Decision Making Model for Choosing Voice-Operated Intelligent Speakers for Graduate Students

The recent technological advancements have shed light on some futuristic inventions and possibilities. One of these inventions and technologies has been home automation especially due to the rise of Internet of Things. One of the main areas of advancement in home automation has been Voice-operated speakers. Given the surprising success of the Amazon Echo ‐‐ a smart speaker that responds to your voice commands, plays music, and controls your smart home ‐‐ this area has become a competitive one. With Google Home entering the arena, backed by the company's ubiquitous search engine, the Echo's place on top is no longer secure. This growth will, evidently, increase the poll of sellers and would make the decision-making process an arduous one, both, for producers and the buyers of these products. This study looks into the decision-making criteria for the selection of the best voice operated speaker by consumers in order to facilitate the decision-making process involving smart, voice activated speakers. The Hierarchical Decision Model (HDM) has been used to establish a model based on perspectives, criteria, and alternatives. Furthermore, with the aim of better demonstrating the practicality of the study, five real voice operated speaker products are evaluated based on the perspectives and criteria weights obtained from the HDM model and scores.