Speech Technology Excellence Award[TM].Finding cost efficiencies in the call center seems to be following Moore's law "The number of transistors and resistors on a chip doubles every 18 months." By Intel co-founder Gordon Moore regarding the pace of semiconductor technology. He made this famous comment in 1965 when there were approximately 60 devices on a chip. : that is, as more and more call centers implement various call center technologies, it becomes more and more difficult to "squeeze" cost savings on each phone call. Fortunately, there is one nascent nascent /nas·cent/ (nas´ent) (na´sent) 1. being born; just coming into existence. 2. just liberated from a chemical combination, and hence more reactive because uncombined. technology that has yet to be fully adopted in the call center--speech technology. Speech technology performance and accuracy is drastically better now than it once was, as integration is much easier and developer tools are much easier to use. The ROI (Return On Investment) The monetary benefits derived from having spent money on developing or revising a system. In the IT world, there are more ways to compute ROI than Carter has liver pills (and for those of you who never heard of that expression, it means a lot). on speech technology deployment is often very quick because repetitive or automatic inquiries and tasks can be offloaded from an agent to a speech recognition system. Customer Interaction Solutions[R] magazine knows that speech technology will be a key differentiator or cost savings method for call centers. We have been covering call center technology for over two decades and have therefore seen the progression from primitive predictive dialers An automatic telephone dialing system that dials from a list of numbers and turns the call over to an agent when a human responds. It increases productivity in a call center, because the agents can spend their time talking rather than waiting for calls to go through as well as hanging up and recording systems, to full CTI (Computer Telephone Integration) Combining data with voice systems in order to enhance telephone services. For example, automatic number identification (ANI) allows a caller's records to be retrieved from the database while the call is routed to the appropriate party. integration, to IP-PBXs with remote VoIP call center agents. You would be hard pressed to not find all aforementioned technologies in a good call center. And so, soon it will also be the norm, rather than the exception, that the best call centers have speech technology implemented. With new products and whole new categories of products in the contact center space, it is tough for our readers to keep up with the latest and greatest products and services. That is why Customer Interaction Solutions[R] launched the Speech Technology Excellence Award: so we can judge the "best of the best" in speech technology and pass our findings on to our readers. Congratulations to the winners. --The editors, Customer Interaction Solutions[R] magazine BeVocal, Inc. www.bevocal.com BeVocal VoCare Customer Care Call Automation Suite Comprised of more than 25 customizable applications, BeVocal's VoCare end-to-end call automation solutions are capable of handling all stages of customer care--from name/address capture and service provisioning, to account maintenance and bill payment. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The company's call automation solutions help enterprise call centers to answer, automate and route customer care calls for less money, while significantly improving customer service levels; they are intended to eliminate the expense, time wasted and headache associated with traditional call automation deployments. Core customer care application modules are reusable and are easily customizable, thus bringing the following effects: high automation rates, out-of-the-gate caller satisfaction and quick time-to-market; tools that enable rapid analysis of applications' 20-30 key performance metrics Performance metrics are measures of an organizations activities and performance. Performance metrics should support a range of stakeholder needs from customers, shareholders to employees [1]. ; and an architecture that allows improvements to be made quickly, seamlessly and cost effectively--improvement can be easily leveraged by all applications. Edify ed·i·fy tr.v. ed·i·fied, ed·i·fy·ing, ed·i·fies To instruct especially so as to encourage intellectual, moral, or spiritual improvement. Corporation www.edify.com Edify Voice Banking Edify Voice Banking is a fully licensed, comprehensive software application that enables banking establishments to automate customer interactions and provide access to financial information through speech-enabled self-service. Based on industry standards, the application can eliminate enterprise customer concerns over application functionality and compatibility issues. With Edify Voice Banking, customers calling into the system can verbally identify themselves, their account and their requests without having to traverse a complex touch-tone menu. Edify Voice Banking is comprehensive, with 16 separate modules of functionality, and is therefore able to entirely replace existing touch-tone IVR (Interactive Voice Response) An automated telephone information system that speaks to the caller with a combination of fixed voice menus and data extracted from databases in real time. applications. The application includes all business logic, error-handling, grammar structures and data access sequences for each module. The application also includes packaged prompts and effective default personas. Licensed application support means investment protection, and it provides the ability to upgrade from release to release. Edify Corporation www.edify.com Edify Voice Interaction Platform (EVIP EVIP Effectiveness Verification Improvement Program EVIP Emergency Vehicle Incident Prevention ) 9.0 By combining automation technologies--such as speech recognition, speaker verification, text-to-speech, fax and touch-tone capabilities--with a powerful application development environment and natural language capabilities, Edify Voice Interaction Platform (EVIP) 9.0 completely automates transactions that formerly required live agent assistance. The platform allows for information access across an organization and beyond, enabling companies to increase call accuracy and to accommodate higher call volumes globally, while still delivering more personalized per·son·al·ize tr.v. per·son·al·ized, per·son·al·iz·ing, per·son·al·iz·es 1. To take (a general remark or characterization) in a personal manner. 