potential to alter daily lifestyle and thus impact human behavior in positive way. Even as voice technology gears up to become an increasingly integrated part of our lives, its percolation are set to disrupt our content consumption and buying behaviours.
“With more Indian language support being enabled soon on voice assistants, brands can truly address all their audience across our diverse nation beyond the language barrier through voice platforms” concludes Sreeraman.
Understanding differentiating factors for Voice and how brands can use it effectively:
Some key factors that have led to the fast-paced popularity of Voice platforms include:
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Voice Assistant devices are typically placed in a shared space and used by multiple speakers/ users, easily becoming integrated with daily family/ work routines of a close-knit set of people.
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Option to interact in a ‘natural’ format by speaking as against typing specific keywords etc., ensures it is extremely user-friendly due to its organic interaction format.
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With Voice, consumers can use the technology while multi-tasking as it does not require a focused interaction with the device
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With the human capacity to speak faster than to type, Voice assistants offer a faster opportunity to get work done
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With the AI-powered interactive platform, the device/ Voice assistants offer the comfort of speaking to another human being! In an independent research carried out in 2017 with over 1,600 users of voice-activated speakers revealed that 41% ofrespondents found using the technology feels like they’re “talking to a friend or another person.”
