Using Hosted Speech Solutions In The Call Center by Joe Fleischer Co-Author, The Complete Guide to Customer Support

Agenda Outline the role of automation in customer care and where speech fits in Describe the role of hosted applications in customer care Reveal why hosted speech applications are particularly useful for call centers

The Role of Automation in Customer Care Reduces costs of employing live agents to handle routine transactions; Improves the efficiency of transactions, especially those where customers care most about speed and convenience; and Improves the efficiency of internal processes, like call monitoring, within call centers.

Why Are Speech Tools Useful for Call Centers? As an adjunct or alternative to interactive voice response (IVR), speech applications appeal far more to customers than IVR alone. For callers, speech applications offer the only viable methods of automating reservations and other transactions involving names or places. Within call centers, speech analytics tools offer efficient methods of identifying recorded conversations that have significant implications for the overall business.

Speech Analytics Enables call centers to identify specific words and phrases during agents’ conversations with customers Helps speed up searches for calls that contain language associated with specific outcomes Supports, but cannot replace, evaluations from supervisors, colleagues and customers

The Role of Hosting in Customer Care Hosting offers an alternative or adjunct to deploying equipment and/or software on-site. For many call centers, it is now standard practice to use hosted deployments of various applications. These applications have typically included routing, IVR and customer relationship management (CRM) tools. In recent years, speech tools have joined the ranks of essential hosted applications.

Examples of Hosted Speech Applications As is the case with IVR and nonhosted speech tools, they typically enable callers to do the following: Look up account information, Place orders, Pay bills, Activate services (like those from utility companies), Change addresses, Find locations and/or branches of companies and Receive answers to frequently-asked questions.

More Examples of Hosted Speech Applications Hosted speech apps also enable call centers to improve internal operations, or offer new options to customers, through: Speech analytics Voice verification (in lieu of account numbers) Automated notifications These typically inform consumers, and enable them to make decisions, about the status of flights, deliveries or mortgage applications. They’re ideal for processes subject to unpredictable delays, like flights, or that entail multiple stages of completion, like mortgage applications.

Who Provides Hosted Speech Apps? Developers of on-premise speech applications Application service providers that host multiple types of tools, including speech tools, some of which are from third parties Outsourcers that employ agents; these companies advise call centers on: which customer care operations to outsource and which operations to automate.

What Providers of Hosted Speech Apps Offer Call Centers Infrastructure Economies of scale Hard-to-find expertise on: Types of speech apps that work best for each center and How best to deploy them

Thank You! Joe Fleischer Co-Author, The Complete Guide to Customer Support E-mail: josephmfleischer@aol.com