2. To attribute human or personal qualities to; personify. and intelligent customer interactions. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) www.ibm.com/pervasive WebSphere Voice Server IBM WebSphere Voice Server for Multiplatforms Version 5.1 is an advanced ASR/TTS engine with support for Media Resource Control Protocol (MRCP MRCP Member of Royal College of Physicians. MRCP abbr. Member of the Royal College of Physicians ). IBM's product is easier to manage and quicker in resolving problems, with end-to-end administration offered by the integrated administration and systems management features of WebSphere Application Server (WAS). It is more scalable and more flexible, and it can integrate to existing IT infrastructures because of the load balancing The fine tuning of a computer system, network or disk subsystem in order to more evenly distribute the data and/or processing across available resources. For example, in clustering, load balancing might distribute the incoming transactions evenly to all servers, or it might redirect them network dispatcher Software that determines what pending tasks should be done next and assigns the available resources to accomplish it. It may execute other programs or generate a list for human operators to follow. See scheduler. of WAS. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Interoperable with a range of applications through the use of a standards-based speech architecture, WebSphere Voice Server also offers multiple IVR platform support through the use of MRCP. Single development, as well as deployment for both voice and data applications, has strengthened and quickened the application development. Because of common business logic for visual and voice apps, integration has become easier. Speech applications may be taken to the Web through common development tools and skills. Multiple platforms Refers to two or more operating environments, which typically include the CPU family and operating system. For example, if versions of a program run on Windows and the Macintosh, the software is said to support multiple platforms. are supported through Linux, with diverse language support. Intervoice, Inc. www.intervoice.com Omvia Voice Express Packaged Applications Suite The 10 flexible Omvia Voice Express packaged speech applications from Intervoice, Inc. enable small to large enterprises and carriers to transform critical business processes into conversations. The applications connect people and information, while reducing upfront development costs, deployment timeframes and application development complexities. The process-based applications suite supports both SALT and VoiceXML. Omvia Voice Express applications can be used as application templates, turnkey solutions, applications as a service (ASP), configurable applications or developer applications. Enterprises can select an Omvia Voice Express application of their choice and configure it to their needs via tools supporting both .NET and J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition) A platform from Sun for building distributed enterprise applications. J2EE services are performed in the middle tier between the user's machine and the enterprise's databases and legacy information systems. environments. Powered by Microsoft SQL Server A relational DBMS from Microsoft that is a major component of the Windows Server System. It is Microsoft's high-end client/server database and is closely integrated with Microsoft Visual Studio and the Microsoft Office System. , these applications can provide enterprises with valuable operational and business insight. Detailed call logs and out-of-box reports help managers analyze system usage, efficiency and performance. These applications feature a modular construction that allows developers to add or remove functionality without reworking the entire system. LumenVox www.lumenvox.com LV Speech Tuner The LV Speech Tuner is a completely integrated maintenance tool that allows end users, value-added resellers A value-added reseller (VAR) is a company that adds some feature(s) to an existing product(s), then resells it (usually to end-users) as an integrated product or complete "turn-key" solution. and speech recognition professionals to tune and test their own applications. With this GUI-based tool, companies developing speech applications on multiple ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) Using voice recognition to replace keypad entry for telephone voice menus. Typically used to speak the digits 0 through 9 insted of keying them, ASR systems may be able to recognize a limited vocabulary. See voice recognition and AVSR. engines can bring speech application tuning in-house and avoid professional service fees. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Nexidia www.nexidia.com NEXminer Enterprise Nexidia's technology offers a consistent and efficient means for extracting information previously locked away in audio files by transforming audio data into actionable intelligence Having the necessary information immediately available in order to deal with the situation at hand. With regard to call centers, it refers to agents having customer history and related product data available on screen before the call is taken. . Nexidia's NEXminer solution is engineered to meet the demanding needs of government agencies and commercial organizations, such as contact centers, financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. and other regulated industries that require mission-critical performance. The technology fully leverages the actual phonemes that define human speech, delivering a fast and accurate solution for compliance, discovery and knowledge management applications. NEXminer's phonetic pho·net·ic adj. 1. Of or relating to phonetics. 