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It's taking longer than expected for people to warm up to buyingthings with their smart speakers, according to new research. Thereare two credit unions that have been using smart speaker technologyfor years, and executives there say that's just fine.

Smart speakers are still the future, they said, and members willinevitably flock to voice technology for money-related tasks.

When that will actually happen, however, is still unknown.According to new data from the New York City-based digital researchfirm eMarketer, the number of people paying for things via smartspeaker is falling below forecasts. Back in the second quarter of2019, eMarketer thought 23.6 million people would use their voicesto spend money via smart speaker by the end of 2020. But earlierthis month, the company said it now thinks that number will be morelike 21.6 million. It also cut its estimate of the number of smartspeaker users.

"A key reason for the revised forecast is that device-makershaven't fully gained users' trust," eMarketer said. "The absence ofscreens on many smart speaker models is an added aspect of thisproblem — people often want to see products before a purchase. As aresult, some voice buyers are instead opting to make purchases withother voice-controlled devices that have screens, such assmartphones and tablets."

That idea could be one reason so many credit unions seem to beavoiding voice technology. According to a recent survey by CornerstoneAdvisors, just 5% of credit unions have already deployed voicetechnologies. However, 24% said they planned to invest in it and/orimplement it this year, and 49% have discussed it at the board orexecutive team level. Only 22% said it's not even on the radar.

One of those early adopters — credit unions that already havesmart speaker technology available to members — is the SpokaneValley, Wash.-based Numerica Credit Union. The credit union, whichhas $2.5 billion in assets and about 154,000 members, launched an Alexa skill back in Feb. 2018. It has plans tolaunch a skill for Google smart speakers soon.

"The adoption rate continues to be pretty low," Numerica SVP ofIT KayCee Murray told CU Times. "I often compare it tomobile, where it was like, 'Mobile's the next big thing, mobile'sthe next big thing," and it felt like we heard that for five yearsbefore all of a sudden it was like, 'Oh my gosh, mobile is blowingup.'"

KayCeeMurray

"I think it's going to continue to be like that, where it's alittle bit slow. There are people that are nervous about it and arejust nervous about the speakers in general. And you had that withmobile banking as well, where people were nervous about thesecurity of it and that kind of stuff. So I think that continues tobe a deterrent," she said.

The Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Enrichment Federal Credit Unionlaunched its voice technology in 2017, CEO Craig Peters said. A bigtrigger was its 2016 change in core processors. "Changing our coresystems from one that was a patchwork to one that was moreup-to-date has driven a lot of infrastructure changes that we'vemade here," he said. Enrichment has $530 million in assets andabout 45,000 members.

Like Numerica, its voice technology hasn't seen huge adoptionamong members — yet.

"It's probably 400 to 500 members out of 45,000. It's not caughton with people as much as you would think, but I think a lot ofit's because they don't know how to do it," Peters said.

So far, the biggest mechanical hurdle for members has been thesign-up process. "If they have trouble getting set up the firsttime, sometimes they just go. They quit, and they're done," Murraysaid. "That's probably the biggest deterrent or the biggest issuewe run into, and a lot of times, too, you don't know who thosemembers are."

But adoption rate isn't deterring either credit union right now.More and better capabilities are on the horizon. For Enrichment,the next frontier could be bill pay by voice. Numerica members maysoon be able to do card freezes by voice.

"Artificial intelligence isn't going to go away. It's going togrow. It just hasn't taken off yet," Peters said.

When it will take off is still the question, though Murraysuggested it could be sooner rather than later.

"Sometimes you get people that will say, 'Well, our membership'snot asking for it yet.' And I think sometimes on these newfeatures, it's not something that your membership is going to askfor until you actually use it or they see it," she said. "And theyuse it, and try it out, and go, 'Oh. That is super convenient. Ilove that feature now.'"