Speech Recognition
While speech recognition has a patchy record in connection with desktop applications, it is enjoying considerableâ€"though not universalâ€" success in phone-based systems.
Industry analysts at META Group recently concluded -Although initial integration and investment cost obstacles remain, speech recognition-enabled contact centres and internal information source capabilities have entered the mainstream and are increasingly penetrating the enterprise as a broader user interface option."
According to James Brooks, managing director of Genesys Laboratories Australasia, interest in speech recognition is largely the result of two trends. The current climate drives organisations to reduce costs at the same time as improving service, and the widespread use of mobile phones (and a propensity to use them to fill in -unproductive" time such as travelling) means speech-based services are attractive to both parties.
The gaming industry has been a very successful user of speech recognition, he says, largely because from a technical standpoint, transactions are easily defined and there are not too many variables. From a client's perspective, speech makes it quick and easy to place a bet.
While there have been several very successful speech implementations in the customer contact arena, the technology doesn't have a 100 percent record. -I think some customers have picked the wrong applications to auto-mate," says Brooks.
The banks are all looking at augmenting their current tone-based phone banking systems with speech recognition -but the difficulty is coming up with a business case," he saysâ€"the question is whether making phone banking friendlier will lead to more people using it.
-All of these systems will have to offer both [tone and speech] options" due to people's need for privacy and problems with background noise, Brooks suggests.
Banks are also considering the use of voice portals to handle incoming calls. The idea is to let customers say what they're calling about, and then ask them specific questions according to their response in order to route the call to the most appropriate person.
Applying tone-based IVR requires too many menus or too many choices to give sufficiently fine granularity. One bank has already trialled such a system: -It's good, it's very good," says Brooks.
Standards such as VXML make it easier and cheaper to integrate speech-based systems with back-end applications, he says. This means much of the work carried out to deliver transactions or information via the Web can be reused, and any subsequent changes can flow through to both channels.
On the corporate side, Brooks predicts growth over the next few years in the use of speech interfaces to human resources systems.
A lot of work has been done to provide intranet-based self-service HR systems, but mobile employees might not use an intranet every day. -There are huge opportunities for efficiencies," he says. Genesys is working with companies such as SAP to integrate speech with HR systems.
Dimension Data account manager Haydn Faltyn agrees. While contact centre automation and efficiency represented the -low hanging fruit" for speech recognition, it is applicable to other business issues including remote workforce administration. Dimension Data's strategies currently revolve around leveraging existing applications and infrastructure, and -speech recognition is a sweet spot" as it connects an existing phone network with applications such as SAP and Peoplesoft.
Delivering functions such as timesheets, pay-roll, and rostering via voice as an alternative to Web access -is generating a huge amount of interest," he says.
For example, businesses such as cinemas that employ young casual staff have improved on-time attendance by making the rostering system available by phone. Each employee can be given the following week's roster in an automated phone call, and if any of the proposed shifts cause problems they can bid for a different slot or ask to talk to someone in the HR department. SMS messages can also be sent to remind workers of their rostered shift for the following day. -It's all about supercharging business processes and giving access," says Faltyn.
An organisation with 100,000 employees may have 95,000 casuals these days, and only a small fraction of those might have access to the company's intranet, he suggests. This means there is great potential to reduce costs through automation, especially if a speech interface can be added to existing systems.
Other job functions where speech-based interfaces to administrative systems are proving fruitful involve truck drivers, meter readers, power line maintenance workers, and field service technicians, he adds.
Dimension Data has a portfolio of over 20 speech applications that can be quickly and relatively cheaply deployed at new sites.
-You're plugging in next to the Web server," says Faltyn, exploiting standards to get inter-operability. -When you get it right, speech is absolutely compelling," he says, adding -we've proven that it works."