2. Representing the sounds of speech with a set of distinct symbols, each designating a single sound. engine allows the user to search on proper names, places, industry terms and jargon, without extensive training and cumbersome dictionaries. With the ability to index files at a rate of 20 times real time, as well as to search/analyze audio files at 100,000 times real time, NEXminer Enterprise is, indeed, fast, accurate and scalable. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] NICE Systems www.nice.com NICE Perform NICE Perform, targeted at enterprises, is designed to capture multimedia interactions and the information relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc them from all relevant sources. Perform analyzes the captured content using audio analysis technology; analyzes CTI raw data to understand the customer experience; examines customer responses (using post-call surveys); analyzes contact center agents' overall performance using quality monitoring forms; extracts information from agent screens; and uses coaching applications to train call center agents on an ongoing basis. NICE Perform also presents the analyzed results in the most efficient and attractive manner to allow quick and efficient decision making by means of state-of-the-art graphic user interfaces See GUI. , advanced visualization tools, the ability to drill down and playback recorded interactions, and advanced reporting tools. Its audio analytics consist of its distinctive features: word spotting, emotion detection and talk-over analysis. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Nuance Communications Nuance Communications is a computer software technology company. Their current worldwide headquarters is in Burlington, Massachusetts in the United States. Nuance provides speech and imaging solutions and is mainly known for its speech recognition and speech synthesis software that , Inc. www.nuance.com Nuance Call Steering 1.0 Nuance Call Steering, powered by the company's Say Anything and AccuRoute technologies, enables callers to interact with an automated speech solution that lets them speak naturally and then quickly routes them to the correct destination. It eliminates the need for multiple phone numbers and touch-tone mazes that confuse customers and cost companies millions of dollars a year to maintain. The application is a robust, packaged VoiceXML application that can be rapidly deployed, and comes with application management tools and reporting, mission-critical support and a seamless upgrade path. SER Ser serine. Ser abbr. serine SER smooth endoplasmic reticulum. Ser serine. Solutions, Inc. www.ser.com SERTAINTY Automated Quality Assurance Solution Working in conjunction with third-party call recording systems, SERTAINTY combines advanced speech recognition technology with user-defined business rules to deliver fully automated quality assurance. SERTAINTY enables contact centers to listen to 100 percent of calls and to analyze and score every customer interaction. Rather than listen to an entire call, or monitor only a small fraction of all the calls made in the contact center, SERTAINTY performs accurate, automated evaluations of all customer interactions; scores each call against a set of KPIs; and only flags calls that actually need to be reviewed by a supervisor. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SERTAINTY enables quality issues in the contact center to be quickly pinpointed, by identifying agents who deviate from the script, use inappropriate language or do not achieve KPIs. Knowledge of where and what the issues are enables contact centers to effectively measure, coach and reward agents. SERTAINTY also enables users to mine previously archived audio files to reveal valuable information or trends and pinpoint customer issues or additional revenue opportunities. Syntellect www.syntellect.com Continuum Continuum is a comprehensive array of solutions--from packaged, off-the-shelf products to modular tools and custom applications--designed to increase customer satisfaction and return on investment while decreasing customer service costs and business risk for both live and self-service applications A software application that allows a user to obtain information or complete a business transaction on the computer that has traditionally required the help of a human representative. Voice response systems and Web sites are widely used for self-service applications. See kiosk. . [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Continuum delivers a "future-proof, state-of-the-art" product suite on an open platform, supporting speech recognition from Nuance (8.5, Verifier 3.5, Vocalizer for Text-to-Speech) to provide recognition accuracy, scalability and robustness. Continuum's use of client/server architecture An environment in which the application processing is divided between client workstations and servers. It implies the use of desktop computers interacting with servers in a network in contrast to processing everything in a large centralized mainframe. See client/server. complements and further extends the flexibility and scalability of these technologies. Continuum includes a suite of best-in-class development tools to create VoiceXML 2.0-compliant or Java applications A Java program that is run stand alone. The Java Virtual Machine in the client or server is interpreting the instructions. Contrast with Java applet. See servlet. , as well as published APIs for access/integration with other interfaces/existing solutions; consolidation, load balancing and multisite linking; unified reporting; and complete disaster recovery. To accomplish a user-centered, branded Voice User Interface on the services side, Syntellect developed a speech services delivery process wherein context definition, requirements definition, persona definition, conversational dialog design and design stage usability are included in the bundle as standard. English, Spanish, French and a full complement of other languages are supported. TuVox www.tuvox.com TuVox Enterprise Software TuVox's integrated approach can minimize work across the complete lifecycle of speech applications, while reducing the need for specialized skills. This integrated approach is delivered through the company's CVR CVR See contingent value right (CVR). (Conversational Voice Response) system. