Written by Jeff Owen | Feb 10, 2015 5:00:00 AM
A Sales system is only as good as the sales data it holds, and most of this data comes from field sales representatives who are expected to enter it on their laptops and desktops. But typical reps spend 32% of their time traveling and waiting for meetings. During these times, the only device available may be a smart phone. No surprise then that current sales data may be delayed getting into sales systems, impacting sales leaders' visibility into sales activity. Release 9 of the Oracle Sales Cloud brings Oracle Voice (officially "Oracle Fusion Voice Cloud Service for the Oracle Sales Cloud"), a speech-enabled virtual assistant that lets sales reps speak directly to the Oracle Sales Cloud on their smartphones. Oracle Voice represents Oracle's ongoing commitment to bringing the best user experiences to the Oracle Applications Cloud. It's a fast, friendly and fun way for reps to view their work, so they walk into meetings prepared. Walking out of meetings, they are able to quickly create Notes, Activities and Contacts, and update Opportunities while the information is still fresh in their minds. With increased usage, everyone benefits from current sales data, improved visibility from sales activities, and better sales decisions.
News Facts
- Oracle first delivered voice user experiences in Oracle Fusion Mobile Expenses on the smartphone, and found such a great reception we decided to pursue other areas where it benefits the user.
- The next most meaningful group of users were sales representatives, whose primary device is often the smart phone and whose primary job is talking.
- Instead of relying on slow typing on a smart phone, sales reps can enter information three times faster by speaking to the Oracle Sales Cloud through Oracle Voice – a key user experience improvement. Since details are precisely captured and follow-ups are quicker, deals are closed faster and more efficiently.
- Oracle Voice focuses on letting field sales reps quickly accomplish a few key tasks that are frequent yet time-critical: creating and viewing Notes, Tasks, Appointments, Contacts and also editing and viewing Opportunities. For example, one-command access to Opportunity details and notes lets them walk into meetings better-prepared. Capturing sales information through notes and activities right after a meeting retains important details in the system that would otherwise be forgotten.
- Oracle Voice allows users to switch between voice, touch, and typing as needed.
- Users don't need any training to navigate and interact with Oracle Voice; they can simply tap and speak in a command. Oracle Voice takes them through a natural, conversational dialog to help them view or capture sales data in real-time.
- The Oracle Applications Cloud, in this case, the Oracle Sales Cloud Release 9, provides a unique capability to deliver innovative user experiences, leveraging Nuance's automatic speech recognition and text-to-speech conversion.
- Oracle Voice is currently only available in North America with support for US English.
- In a recent study, 80% of Oracle field sales reps testing Oracle Voice said the product exceeded their expectations for productivity and ease of use.
