Say it out loud: Voysis announces new voice-powered commerce platform

Move over, Siri and Alexa, there’s a new voice in town. Voysis Commerce provides companies with a way to integrate a native voice feature into their customers’ experiences without using voice partners such as Amazon.

In a press release, Dr. Peter Cahill, founder and CEO, says Voysis Commerce fills an important void in the market for brands and retailers.

“We’re already working with some of the best known retailers to launch voice commerce imminently, helping them take back their customer relationships from companies like Amazon. While Alexa may have paved the way, the reality is few retailers want to allow Amazon to own their customer data and relationships.”

Director of Marketing Ryan MacInnis told me that the company’s “voice as a service” business gives companies a way to more fully own the brand experience.

“Companies can spin up their own native voice experience and have a relationship with their customers on their own terms, with no middle man,” MacInnes said.

The company also revealed the results of Voice-AI research it commissioned on 100 American businesses. The study found that 50 percent of the businesses have mobile voice search on their roadmaps for 2018, up from less than 1 percent in early 2017. It also found that retailers see voice as a way of increasing conversion rates from mobile. These insights are in line with 2017 research from companies such as comScore.

Voysis made news recently when it showed that the voice technology they created improved on Google’s WaveNet technology, creating a voice that sounds more realistic and less “glitchy.”