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Built completely on open standards Specifications for hardware and software that are developed by a standards organization or a consortium involved in supporting a standard. Available to the public for developing compliant products, open standards imply "open systems;" that an existing component in a system can be replaced , TuVox's Enterprise Software automates any type of call, including natural language call routing, self-service transactions, information requests and product support. One notable feature of this solution is its dynamic natural language call routing, which uses an open-ended conversational approach to quickly identify what callers want and routes them to the appropriate destinations within seconds, thus providing improved caller experience. A second distinctive feature is the seamless integration An addition of a new application, routine or device that works smoothly with the existing system. It implies that the new feature or program can be installed and used without problems. Contrast with "transparent," which implies that there is no discernible change after installation. between the speech application and agents' desktops (bi-directional capability). In the event that a call is directed to an agent, the call transcript and all relevant information provided by the caller to the speech application is transferred to the agent desktop, eliminating the need for callers to repeat information already captured by the speech application. VoiceGenie Technologies Inc. www.voicegenie.com NeXusPoint 6.4 VoiceGenie's NeXusPoint is a VoiceXML 2.0-certified high-performance platform that delivers a flexible, reliable and scalable infrastructure for developing and deploying DTMF (Dual-Tone MultiFrequency) The type of audio signals that are generated when you press the buttons on a touch-tone telephone. See also DMTF. DTMF - Dual Tone Multi Frequency (touch-tone) or speech-enabled applications. With a feature-rich and robust architecture, NeXusPoint facilitates speech application deployment for any type or size of business, whether deployed for simple touch-tone IVR services for customer self-service, or for improving internal operations with automated attendants In telephony, an automated attendant (also auto attendant or auto-attendant, or sometimes autoattendant or AA) system allows callers to be automatically transferred to a user's extension without the intervention of a receptionist. , or for hosting sophisticated voice services for high-impact revenue enhancements revenue enhancement An increase in revenues, especially by way of increased taxes. Revenue enhancement includes reducing taxpayer deductions and eliminating tax credits. . Supporting open standards at every level, NeXusPoint offers a wide selection of best-of-breed ASR, TTS (1) See text-to-speech. (2) (Transaction Tracking System) Software that monitors a transaction until completion. In the event of a hardware or software failure, it ensures that the database is brought back to its former state before the attempt to , speech applications and development tools, providing customers with improved flexibility and choice. With NeXusPoint, customers are not burdened with proprietary "vendor lock-in In economics, vendor lock-in, also known as proprietary lock-in, customer lock-in, lock-in is where a customer is dependent on a vendor for products and services and cannot move to another vendor without substantial switching costs, real and/or perceived. " at any layer of their deployment--now or in the future. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Witness Systems www.witness.com eQuality CallMiner Witness' eQuality CallMiner combines speech recognition technology, statistical methods and data mining techniques to create searchable databases Refers to databases on the Web that are searchable by typing in a query. The term is quite redundant because all databases are searchable. In fact, that is one of their major features. of agent/customer voice interactions in the contact center. The software searches and interprets interactions by identifying predefined key words, or combinations of words/phrases, and converting the audio calls into text and statistics about what was said and the context around the conversations. eQuality CallMiner uses sophisticated algorithms to classify the transcripts, weighing and cross-referencing the words and alternatives recognized to produce an optimized assessment of the conversation. The solution's search rules can track specific, words or spot those used in combination. CallMiner can produce reports of most commonly used words, and it allows contact center management and executives to conduct user-defined queries and analysis of agent/customer contacts. Users can drill-down into calls for further detail. In addition to extracting key information from customer interactions and automating the mining of those contacts, eQuality CallMiner enables users to quantify specific areas of interest; it also automatically highlights contacts that may not meet regulatory and compliance guidelines; and it alerts users when predefined scores and thresholds are met. For information and subscriptions, visit www.TMCnet.com or call 203-852-6800. |
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