By Geeta Gupta, Head of AI and Data Sciences, Wink.
Voice biometrics isn’t just another tech buzzword; it’s a game-changing solution transforming security, customer experience, and business operations across industries. Imagine a world where customers verify their identity with a quick word instead of cumbersome passwords or physical tokens, w -here cars recognize drivers and adjust settings automatically, and where virtual spaces feel as secure as our everyday lives. As businesses like yours look to keep pace with evolving security demands and customer expectations, voice is proving itself to be the next frontier in authentication. So, why is voice biometrics so impactful? How can it protect against sophisticated AI-powered -threats like deep fakes? And, more important, how can businesses implement it effectively? Keep reading to uncover how voice is setting a new standard and how industry leaders like Wink are making it easy to adopt and secure.
The business case: Voice biometrics
Today’s businesses seek seamless yet secure ways to verify identities. Gartner predicts that by 2025, 30 percent of all browsing sessions will be screenless, with consumers turning to voice commands to get things done. This trend isn’t just about convenience; it’s about future-proofing. Embracing voice technology aligns with customer demand for ease and enables a frictionless, secure user experience—especially crucial as AI becomes a staple in customer service interactions, predicted to power 95 percent of customer interactions by 2025.
For businesses, investing in voice biometrics means stepping into a future where voice becomes a digital signature, a secure and unique way for users to interact with systems without devices or manual input. Companies that lead in this space have the opportunity to set a new standard for security and convenience.
Industry impact: Voice biometrics across sectors
Voice biometrics are making waves across multiple industries. Here’s a look at how different sectors can leverage this technology for a competitive edge:
- Financial services: Banks and financial institutions are actively integrating voice verification into call centers, allowing customers to authenticate themselves with their voice, eliminating the need for secret words or pin codes. This strengthens security, reduces time and cost per customer call and enhances the customer experience.
- Automotive: With the rise of connected vehicles, voice is already heavily used with integrated digital assistants that provide handsfree access to in-car services like navigation, settings and communications. Adding voice recognition allows such in car services to be personalized for the driver and opens the possibilities of more enhancements such as commerce. Automotive brands can integrate voice recognition for offering seamless access to new services like parking, fueling, charging, curbside pick-up by utilizing in-car payments that boost security, convenience and customer satisfaction.
- Healthcare: Healthcare providers can use voice authentication to securely verify patient identities over the phone or via telemedicine. This ensures that sensitive information remains protected, while providing a seamless experience for patients who may need hands-free options.
- Retail and ecommerce: E-commerce platforms can implement voice authentication for customer logins or high-value transactions, especially in situations where fraud might be suspected, providing a secure checkout experience that protects against bots, account takeovers and builds consumer trust.
By incorporating voice biometrics, businesses can reduce friction in user interactions, strengthen security measures, accelerate transactions and stand out with future-ready digital experiences.
How to get started: Key actions for businesses
- Evaluate current authentication processes: Take a close look at your existing authentication practices. Are you deploying unsafe practices like asking for a secret account code in your authentication workflow? Are you suspecting that BOTs are able to access your services pretending to be humans? Consider where voice biometrics could reduce friction or add value, such as customer support, mobile app security, or online account management.
- Integrate with multifactor authentication (MFA): Voice biometrics can be an effective component of an MFA strategy, especially as a backup for scenarios where facial recognition isn’t possible. Start by layering voice into your existing security protocols, providing users with multiple ways to securely authenticate.
- Voice commerce: Is your business taking credit card orders over the phone? Are you developing a skill for Alexa or Siri where customers can place orders? Adding voice recognition to these workflows can add significant safety and security for customers and your business. It can also add payments compliance to your business by eliminating the need for your business to handle credit card data.
- Prioritize deepfake and liveness detection Technology: As deepfake technology evolves, it’s essential to protect voice systems against fraud. Use AI-driven liveness detection, which confirms the authenticity of a voice during an interaction. This is a critical line of defense, especially with deepfake-related fraud projected to exceed $250 million annually by 2027.
- Stay compliant and future-proof Your approach: Voice biometrics are subject to strict regulations, including GDPR and industry-specific standards. Ensure your deployment meets these requirements and consider going a step further with proactive threat detection and data encryption for enhanced security.
- Embrace the device-Free Movement: As consumers move away from screen-based interactions, businesses can adapt by implementing voice commands as an alternative to traditional logins. According to Gartner, AI-driven voice interactions and screenless browsing are growing, allowing customers to interact more naturally with brands.
Preparing for tomorrow: The future of voice in digital ecosystems
With Meta and other tech giants investing in immersive digital worlds, the need for secure, voice-based authentication in virtual reality (VR) is set to grow. Voice will enable a seamless connection between physical and virtual identities, and secure in-world payments are only the beginning. In VR environments, voice verification can be the linchpin for secure transactions, interactive shopping, and more, offering a futuristic glimpse into what tomorrow’s digital economy could look like.
With voice set to become a central pillar of secure, device-free interactions, Leveraging solutions that combine voice recognition with AI-driven liveness detection, thread monitoring and payments provide businesses with an opportunity to stay ahead in a rapidly changing digital world. Now is the time to consider voice biometrics, not just as a solution for today but as a foundation for the future of secure digital interactions.
About the author
Geeta Gupta is Head of AI and Data Sciences for Wink, where she leads advancements in biometric authentication technology. With deep expertise in machine learning, statistical learning techniques, and artificial intelligence models, Geeta specializes in building robust, data-driven solutions for both supervised and unsupervised learning challenges. Her work focuses on developing sophisticated algorithms, fine-tuning model assumptions, and enhancing model accuracy through advanced datasets and classification techniques. Geeta’s approach to AI is instrumental in driving secure, innovative applications at Wink, empowering businesses to leverage biometrics confidently.
Article Topics
biometric authentication | biometric liveness detection | biometrics | digital identity | voice biometric | voice recognition
