The Sound of the Future: The Coming Age of Voice Technology, reviewed

We look at this new book by Tobias Dengel. See more about the book here The Sound of the Future: The Coming Age of Voice Technology

The Sound of the Future, The Coming Age of Voice Technology, reviewed

This is a fun and thought provoking read. The author,  Tobias Dengel does an effective job of outlining what the issues and opportunities are. He also explains interesting and evolving use cases that you may not have considered. In the same way that smart phones are hindered by us using our thickest digits (our thumbs) to write messages, voice can be completely transformative as a far better way to communicate and indicate our thoughts and preferences.

Dengel reminds us that the technology already exists to deliver on the potential of using voice driven approaches to how we work. Some early adopters are already starting to use voice over texting, and, as more companies make it possible to conduct wider aspects of operations via voice the benefits will increase. The book follows a logical and structured route and by the end it should have most readers excited and enthusiastic about the importance of voice driven innovation and why they should be thinking about how to integrate it with their own businesses.

More about the book

Why voice technology is the next big thing in technology, as big as mobile a decade ago and the internet in the late 90s, fundamentally altering the way companies do business.

Voice is the next technology – remarkably similar in potential impact to the internet and mobile computing – poised to change the way the world works. Tobias Dengel is in the vanguard of this breakthrough, understanding the deep, wide-ranging implications voice will have for every industry. In The Sound of the Future, he connects the dots about this emerging paradigm to vividly illustrate how business leaders can stay ahead of the game, rather than scrambling to catch up, as voice technology gradually reveals its power, creating a host of new winners and losers.

Using fascinating, colorful stories, Dengel explains how the “voice-first” experience is becoming part of the global technology mainstream, exploring the ways voice will do a better job of serving basic human needs such as safety, speed, accuracy, convenience, and fun, as well as making it possible for hundreds of millions of people around the planet to participate more fully and productively in today’s high-tech world by making interactions with technology virtually effortless.

A pervasive technology like the internet and mobile, voice, with applications in marketing, sales, service, manufacturing, and logistics, will change the way we work at every level and every function, driving down costs, boosting productivity, and enabling the creation of entirely new business models.

This is not simply about Siri and Alexa. They are the tantalizing but incomplete precursors of the ultimate interface that will make technology easier, faster, more accurate, and more human.

bout the Author

Tobias Dengel is  president of WillowTree, a TELUS International Company, a global leader in digital product design and development, with 13 offices in North America, South America and Europe, headquartered in Charlottesville VA. The company has been named by Inc. magazine to the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest growing companies for 11 straight years.

WillowTree’s clients include some of the best-known brands in the world, such as T Mobile, Mastercard, Capital One, HBO, Fox, Time Warner, PepsiCo, Regal Cinemas, Charles Schwab, Johnson & Johnson, Lidl, Wyndham Hotels, Hilton Hotels, Holiday Inn, Canadian Broadcasting Corp, Synchrony Bank, Edward Jones Investments, and National Geographic.   These industry leaders trust WillowTree to design and develop their websites, apps, internal systems and voice interfaces.

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