Voice Technology Applications In The Warehouse Environment

By Cheryl Knight, contributing writer

Voice technology has taken hold in a variety of work environments, but applications are particularly beneficial for warehouses. Businesses with warehouses use voice technology when picking stock, inventorying and replenishing stock, and improving customer service.

Voice technology is relatively new in the warehouse environment, but it is seeing increased use, especially after it was revealed in an Aberdeen Group report that “companies using voice technology in the warehouse are 1.62 times more likely to achieve pick accuracies of 99 percent or higher than non-voice users.”

This, in turn, leads to increased customer satisfaction and higher overall profits for companies who utilize voice technologies. Some other ways that voice technology improves business is in the productivity of workers who can pick inventory in a warehouse environment hands-free, spot discrepancies in stock numbers more easily, and help determine when stock needs replacing.

Fewer Mistakes And A Safer Working Environment

When it comes to mistakes, voice technology allows employees to work faster all while making fewer mistakes. Voice technology can route employees to their next pick, improving accuracy, and the hands and device-free environment reduces safety risks within the warehouse.

Money Savings

According to a Business 2 Community (B2B) article, titled “Using Voice Technology for Profit,” voice technology and its applications equate to significant savings.

With an error reduction rate of up to 90 percent, voice technology is easy to pick up, reduces paper waste, and helps speed up processes within the warehouse. VARs can stress the benefit of cost savings as one of the main benefits to installing voice technology within their customer’s warehouse.

Also, through the use of wireless technology, voice technology lends itself to use anywhere within the warehouse. This enables managers and supervisors to direct their workers to where they need to be in a safe, timely, and efficient manner. In addition, B2B reports  that warehouses moving from paper to voice technology can expect to see up to a 50 percent increase in their worker activity — another great voice technology selling point for IT solution providers