Voice Picking and Voice Guidance for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Traditional voice-picking has a flaw that rarely gets discussed openly. When a system tells a worker to pick an item, and the worker confirms verbally, there is no physical verification that the correct item was actually picked. The worker could pick something completely different, and the system would never know. Warehouse Insight’s Voice Guidance solves this. Workers receive audio instructions directing them to the correct bin and item. Then they scan a barcode to confirm. The voice gets them there. The scan verifies what they actually picked.
At a Glance
- Audio instructions guide workers to the correct bin and item during picking, without requiring them to look at the screen.
- A barcode scan is still required to confirm every pick, physically verifying the correct item was taken.
- Paired with wearable computers and ring scanners, Voice Guidance delivers a near-hands-free picking workflow.
- Delivered as an add-on from the Warehouse Insight Add-On Catalog, built using the App Designer’s Voice Guidance function block.
Have a Question about Voice Picking?
Key Capabilities
Audio-directed picking with barcode verification. The device speaks instructions to the worker — bin location, item, quantity — while the worker moves through the warehouse. When they reach the correct location and item, they scan the barcode. Business Central validates the scan in real time. The combination of audio direction and barcode confirmation gives workers the speed benefit of voice with the accuracy benefit of scan verification.
Wearable computer and ring scanner integration. Voice Guidance is designed to work with wrist- or arm-worn wearable computers paired with finger-worn ring scanners. The worker hears the instruction, walks to the bin, and scans with a ring scanner: no device to hold, no screen to look at, no handheld to hold. The workflow is as close to fully hands-free as barcode-based picking gets.
Configurable via App Designer Voice Guidance function block. Voice Guidance in Warehouse Insight is built using a dedicated function block in the App Designer. The Voice Guidance block can be dropped into any override or custom application to add audio output to any point in any workflow. The text the device speaks, the trigger that fires it, and the workflow it sits within are all configurable in Business Central.
Accessibility support for vision-impaired workers. Voice Guidance provides an alternative to Android’s TalkBack screen reader for workers with visual impairments. TalkBack is functional but designed for general Android use, not warehouse workflows. Voice Guidance delivers warehouse-specific audio instructions within the Warehouse Insight workflow, making the application genuinely usable for workers who cannot rely on screen-based interaction.
How Voice Guidance Works in Warehouse Insight
Voice Guidance is installed from the Warehouse Insight Add-On Catalog in Business Central. Once installed, the Voice Guidance function block becomes available in the App Designer. Administrators or implementers place the block at the appropriate point in a picking workflow or override, configure the text to be spoken at that step, and save. The device reads the configuration from Business Central at runtime and speaks the instruction when the workflow reaches that point.
During a pick run, the worker hears the bin location and item they need to pick. They walk to the bin. They scan the item barcode. Business Central validates the scan: correct item, correct bin, correct quantity. The pick line advances and the device speaks the next instruction. If the scan does not match, the device flags the error immediately. The worker does not move on until the correct item is confirmed.
Paired with a wrist-worn wearable computer and a finger-ring scanner, the workflow requires no handheld device and no screen interaction. The worker’s hands are free throughout the pick run, with voice directing each step and ring scanner confirming each action.
Why Voice Guidance Outperforms Traditional Voice Picking
Traditional voice-picking systems direct workers via voice and accept verbal confirmation. A worker says a check digit or confirms a location verbally, and the system records the pick as complete. No physical object is verified. No barcode is read. The system trusts the spoken confirmation.
The problem is straightforward: a worker can verbally confirm a pick of the wrong item and the system records it as correct. The error reaches the customer. Voice-only picking systems have no mechanism to catch this because they never verify what was physically handled.
Warehouse Insight’s Voice Guidance keeps the audio direction that makes voice picking appealing: workers do not need to look at a screen or hold a device to know where to go and what to pick. But it replaces verbal confirmation with a barcode scan. The scan physically verifies that the correct item was handled before the pick line advances. An error at the bin is caught at the bin, not at the customer’s dock.
This is the core difference between a voice-guidance system built on top of barcode-scanning infrastructure and a standalone voice-picking system. The barcode scan is not an extra step — it is the verification step that makes the pick accurate.
Who Uses Voice Guidance
High-volume picking operations use Voice Guidance to increase pick speed by reducing the time workers spend looking at a screen between picks. Workers in noisy warehouse environments benefit from audio confirmation of each step without needing to read small text on a handheld screen. Vision-impaired workers use Voice Guidance as a purpose-built alternative to generic screen reader technology. Wearable computer deployments pair Voice Guidance with ring scanners to free workers’ hands entirely during pick runs, particularly in order fulfillment operations where pick speed and accuracy are measured per worker per shift.
Frequently Asked Questions
Traditional voice-picking systems direct workers via voice and accept verbal confirmation of picks, with no physical verification of what was actually handled. Warehouse Insight’s Voice Guidance provides audio instructions directing the worker to the correct bin and item, but requires a barcode scan to confirm every pick. The scan physically verifies that the correct item was handled before the pick line advances. This combination delivers the speed of voice direction with the accuracy of barcode scanning, eliminating the core weakness of voice-only systems.
No. Voice Guidance works on any Android handheld device running Warehouse Insight with audio output. A standard Android handheld with a speaker or connected headset delivers the audio instructions. Wearable computers and ring scanners are recommended for operations seeking the closest possible approximation of a hands-free workflow, as they free the worker’s hands entirely during the pick run. Standard handhelds with headsets also deliver the audio benefit while using the device’s built-in scanner for confirmation.
Voice Guidance is available as an add-on that can be installed from the Warehouse Insight Add-On Catalog in Business Central. It is built using the Voice Guidance function block in the App Designer, which means it can be configured and placed within any Warehouse Insight workflow or custom application without modifying core code. Installation is handled from within Business Central through the Add-On Catalog.
Yes. The Voice Guidance function block in the App Designer can be placed at any point in any Warehouse Insight workflow or custom application. Audio output can be added to receiving, put-away, shipping, counting, or any custom application built in the App Designer. The text the device speaks and the trigger that fires it are configurable per workflow step in Business Central.
Watch the on-demand demo at dmsiworks.com/apps/warehouse-insight#demo, or reach out to your Microsoft Partner to see how Warehouse Insight fits your operation.