The disruption caused by various technologies and how most of our activities in the present world have transformed to be more technology-inclusive and dependent has been colossal. The adoption rate of technological equipment that supplements our everyday lives is higher than ever. Smartphones, smart cars, and even smart vacuums have acquired a prominent position in our society. Voice or speech recognition technology is one of the technologies that have found an increasingly growing market globally.

Voice-enabled technology and devices like Siri or Alexa have transformed from intimidating to routine technology that facilitates daily activities in brilliant ways. As one of the fundamental characteristics of all living beings is their ability to speak and communicate, the intention of introducing and employing such technology is to create more bridges to fill gaps between devices and their users. 

This voice-activated or speech recognition technology has witnessed a massive influx of new on boarders in the past few years. The industry’s size has grown exponentially, from $2 billion in 2018 to almost $40 billion in 2022, and is expected to continue expanding. It is an exciting new augmentation in technology that is used in numerous ways.

How Voice Technologies Work

Voice technology, in common knowledge, works by collecting, translating, and analyzing the user’s voice and words. While the sole contribution of the user remains to speak coherently and directly to the device, the device has a more complex role to play. 

The device collects and filters through the sounds spoken to it that is converted into a readable format for the device to analyze and find meaning in, by using software and algorithms. When the device has enough information to understand the instructions or the words, the software creates appropriate responses that are relayed back to the user. 

The voice technology devices are built-in ways to learn sounds on the go. So, if a single user operates the device, the results would improve over time, owing to its ability to understand the user’s words more effectively. However, if several users with different tones and accents use the same device, the device’s vocabulary, per se, would magnify more, but it would take much more time for the results to show.

Voice Technology Application on Various Media

Speech recognition remains an unsaturated industry, with massive potential and a steadily growing usability. Voice recognition has already set foot into quite a few industries like:

• Automobiles

The automotive industry has been a pioneer in adopting voice technology. Ford introduced Sync, an application that enabled drivers to make phone calls and control their music systems using voice recognition.

• Consumer Goods

The consumer goods industry is the largest industry currently employing voice technologies. Devices like Siri, Alex, Home Pod, etc., by Apple, Amazon, Google, and more have disrupted the home appliance industry. Using these devices to control music, operate connected devices, like smartphones, and carry out activities like making phone calls, narrating articles, or even simply talking has become a routine for many people globally. 

• Medical

Kaléo’s AUVI-Q is an example of how speech recognition is applied in the healthcare industry. This device is an epinephrine auto-injector, which gives voice instructions to administer relevant drugs to allergic patients. Another way of using voice technologies that have become very popular is to consult devices like Alexa to surf the internet and let the user know of any solutions to their medical problems or to help the user contact medical facilities if need be. Although relying on internet-provided solutions for medical emergencies should not be a practice, there is no way yet to filter out such questions and activities. 

• Hospitality

In the hospitality industry, voice-enabled technology is used to assist guests in making their stay and experiences more enjoyable. Devices like Echo provide concierge services in hotel rooms themselves and guests can also use these services to control the lighting, air conditioning, etc., in the room, facilitating their stay further. 

• Fintech

The fintech industry is a giant bubble that is rapidly inflating. Voice technologies have become an extremely valued augmentation in fintech, where applications enable users to conduct voice-controlled payments and transactions. Voice technologies are also used as a security medium that stores, analyzes, and memorizes the users’ voices, and are used while logging into banking apps. 

• Others

The applicability of voice technologies is continuously being assessed for other industries like government applications, which would allow users to avail themselves of government services using this technology.

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Closing Thoughts

Voice technologies are seemingly becoming a mainstream addition to the world of technology. With countless applications and immense versatility, voice recognition can be molded into more effective and advanced solutions that can be absorbed into various industries and platforms. 

Speech recognition can also be used for facilitating businesses by helping make business processes more efficient digitally, like setting up meetings, making calls, etc. Even though voice technologies are yet to reach perfection in understanding different dialects, accents, and tones, the future of voice technology remains bright.

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Education is one of the fundamental pillars needed to build a prospering and evolving society. In our world today, where finance and economics form the core of all operations, financial literacy is not merely an option chosen by a few but an integral part of the system adopted by a majority of the population.

