For many applications, the size and depth of touchtone menus were confusing, inflexible and made completing certain transactions long and laborious. Other applications, even with very short, flat menus, were difficult to maneuver because users were required to input alphanumeric representations such as stock symbols, airport codes or long part numbers. This lack of user friendliness defeated the purpose of automation and capped self-service adoption rates. Callers became frustrated and dissatisfied. Many simply "zeroed out" and waited for an agent or worse, abandoned the call. The touchtone interface created a longer, more costly call, agents' workloads were not reduced, and they were still forced to take routine calls. Speech recognition eliminates this problem. Early deployments in the business, finance, and insurance vertical markets clearly suggest that Advanced Speech Recognition (ASR) is not simply replacing agents. It is replacing entire DTMF self-service platforms because the call avoidance economics that justified these platforms are being exhausted at five or six menu options. This is not a capacity limitation; it is a user interface (UI) limitation and to continue to enjoy additional cost savings through self-service voice automation requires going to speech recognition. New ASR capability combined with IVR offers the advantages of automation in a much more user-friendly way. No interface is more natural than simply speaking your request into a telephone. Speech recognition dramatically reduces on-hold time and eliminates confusing touchtone menus. Consumers have reacted very favorably to speech recognition. In May of 2000, Nuance, Inc., completed a comprehensive study of speech-system users. This study found that 83 percent preferred speech systems to touchtone, and the overall satisfaction rating with these systems exceeded 87 percent. Many respondents also preferred speech systems to agents and/or operators because of the consistent service level this medium provides. A recent Frost & Sullivan study noted that 50 to 60 percent of callers who skip complex touchtone systems are comfortable using speech recognition for the same application. Studies by Meridien Research from October of 2000 have shown up to 70 percent of the straightforward calls currently received by contact centers can be easily automated with voice recognition.
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Published: Tuesday, May 27, 2003
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