Bringing Speech Technologies to the Enterprise Ken Waln C.T.O. and V.P. of Engineering Edify Corporation

Agenda Why Enterprise Speech? Branding Routing Economies of scale Single-number Access How Technology can help

What do I mean by “Enterprise Speech”? Employing speech for multiple applications and organizations Providing consistency across applications Pushing speech down to smaller applications Branding your Speech Interfaces Making Speech an Enterprise initiative, not just solving a problem

Current State of the Market Few implementations are truly enterprise focused Many companies have multiple IVRs in many silos and several speech initiatives The customer experience in many cases is horrible Total Cost of Ownership is often unknown (and probably higher than many realize)

How an Enterprise Initiative Can Help Cost: o Systems o Software o Training o Application Components o Physical Infrastructure o Telco costs (including transfers) o Back-office connectivity Why not share the burden? Makes it practical to do more applications Customer satisfaction

How it helps the customer One phone number, easy to find Enter information once System has access to more data o phone numbers to do ANI routing o CRM data Reduced transfers between automated systems and between call centers Don’t reenter data (CTI)

Deep in menu – press 1 for store locations Typical Situation ACD Press 1 for English Press 1 for service, 2 for sales, 3 for support… Service Vendor 2 – DTMF Router by product Support Vendor 1 – DTMF Router by product Sales Vendor 1 – DTMF Router by function Locator Outsourced speech PSTN Incoming call 1 English 2 Sales Network transfer Gets a store location

So What Did The Caller Experience Three Voices Two Ringing Phones Two “Your call may be monitored…” o Or even three? Two DTMF systems o Different instructions One speech system o Outsourced o Generic voice, no branding Probably 60% of the call was getting to the right place

And What About the Company? Toll charges for long call Network transfer charge Outsourcing fee Many systems to maintain Poor call tracking o ACD says call completed with a transfer to locator = success o Sales IVR says “call transferred” – may or may not log why o Outsourcer says “caller got what he wanted” but did he? What if the nearest store is too far or he asked out of curiosity but had a real question? No chance to transfer back or complete another transaction.

Voice Portal – Phase 1 ACD Only for live call center Immediately route all calls to Portal Service Backend system feeds data to app on Portal Support Voice App Server Supplies VoiceXML Dialogs Sales 3 rd Party App Server supplies VoiceXML Locator Built into Portal PSTN Voice Portal VoiceXML to Portal Web Service Data Feed

Results for the Caller One Voice, One Brand One Disclaimer (if needed) One set of Instructions, etc. One Dialog o “How can I help you?” o “Briefly tell me the reason for your call” Transfer and go back always available (no transfers) o No dead ends o E.g. Can do a transaction after the locator Short call o In and out – got what he needed

Results for the Company Positive Brand Reinforcement No Network Transfer charge No charge for locator Shorter call Real statistics of call Transaction possible after locator app o What if system asked “can I locate a product for you at that store” and fulfilled the order online? One system to maintain Sharing of ports Happy customer!

Other Benefits Smaller applications can be cost justified once the infrastructure is in place Speech easier to cost justify Reuse applications o Many functions will be shared between apps o Can’t share if they are on different platforms o E.g. Product identifier for sales and service, store locator at main menu and in service o Also use available packaged applications and modules Net result – speech used throughout o Higher containment o Happier users o Competitive advantage

Voice Portal – Phase 2 ACD Only for live call center Immediately route all calls to Portal Service Backend system feeds data to app on Portal Support Voice App Server Supplies VoiceXML Dialogs Sales 3 rd Party App Server supplies VoiceXML Locator Built into Portal VoIP Network Voice Portal VoiceXML to Portal Web Service Data Feed

Additional Benefit of VoIP Portal in front of PBX/ACD o Could do this with PSTN, but network transfer charges apply o IP transfer to ACD (or IPACD) for live help o CTI data transfer simplified o Transfer between networks and internationally if needed IP IVR with Speech o Just another app server o Can be located anywhere on the network

What Makes it Work? Routing Front End Compelling Voice User Interface Robust Open Platform Applications and Components

The Routing Front-End Key to having a one number access is accurate routing Use open prompting with a Statistical Language Model Grammars Keys to success o Tools for grammar development o Data collection o Usability testing o Expert designers

VUI Design -- A Web Analogy In the early days, programmers built the web sites o Often lackluster, not portraying the right image of the company In the next stage, marketing took over o The message improved o But sometimes usability suffered Big graphics on dial-up lines Complex menus Too much “fluff”, substance missing

The Web Site Today How is a company’s web site designed today o Usually starts with marketing o Creative teams, consultants, graphics artists o Usability analysis o Focus groups o And finally the programmers implement it o Testing before rollout And the design is likely to be refined and improved on a frequent basis o Adding content o Refreshing look and feel o Give people a reason to return o Efficient and effective

Factors in branding and Persona 1.Personality of the System 2.Voice casting 3.Direction of voice 4.Non-Speech audio (audio icons, music) 5.User Interface 6.Text of prompts 7.Technology production Retailer

Designing a Speech Application Persona o Can become a logo of your company just like a visual logo o Can provide consistency with other audio media o Applications can utilize multiple voices if carefully designed (different voices for different purposes) o Different tones and moods are appropriate for different applications It’s art, not technology o Create the persona o Cast the voice o Write the script o Direct the performance

The importance of standards Platform -- VoiceXML 2.0 o Conformance tested o Allows interoperability of custom and packaged applications o Also related standards for grammars (SRGS) and TTS (SSML) o But it is not the answer, just a language Infrastructure -- SIP o The VoIP standard o Note H.323 is widely deployed, but SIP appears to be the standard going forward.

Reducing the cost of deployment Reusable components o Reduce time to market o Consistent, tested user interface Packaged templates or kits o Many reusable components for a vertical application area Locator module Name and address capture Payments Routing o Range from a good starting point to complete applications Complete application should come with configuration tools, management reports, complete out-of-the-box VUI –But customizable and brandable

How to get started Pick the best initial application o Fast ROI o Demonstrable value Implement it in an enterprise way o Standards based platforms o Quality, branded interface o Enterprise-class infrastructure Partner with experts o A wide range of skills will increase success Use the success to add more applications and capacity

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