Financial Literacy: Meaning

By acquiring financial literacy and education, a person develops the ability to understand the workings of the economy and financial markets to effectively utilize financial resources, skills, and management techniques which would help them make more effective decisions regarding their finances. Money is the indispensable fuel of our society, which forms the foundation on which our world runs. Financial literacy helps build a clearer and better understanding of how different aspects of money work like investments, budgets, expenditure, etc.

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The Fundamental Elements of Financial Literacy

• Budgeting

A budget helps to streamline, allocate, and monitor money, which has proven to be one of the most effective methods of handling finances. Nowadays, multiple smartphone applications help users develop budgeting skills and provide easy-to-navigate platforms for creating and organizing budgets.

• Interest Rates

An underrated component of the financial world, interest rates, is crucial to analyzing and gauging savings and expenditures. Interest rates are everywhere, governing monetary channels that decide the future of global finances; banks, financial institutions, lenders, borrowers, and many other members of the financial community rely on interest rates. Global and domestic factors determine interest rates targeted to get maximum returns while remaining viable.

• Savings

Savings are an integral part of the financial system that is mostly not effectively followed, leading to a burdened future. It is advisable to start learning and practicing saving early on in life to attain deeper knowledge to optimize savings.

• Credit-Debit

Debit-credit is the balance on which the financial system runs. Understanding how to protect and increase your credit value and meet your debts is one of the most effective ways to secure the future. 

• Security

With digitalization paving the way for modern finance, data, monetary security, and safety have become critical parts of gaining financial literacy. Understanding how your data is stored and utilized and whether or not you should share a particular piece of information is more important than exploring new platforms that provide exciting services.

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The Importance of Financial Literacy in Fintech

The fintech industry has boomed in recent years, disrupting the financial world. With most financial services and products shifting to digitalized platforms, it has become imperative for users to understand and be aware of what the fintech industry is offering and how it affects them.

Financial literacy in today’s day and age has a slightly different derivative from how it used to be. With online and neo banking, e-payments, cross-border remittances, quick loans, etc., the mere understanding of the five components of financial literacy is not enough. While these components still form the base of financial literacy, several other aspects have also emerged as fundamentals of financial knowledge. Some of these aspects include:

• Data Sharing

Digitalized platforms require users to share their data, which is mandatory for all trustworthy platforms. However, users need to be wary of identifying honest platforms from fake ones, which could prove detrimental to the user. Protecting financial data and personal information is the most critical aspect of adopting digitalized financial platforms. 

• Diversified Investments

In today’s day and age, people are not solely relying on fixed deposits and mutual funds from banking institutions for investment purposes. Various streams of investments are available nowadays, like digital gold, cryptocurrencies, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), etc. Exploring such investments is an effective way to enhance financial security as these investment platforms hold relevant positions in today’s world, providing competitive rates and colossal returns.

• National and International Regulations

As remittances within national and international boundaries are easier to carry out now than earlier, it is important to know and understand the regulations and compliances surrounding them. Proper documentation, secure platforms, and trustworthy senders or receivers are a must to carry out digital payments. 

• Services and Products

With technology increasing its versatility by branching into different forms like voice technology, artificial intelligence, etc., there has been an explosion of fintech services and products that have disrupted our existing financial system. Therefore, users need to explore the different services and products in the market to enhance their user experience. Products and services like e-cards, e-wallets, voice recognition, eKYC, etc., can help users handle their financial activities more efficiently.

• Security

Data security and safety are the prime most significant aspects of digitalized finance. While carrying out online transactions or feeding personal data onto digital platforms, it is crucial to protect data at every step.

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Final Thoughts

Like all other forms of education, financial literacy is a significant step toward a brighter and more securer future. While exploring the various aspects of fintech and finance in general, users should learn more about the services offered and how they can effectively use them. The need for financial literacy nowadays is so high that fintech organizations are creating embedded education bundles and platforms that would help users develop better financial knowledge and, in turn, make more informed decisions.

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The world has completely transformed since the arrival of the internet. From bulky desktop computers to sleek smartphones, everything about this industry has evolved in a colossal way. Countless augmentations have made their way into the landscape of the internet, which has influenced our lives more profoundly than we can consciously imagine.

