As cloud-based platforms continue to grow at breakneck speed, voice messaging is gaining tremendous momentum among businesses, governments, and everyday consumers. And, we’re not just talking about the likes of Siri and Alexa! The capabilities of voice solutions extend much further. The simple truth is, in an age of contactless engagement and real-time demand, customers need new ways to engage. One such voice solution that’s making a difference across the world is text-to-speech technology.

What exactly is text-to-speech technology?

Text-to-speech technology, sometimes referred to as speech synthesis, does exactly what the name says—it generates speech from written text—like this article that you’re reading. It’s a computer-generated simulation of a human voice that uses deep learning methods (automatic speech recognition and natural language processing) to convert raw text into an audio form.

The origins of text-to-speech technology

Let’s be honest though. Text-to-speech technology is nothing new. Even though it was popularised by Stephen Hawking in the 1980s, this technology has actually been around since the late 1950s.

The software originally emerged in the B2C market, primarily for educational purposes, but it started gaining mainstream attention when handheld electronic devices began featuring speech synthesis. Text-to-speech technology was also notably featured in the cult classic film, "2001: A Space Odyssey," where HAL 9000, a computer, sings "Daisy Bell."

What has changed, however, is the importance of text-to-speech software in today’s business environment, and the increased demand for it among developers who are building a new wave of applications.

Text-to-speech technology becomes mainstream

According to a study by Research and Markets, the global text-to-speech market is forecasted to grow by a staggering 14.5% by 2026. This is driven by a number of large enterprises, including Google, IBM, and Amazon, who are leading the way in customer experience by integrating text-to-speech technology via chatbots, smart speakers, and virtual assistants.

The same research also shows that the Asia Pacific region is witnessing the highest growth rates for text-to-speech functions. They attribute this to the influx in AI, analytics, and IoT devices across the region. This is driven by the countries who are increasing AI penetration among enterprises, including India, China, Indonesia, Australia, Japan, and Singapore. Their common goal: better industry performance due to improved customer experiences.

The growth in text-to-speech software is also fueled by heightened government spending on assistive technology to improve accessibility for those citizens with learning disabilities. This, coupled with the aging populations’ growing dependency on technology, has given way for governments to accelerate the adoption of text-to-speech technology. This is critical, as a Deloitte report shows that Asia will be home to 60% of the world’s over 65s by 2030.

Unsurprisingly, the rising adoption of voice solutions in the Asian markets has also led to a demand for text-to-speech software to be available in more than just the English language. While the English language holds the major share of the text-to-speech market, Mandarin, Hindi, and Spanish are all showing signs of growth.

How text-to-speech software makes business interactions better

Voice solutions are benefitting forward-thinking businesses across the globe. While text-to-speech software in particular is known to both improve a company’s bottom line and streamline operations, the software also stands to increase customer satisfaction which, of course, can grow your bottom line. Profitability and productivity aside, text-to-speech software is also helping businesses to keep sensitive information private, make businesses more accessible, and make messaging a strategic part of business.

When you think of text-to-speech software, the most obvious benefit of that comes to mind is usually that it creates opportunity for people with different reading abilities, including dyslexia and the visually impaired, or even for people on-the-go. Not only can they get access to your content, but the assistive technology allows those impaired to tailor their consumption experience using intuitive voice commands.

While the assistive benefits are far-reaching and much-needed, text-to-speech software is also helping businesses to automate service interactions and expedite the outreach of promotional material. After all, having to dial thousands of customers per day manually can wear down even the very best sales teams, and no customer wants to be put on hold.

From personalised messages to promotional mass communications, text-to-speech technology can help businesses communicate at scale and bridge communication gaps. With an SMS API, customers and service providers enjoy the convenience of text messaging without sacrificing the clarity of a voice call.

What’s the best text-to-speech software?

8x8 revitalised text-to-speech technology, so that businesses of any shape and size can improve the odds that passwords, notifications, alerts, and other sensitive data will be received, as well as ease the workload involved in sending mass promotional content.

What makes us different is that we designed our interface in a way that reduces manual intervention and automates redundant labour-intensive processes—and our solution does not enforce call length limits. We also provide a range of voices and pre-recording options, and we give our customers the ability to improve answer rates by reaching landlines.

How our text-to-speech software works is also refreshingly simple. Your developer simply implements a voice messaging API and sets parameters, such as language, voice profile, and phone number. The API platform will then do the work of converting your text into a voice call to your end user. Flexible API parameters can be used for those businesses with complex requirements, but otherwise, the software can be implemented without an inch of coding. It can also be used in 45 different languages.

At 8x8, we know that what’s underpinning any company’s ability to move forward in today’s turbulent business landscape is easy, fast, and open communications. Our day-to-day interactions simply need to be more natural, and that’s what our text-to-speech software was designed to do best.

To find out how you can integrate our voice solution and resolve communication problems once and for all, contact us at hello-cpaas@8x8.com for a quick demo.