Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd How speech recognition can ensure business continuity for your telephony Tony Norman Senior Technical Sales Consultant

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd Ring, ring… no one there In recent years business continuity has been dominated by IT-protecting data and data recovery Both the London Underground bombings and the Buncefield oil terminal fire incidents highlighted to many firms in the UK how vulnerable companies can be in respect of telecoms

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd The sobering facts 24% of businesses suffered a loss of their telecommunications links during the last year CMI 60% of businesses that experienced a loss of telecommunications service for a period of ten days ceased trading within a year. Henley Management Institute This should come as no surprise given that 80% of commercial transactions are conducted via telephone.

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd Ring, ring… no one there In the Buncefield Oil Facility explosions, although several of the buildings on the estate were destroyed, the telecoms infrastructure was hardly affected The phone lines were working which meant calls came into the building but there were no staff to answer them

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd Ring, ring… no one there The trouble is, the immediate DR solution companies think of – moving on to a second secure site – is fraught with practical problems when it comes to telecoms.

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd Ring, ring… no one there Most companies rely on a range of Direct Inward Dial numbers to reduce the number of calls going to the switchboard operators PSTN XXXX

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd Ring, ring… no one there Your carrier can switch your number range to another location within about 40 minutes but the Direct Dial information is not presented so all the calls go to the switchboard operator and swamp the service. PSTN XXXX

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd A Solution for Slaughter and May Slaughter and May, a leading London law firm, has been using a speech-activated directory at its Bunhill Row, London office since June Now the firm has used an extension of this speech solution to ensure telephony continuity in any situation.

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd A Solution for Slaughter and May The system is a speech driven virtual operator. It enables members of the firm to simply say the name of the person or department they wish to contact and be connected quickly and efficiently Remembering extension numbers or searching for them in telephone directories is no longer required.

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd A Solution for Slaughter and May In the event of an emergency or disaster, Slaughter and May were keen to ensure continuity of service to all their clients. They therefore decided to implement a Business Continuity system for the firm’s telephony. The decision was taken that a second voice-activated directory would be installed at Slaughter and May’s contingency site.

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd A Solution for Slaughter and May The system has a duplicate database of contacts and synchronises with the Bunhill Row office systems to ensure contacts remain up to date. DATA VAD Bunhill Row DR Site

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd A Solution for Slaughter and May In the event of an emergency damaging the infrastructure of Bunhill Row such as fire, electrical fault, careless excavator… VAD Bunhill Row DR Site PSTN

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd A Solution for Slaughter and May or more extreme circumstances, for example a terrorist attack… ContactPortalVAD Bunhill Row DR Site PSTN

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd A Solution for Slaughter and May The main phone contact numbers would be re-directed to the voice-activated directory at their contingency site. ContactPortalVAD Bunhill Row DR Site PSTN

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd A Solution for Slaughter and May This provides a polite and efficient service to clients and minimises any interruption to business. ContactPortalVAD Bunhill Row DR Site PSTN

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd A Solution for Slaughter and May If desired, the DR system can inform callers that an evacuation is in process, prior to connecting them to their requested contact ContactPortalVAD Bunhill Row DR Site PSTN

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd A Solution for Slaughter and May The DR System allows members of the firm to have a dedicated evacuation contact location in the system. When an evacuation is invoked, calls for a contact will be routed to their pre-defined evacuation contact location instead of their desk. If no evacuation location has been set a mobile and/or home number would be tried before placing the call to the operator.

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd A Solution for Slaughter and May If, during an evacuation, members of the firm decide their pre-set evacuation location is no longer appropriate, users can change their contact location using the system’s TUI (Telephone User Interface). For example, if their evacuation location is “mobile” but the user is working at home they can route calls to their home number instead, thus ensuring maximum flexibility at a critical time.

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd A Solution for Slaughter and May The DR system will also enable members of the firm to call into the contingency site and use the speed dial facilities to ensure they can easily contact other staff and clients without needing to look in directories or speak to operators This is despite being at temporary office accommodation or even working from home.

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd But wait a minute! How can you tell all those staff that this is happening? You could rely on the fire alarm but what if it is out of normal office hours? What about people who are off site?

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd What do organisations do now? Manual paper-based process Multiple Contact numbers per person – mobile, home, office pager etc. Cascade systems are fatally flawed 10 successful calls could take as long 20 – 30 minutes

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd Time is a valuable commodity Contact many people quickly Pass information Gain a response Measure data Improve process

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd How can you achieve this? Use an electronic notification system Stores and administers the call out lists Fast calling - in excess of 30 contacts per minute in a basic system. Response from Contact is logged Real-time statistics of contacts responses Full audit of the incident with instantaneous reports

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd Improve the process Run Test Analyse Tune Process Collect Reports Cycle of Continuous Improvement

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd In Summary

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd Ring, ring… no one there The Important Question HOW LONG CAN YOUR BUSINESS LAST WITHOUT TAKING A SINGLE PHONE CALL? ?