 One such augmentation in the internet world has been the Internet of Things, more commonly called IoT.

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IoT Explained

The Internet of Things is the assimilation of objects, or things, into the world of the internet. These objects can range from things as common as kitchen appliances to airplanes, which can be connected and interlinked to collect and share data using the internet as the base medium. With the advent of computer chips into the common area, not a lot of rocket science and ambiguity remains to transform everyday objects into IoT. By connecting these devices, we can engage with smarter objects that supplement comfort in our lives. 

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How Does IoT Work?

There are mainly three parts to IoT for a common object to join the union:

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Smart Devices

The first necessary component of an IoT is a device that has IT (information technology) capabilities. This device can be anything, speakers, a car, or even the air conditioning system in your home. The primary task of this device is to read, collect and transfer information using inbuilt applications or software.

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IoT Software and Application

The software or IoT application built into the device using computer chips makes up the second component of IoT. This software or application is the medium used by the device to read, collect and transmit data received from user inputs. These applications use advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning to process and analyze data, which enables the device to respond correctly and intelligently to all user inputs.

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User Interface

The third component that completes the IoT cycle is the user interface that allows the user to interact and engage with the smart device. The user interface is mostly graphical and can be built into the device if it is large enough or it can be in the form of a mobile application or website that allows the user to connect and operate the smart devices.

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The Process 

The entire process in an IoT communication system broadly involves three steps. In the first step, the user feeds in the information collected and transmitted by the device. The IoT application or software analyzes this information, using the internet in the second step. The third step mainly involves the result or the response that the application churns after fetching details and completing the analysis. This response is then relayed to the user, completing the cycle.

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Facts and Figures of IoT

The IoT market has become gigantic as more participants flood in every day. There are more than 50 billion IoT devices actively operating globally currently. The amount of data that these devices generate, is more than 4 zettabytes, which is more than 4 trillion gigabytes. By 2025, the IoT market is estimated to cross $14 trillion in value. 

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The Biggest IoT Companies

There are uncountable companies that have become key contributors to the IoT market. But the ten leading this industry are:

1. Intel
2. Ericsson
3. Microsoft
4. Amazon
5. Google
6. IBM
7. Cisco
8. Verizon
9. AT&T
10. Fitbit

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Major Industries Influenced by IoT

Although IoT has had an influential impact on many sectors, the five most heavily impacted industries are:

1. Manufacturing
2. Transportation
3. Defense
4. Infrastructure
5. Retail

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IoT and Fintech

The scope and reach of fintech and IoT both individually have been witnessed by the entire world. Both these industries have proven to disrupt the usual systems that we were habitual of till a few years ago. With both these industries gaining ground and bridging gaps between them, many developments have prompted the upsurge of tremendous possibilities and opportunities.

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Is IoT the Future of Fintech?

Voice commands, smart cars, smartwatches, contactless cards, etc., have become our reality more now than ever. With IoT gaining moment in other industries, its role in fintech is also steadily gaining momentum. Banks and financial institutions are realizing the potential of this powerful technology.

The IoT technology is disrupting the mainstream banking industry by introducing novel ideas like voice banking, smart branches, contactless payments, new verification systems, and many more.

In the case of voice banking, the customer’s voice is recorded, verified, and used for conducting banking transactions over the phone or online. 

Smart branches incorporate the benefits of technology at every step by allowing cardless transactions and providing instant services like account opening, eKYC, etc. 

With the onset of the pandemic, contactless and remote services gained tremendous popularity for their relevant applicabilities. Contactless payments became a game changer in processing payments by allowing users to touch or tap their smart devices like smartphones, smartwatches, or even bank cards to enable payment. 

New technologies that supplement quicker results and shorter time frames to perform transactions are facing an increased demand globally. Authentication of customers using different technologies like facial recognition or voice recognition is becoming synonymous with the digital age.

With IoT and fintech integrating pathways, the two most affected segments would be customer experience and data management. IoT devises new ways of allowing better and faster transactions while continuously collecting, processing, and analyzing data received from customers. This process helps shape the customer experience industry better, while also improving the standards and quality of data. 

