Archive for May 2005
The Business Value of Speech
(My Article for INETA Pakistan Newsletter - Debut Edition)
Imagine being able to speak to your TV set about which channel to tune on what number; or setting the timer on your microwave or the thermostat of your refrigerator using nothing but simple voice commands. As far back as I can remember, all science fiction movies had at least one talking computer that was able to converse intelligently with humans. Many people (myself included) still remember their fascination with ‘Kit’, the talking car in the 80’s hit TV series ‘Knight Rider’.
Although only fiction a decade ago, interaction with computers using Speech has become a reality today that would increasingly affect how we communicate with machines in the years to come. Already, the Microsoft Automotive Initiative, of which speech technology is an intrinsic part, is putting PC’s into cars to allow drivers to give spoken instructions to the onboard computer and look up the nearest gas station or coffee shop and dial phone calls using speech. Fact of the matter is: speech is going to be part of all software applications and devices in some form or the other within a decade. This statement may sound a bit farfetched at the moment, but businesses around the world, even today, are realizing the benefits of Speech applications in their processes and customer relationship management.
To begin with, use of Speech technology is on the rise in contact center deployments to facilitate operators by transferring only those calls to them which require human interaction; the rest of the calls are handled by speech applications, thus increasing operator productivity. In addition, survey results put the cost of handling calls by automated speech applications at only 20 cents per call as opposed to $5 to $10 per call handled by a human operator. From the customer or caller’s view point, with telephony speech applications, callers get an ever-courteous voice ready to be of service; one that would never hang-up on the caller until and unless the call has been serviced. Anybody who has ever had to call any of our utility companies with a complaint or query can very well understand the importance of this.
Industry standards such as SALT (Speech Application Language Tags), SRGS (Speech Recognition Grammar Specification), and SSML (Speech Synthesis Markup Language) are helping to drive speedy adoption of speech in business. The release of Microsoft Speech Server 2004 last year would further pave the way for companies to use existing code-base and infrastructure to deploy speech applications in-house for managing customer relationships, without having to outsource this vital link between them and the outside world to a third party. The death of the call center BPO (business process outsourcing) model, although still far away, is imminent.
So, as developer, decision-maker, or customer, the next time you pick up the phone to talk to your bank, travel agent, stock broker, or even the doctor for an appointment, imagine the possibilities, experience, and swiftness of having a speech application on the other side of the line. My advice at this point is “Speech NOW or forever hold your peace”.
Related Links:
Microsoft Speech Website
Microsoft Automotive Initiative
SALT Forum
Imagine being able to speak to your TV set about which channel to tune on what number; or setting the timer on your microwave or the thermostat of your refrigerator using nothing but simple voice commands. As far back as I can remember, all science fiction movies had at least one talking computer that was able to converse intelligently with humans. Many people (myself included) still remember their fascination with ‘Kit’, the talking car in the 80’s hit TV series ‘Knight Rider’.
Although only fiction a decade ago, interaction with computers using Speech has become a reality today that would increasingly affect how we communicate with machines in the years to come. Already, the Microsoft Automotive Initiative, of which speech technology is an intrinsic part, is putting PC’s into cars to allow drivers to give spoken instructions to the onboard computer and look up the nearest gas station or coffee shop and dial phone calls using speech. Fact of the matter is: speech is going to be part of all software applications and devices in some form or the other within a decade. This statement may sound a bit farfetched at the moment, but businesses around the world, even today, are realizing the benefits of Speech applications in their processes and customer relationship management.
To begin with, use of Speech technology is on the rise in contact center deployments to facilitate operators by transferring only those calls to them which require human interaction; the rest of the calls are handled by speech applications, thus increasing operator productivity. In addition, survey results put the cost of handling calls by automated speech applications at only 20 cents per call as opposed to $5 to $10 per call handled by a human operator. From the customer or caller’s view point, with telephony speech applications, callers get an ever-courteous voice ready to be of service; one that would never hang-up on the caller until and unless the call has been serviced. Anybody who has ever had to call any of our utility companies with a complaint or query can very well understand the importance of this.
Industry standards such as SALT (Speech Application Language Tags), SRGS (Speech Recognition Grammar Specification), and SSML (Speech Synthesis Markup Language) are helping to drive speedy adoption of speech in business. The release of Microsoft Speech Server 2004 last year would further pave the way for companies to use existing code-base and infrastructure to deploy speech applications in-house for managing customer relationships, without having to outsource this vital link between them and the outside world to a third party. The death of the call center BPO (business process outsourcing) model, although still far away, is imminent.
So, as developer, decision-maker, or customer, the next time you pick up the phone to talk to your bank, travel agent, stock broker, or even the doctor for an appointment, imagine the possibilities, experience, and swiftness of having a speech application on the other side of the line. My advice at this point is “Speech NOW or forever hold your peace”.
Related Links:
Microsoft Speech Website
Microsoft Automotive Initiative
SALT Forum
