FinSight

Empowering Financial Independence for the Visually Impaired

Inspiration

The inspiration behind FinSight is to break down barriers and make financial management accessible to everyone, regardless of their visual abilities. We recognized the challenges faced by elderly individuals with visual impairments when it comes to managing their finances. Our mission is to empower them and ensure that they can confidently handle their financial affairs. With over 2.2 billion visually impaired people around the world, FinSight has the potential to change their lives by providing them with the tools they need to achieve financial independence and security.

What it does

FinSight is an innovative financial management application designed with accessibility in mind. It utilizes IBM Watson's text-to-speech technology to transform personal financial data into natural, easy-to-understand speech. This allows users, especially those with visual impairments, to have their financial information read aloud to them. In addition to this, FinSight offers a user-centric design with large, clear fonts, high contrast, and an intuitive layout, ensuring that navigation is effortless. Users can access real-time account balances, review detailed transaction histories, and gain valuable insights into their financial health.

How we built it

Text-to-Speech Magic

The heart of FinSight lies in its seamless text-to-speech functionality. We harnessed the power of IBM Watson's cutting-edge technology to make financial data come alive. Our development process included the following key steps:

Integration with IBM Watson: We integrated IBM Watson's Text-to-Speech API, configuring it to handle financial terminology and data with precision. This involved training the system to recognize specific financial terms and read them in a natural and comprehensible manner.
Customized Speech Synthesis: To enhance the user experience, we customized the speech synthesis engine to adapt to the preferences of elderly users. This ensured that not only was the information read aloud, but it was done so in a manner that was easy to follow and understand.
Real-Time Data Conversion: FinSight performs real-time data conversion, meaning that as users interact with their financial information, it is instantly transformed into spoken words. This allows users to receive immediate feedback and stay up-to-date with their finances.

Plaid for Real-Time Financial Data

To ensure that FinSight provides users with up-to-date and accurate financial information, we integrated Plaid's data transfer network into our application. Plaid's robust financial data infrastructure allows us to securely access users' live bank account balances and transactions. This integration is pivotal in enabling users to stay on top of their finances effortlessly.

The key steps involved in leveraging Plaid's data transfer network within FinSight included:

Plaid API Integration: We seamlessly integrated Plaid's API into our application, allowing users to link their bank accounts securely.
Secure Data Transfer: Plaid's data transfer network ensures the secure transfer of financial data from users' banks to FinSight, maintaining the highest standards of data protection and privacy.
Real-Time Updates: With Plaid, users can access real-time account balances, review recent transactions, and gain a comprehensive view of their financial health without the need for manual data entry.

By incorporating Plaid's data transfer network, we've enhanced FinSight's ability to provide users with the most accurate and current financial information, further empowering them to manage their finances confidently and effectively.

Optical Recognition for Receipts

In addition to text-to-speech, we've integrated optical recognition technology into FinSight, enabling automatic content recognition in receipts. This feature streamlines the process of inputting and categorizing financial data:

AI-Powered Optical Recognition: We leveraged AI-based optical recognition frameworks to automatically scan and interpret content from receipts. This technology identifies key information such as transaction amounts, dates, merchant names, and itemized lists of purchases.
Receipt Organization: Once the information is extracted, FinSight organizes it into a structured format, making it easily accessible to users. This automated process eliminates the need for manual entry, saving users time and reducing the risk of input errors.
Seamless Integration: The optical recognition feature seamlessly integrates with FinSight's existing interface, providing users with a comprehensive view of their financial transactions, both manually inputted and automatically recognized.

Apple's Accessibility Features

To provide a seamless "vision" for personal finance, we integrated Apple's versatile accessibility features. This ensures that FinSight is accessible to a wide range of users with varying needs:

SiriKit Custom Intent: We utilized SiriKit's custom intent to provide accessible control over the app without the need to see the app. Users can use voice commands to perform various tasks within FinSight, enhancing the overall accessibility and user experience.
Apple's Vision Framework: We implemented Apple's Vision framework to help detect whether the camera can see the document and implement its optical character recognition to send to the AI Models for analysis. This feature enhances the accessibility of FinSight, especially for users who may rely on visual input.
AVFoundation Speech Features: We used AVFoundation Speech features to provide a simple text-to-speech for user experience. This addition ensures that users can benefit from spoken information and navigation within the app.

Challenges we ran into

During the development of FinSight, we encountered several challenges. Some of the major ones included:

Integrating Text-to-Speech: Implementing IBM Watson's Text-to-Speech technology seamlessly within the app presented technical challenges that required creative problem-solving.
Designing for Accessibility: Ensuring that the user interface was genuinely accessible to elderly individuals with visual impairments and that SiriKit and AVFoundation Speech features were seamlessly integrated was a complex task.
Data Security: Handling sensitive financial data securely was a top priority, and we invested significant effort in implementing robust security measures.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of several key accomplishments:

Accessibility: Successfully creating an app that truly serves the accessibility needs of elderly users with visual impairments, making financial management inclusive for all.
Innovative Technology: Incorporating IBM Watson's text-to-speech technology alongside Apple's accessibility features to provide a unique and seamless user experience.
Positive User Feedback: Receiving positive feedback from our early users, who have found FinSight to be a valuable tool in managing their finances.

What we learned

Through the development of FinSight, we've learned valuable lessons in accessibility, user-centered design, and the importance of leveraging advanced technologies for social impact. More importantly, we've gained insights into the unique challenges faced by elderly individuals with visual impairments in managing their finances.

What's next for FinSight

The journey for FinSight doesn't stop here. Our future plans include:

Expanding Platform Compatibility: We aim to make FinSight available on a wider range of devices and platforms to reach an even broader audience.
Enhanced Features: We plan to continuously improve the app by adding more features and functionality based on user feedback and evolving needs.
Community Engagement: Building a strong community around FinSight to gather insights, share experiences, and create a supportive environment for users.
Global Outreach: Expanding our reach to make Fin

Sight is accessible to elderly individuals with visual impairments worldwide.

Thank you for considering FinSight, and we're excited about the journey ahead as we work towards a more inclusive and accessible financial world.