This way, IoT has already become an integral part of fintech, and the future only looks brighter seeing these two industries grow together.

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Authentication and verification of personal information are the most crucial parts of any critical procedure, like admission to a university, purchasing a vehicle, and even conducting an online transaction using your bank account. The correct verification of documents ensures a safe and secure system.

The method of collecting and verifying personal information like picture identification documents is known as Know Your Customer (KYC). 

When this procedure is carried out online or electronically, it becomes eKYC. 

The world of fintech has seen immense growth in the last few years. With people realizing the scope of technology globally, countless startups have emerged, sourcing the benefits of technology by leveling up their digital games. Influential technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, etc., have transformed how we conduct business and manage financial transactions.

Fintech has taken the world by storm, by becoming a part of our day-to-day lives. Financial institutions have partnered with third-party technology providers to create service suites that suit the needs of today’s generations. With most small and large transactions transitioning into electronic forms, it has become imperative to consider shifting services associated with finance to digital platforms.

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What is eKYC?

eKYC is the process where authorities and authorized institutions verify the personal information of customers and clients using digitalized platforms. eKYC is especially important during the onboarding process of new customers and clients. However, KYC remains an ongoing process for most financial institutions. 

In the process, new customers provide documents containing their personal information like their name, address, date, place of birth, and so on, which are collected by institutions and verified. The verification process can be as lengthy and cumbersome as required. Officials check the personal information provided against past records in different institutions, government records, the location of the address, and more. 

eKYC is the more efficient method of managing fraud and fake identities that could otherwise prove detrimental to the entire system. 

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Importance of eKYC

There are many factors why eKYC has become a crucial part of our lives today, like:

Quicker Process with Better Flexibility

An eKYC, compared to a usual KYC, gets completed in much lesser time. Digital platforms allow quick verifications by comparing and storing data on different databases. This process gives quicker and more accurate results. 

Another key benefit that is achieved from digitalized KYCs is the level of flexibility they offer owing to their quick results. Any changes that are to be made in pre-existing databases can be done, without much time and effort. Such benefits make eKYC much more relevant and essential for the fast-paced world that we live in today. 

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Reduces Risk of Fraud

As electronic KYC gives better and more accurate results, there is increased protection from the risk of fraud for banks and financial institutions. KYC is an excellent method of filtering out any outliers and unscrupulous activities that might cause damage to banks and their customers. With eKYC, the entire process becomes much more efficient, increasing its applicability.

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Better Customer Services

With eKYC, financial institutions and banks can provide better customer services that go along well with today’s digital age. With services like online banking, neo banking, e-payments, digital stock trading, etc., becoming more prominent, it has become essential for authorities to also transition to electronic platforms by providing regulatory services like KYC online. eKYC allows customers to upload their identification documents on official websites, apps, and portals. This tandem between services and technology allows authorities to verify the information provided by customers using various methods like scanned copies, freshly captured images, and biometrics.

Customer services can be improved immensely by using digital counterparts of essential services, like eKYC.
Quicker Onboarding and Merchant Acquisitions

KYC is a crucial part of new customer onboarding and new merchant acquisition. By switching to the digital version, banks and financial institutions can quicken this process, which would otherwise take longer and also distress new customers. These days, most banks have predefined targets of new customer onboarding and merchant acquisition, which are hard to achieve without the enablement of digitalization. By processing new onboarding and merchant acquisition quickly, the monthly and annual targets can be achieved in a more optimized manner.

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Part of the Digital Age

Offering eKYC services is a way for banks and financial institutions to let their customers know that they are technologically equipped and in tune with the digital age that has taken over the world. With most firms providing digital options for verification, any firm that does not provide such an option immediately conveys an obsolete system, which can be detrimental to their goodwill and standing. Enabling digital onboarding, eKYC, online banking, and more can help banks and institutions achieve a better reputation among their customers, which would eventually help them build better long-term relationships.

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No Restrictions on Location 

As eKYC can be conducted from anywhere in the world, it provides better flexibility to customers as they don’t need to show up at their home branches for verifications, account openings, etc. Such freedom attracts customers and allows a quicker turnaround time.

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Concluding Words

eKYC has become as essential as online banking itself, in today’s day and age. One of the most important factors that govern the reputation and future of banks and financial institutions is their level of integration with digitalization; the deeper the integration, the more reliable and trustworthy their image becomes. As digitalization takes over most industries, it has become imperative for businesses to put on technological capes which would help them relinquish all things obsolete and enter the new age of digitalization built on technology.

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The world is continuously evolving with changes occurring all the time and everywhere. With the advent of the internet, our world has become more connected and powerful, giving rise to countless opportunities for businesses and individuals to grow. Digitalization in the past few years has witnessed a sharp increase owing to the growing popularity of smartphones, tablets, and other networking devices.

 As more and more users adopt the internet, the need for owning digital assets is inflating. Digital assets have become an integral part of the internet, where people and businesses are investing and using digital assets to supplement their incomes or become their primary income streams.

 Digital Asset Management, long for DAM, is the process by which organizations and individuals can store, protect, share, create and retrieve their digital assets that hold value. Several aspects of digital asset management have emerged as invaluable over the past few years, where there has been a monumental rise in the usage and adoption of digital assets.

Digital asset management entails strategic software or systems that provide solutions for organizing and managing digital assets, especially for businesses. In other words, DAM is also a tool or a gateway to managing information. 

 Two main aspects are involved in successfully running the DAM process: digital assets and management solutions.

What are Digital Assets?

Digital assets are any digitalized files that hold monetary value. Digital assets can exist in different forms like:

• Images
• Videos
• Graphics
• Audios
• Documents
• Media
• Presentations
• Write-ups and more

Such digital assets that hold monetary value need proper systems to streamline their storage and production.

Benefits of DAM Systems

Organizations these days are robustly employing DAM systems to optimize their operations, where different departments are continuously interacting with each other. DAM systems have become a popular choice for most firms, as they help achieve seamless integration between departments. Some of the key benefits of DAM systems are:

• Better Control – As DAM systems are singularly devoted to the functions of digital assets, organizations employing them have better control over their digital assets. Such dedicated services help them control access and monitor platforms linked with the assets. Organizations can further ascertain how their digital assets are utilized and track all changes made, etc. 
• More Efficient – DAM systems provide a centralized solution for managing digital assets that are used for their creation, use, transfer between employees and different platforms, etc. With -target-focused solutions that provide quicker and easier access to digital assets, the overall efficiency of the organization’s setup improves, rendering better results.
• Lower Costs – By employing DAM solutions, an organization can save on hidden operational costs that are masked behind the curtains of inefficiencies like spending too much time on locating files, losing data due to systems malfunctions, etc. Such operational costs can be evaded by employing DAM systems.
• Security – With DAM solutions, the overall safety and security of data and content are substantially improved. There is restricted and controlled access, ensuring that the digital assets are not accessed by unauthorized personnel or malware. Apart from controlled access, data is systematically stored using online software that makes sure that the data or content is not lost or erased, enhancing security.
• Versatility – DAM solutions are mostly versatile, implying that their functionality of integrating with different platforms or software is very useful, making data transfer extremely easy. 

Who Uses DAM Systems?

All individuals and businesses that engage in creating, storing, and managing digital content can at some point benefit from DAM systems by increasing and optimizing their digital asset workflows. DAM solutions are mostly employed by organizations that have various operating departments engaging in data handling, like the marketing and sales department and the designing and IT teams. 

 On the other hand, in individual roles, marketers can immensely benefit from DAM solutions to organize and manage their digital content, which requires constant optimization. DAM systems can help them save a lot of time by providing automated solutions to create, store, organize and transfer digital assets in a preplanned manner.

Agencies that work with digital assets are prime contenders for DAM solutions, which help them create organized portfolios and provide better services.

The Future of Digital Asset Management

With the global attention shifting towards digital marketing, social media, and digitalization in general, the usage and creation of digital assets have blown up suddenly. This inflation has conceived a ready market for digital asset management tools that target providing services in this sector, making it viable for organizations to invest in such solutions. Securely storing, accessing, and managing digital assets has become a need now more than ever, making the future of DAM solutions gleaming with opportunities.

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Cloud computing is an integral augmentation in fintech and the overall digital world. Cloud computing takes digitalization to new efficiency levels where users are not restricted to physical devices and equipment to operate and use data. People can access, retrieve, and edit data using digital platforms from any corner of the planet. This technology has proven beneficial across different industries, products, and media.

Cloud Computing in Fintech

The fintech industry has witnessed a tremendous adoption rate of cloud technologies owing to its many benefits. In the past few years, almost 22% of fintech applications have employed cloud computing, suggesting a steady growth rate of cloud technologies in this industry.

The growth of the fintech industry is estimated to cross $120 billion by 2025, implying a tremendous scope for developments, innovations, and disruptions, making the plausibility of increased adoption of cloud technologies higher.

By employing cloud technologies, the transfer of data, APIs, and collaboration between third parties and financial institutions becomes simpler and more effective. It also opens many doors for new startups to develop and provide better cloud computing services.

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Cloud Technology Services

Cloud computing has benefitted the digital world by providing services that make the entire system more efficient, cost-effective, and suit users’ needs. The three primary service categories in cloud technologies are IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. 

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Infrastructure-as-a-Service (Iaas)

IaaS services revolve around servers, storage, network firewalls, and other resources that can be availed by the consumer on a pay-as-you-go basis. When a company transitions from physical to virtual using IaaS, it can save on the investment and upkeep cost of the equipment, hardware, etc. 

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Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)

This particular type of cloud technology offers virtual platforms for testing and managing software. It is particularly useful for developers who use PaaS services to test mobile applications, websites, etc. When availing of PaaS services, the developers can completely evade setting up and managing the infrastructure for storage and servers.

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Software-as-a-Service (Saas)

SaaS involves cloud services that enable the delivery of software applications without the users investing in the infrastructure and managing the applications. All the underlying requirements for delivering software, are handled by the cloud providers.

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The Benefits of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has become an integral part of the fintech industry because of its practicality and usability in handling large volumes of data. It provides the perfect structure that welcomes and empowers digitalization.

Flexibility

As fintech firms are continuously evolving and changing, their requirements for dynamic infrastructures are becoming more dominant. With infrastructures, servers, firewalls, etc., becoming more agile and virtual, the flexibility for fintech firms increases, where they can change patterns, disrupt monotony, and become more empowered.

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Data Security

Cloud technologies allow the handling of big datasets and databases on their offered platforms that enhances data security. Network firewalls are one of the main USPs of cloud computing, which secures the data by providing various levels of protection, making it easier and more efficient to manage data for fintech firms.

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Scalability

Cloud technologies come with the added advantage of providing pay-as-you-go services. A firm can pay for the services it has availed instead of paying for particular packages offered by cloud providers. This way, the firm’s scalability remains empowered, where it can choose to add on or remove services as per its requirements.

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Lower Investments

As cloud computing offers software, platforms, and infrastructure in virtual environments, the investment for firms becomes considerably low. With greater flexibility and scalability, firms can upgrade or downgrade services that they have availed to suit their requirements without particularly investing in purchasing and maintaining physical servers.

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Collaborations

With cloud technologies making it possible for fintech firms to manage tremendous volumes of data virtually, it also opens doors for simple and faster collaborations between third parties and banks. Financial institutions can easily supply their data to third parties that provide fintech services, making the entire space of fintech collaborations much more efficient.

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Data Recovery

Cloud technologies must have a security system in place that takes care of data recovery and data management. Providing digital infrastructure is not enough if it does not include a data recovery plan that can recover all the stored data and resolve technological glitches.

Apart from these prominent benefits that are offered by cloud computing technologies, there are many more advantages that users have experienced, like easier data management and access, a wide scope for innovation, advanced customer services, etc.

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Closing Thoughts

Cloud computing technologies have witnessed tremendous success owing to the benefits they offer. By taking advantage of the virtual space and services, it becomes substantially easier and more efficient for businesses to manage their activities, data, and customers. 

With cloud computing becoming a dominant niche in fintech, big companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Goldman Sachs have also joined the battalion of cloud computing providers. As artificial intelligence, big data, machine learning, and the crypto industry take over the fintech space, the future of cloud computing only becomes brighter than before.

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