Voice processing cuts costs

Communications News, May, 1990

VOICE PROCESSING CUTS COSTS

Telephone tag had become such a serious problem for Central Bank of the South, headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., that it called in a consultant.

The recommendation: voice processing.

Guaranteed communications between callers is a major benefit of voice processing systems, since both parties need not be on the telephone at the same time. One person can leave a detailed voice message for another person to listen to and answer at a convenient time and place.

Not long after the study, the Aspen (Automatic Speech Exchange Network) voice processing system from Octel Communications Corp. was eliminating telephone tag, eradicating message slips (and providing accurate messages), decreasing interruptions, reducing costs, and boosting personal productivity.

Ralph Cassell, senior vice president and manager of the Consumer Banking Division, estimates the system gives him an extra hour a day.

"I can devote more time to thinking about long-term strategy, motivating my employees, getting data to make better decisions, and closing important deals," he says.

Cassell uses group distribution lists to set up meetings and to send out rate changes and information on new acquisitions and products. The lists enable the user to send a message to several--even hundreds of--people at the same time by pushing a few touchtone keys.

Psychological Edge

"Aspen saves paperwork, my time, and my secretary's time," Cassell says. "When I have been out of the office, it is great psychologically not to have 53 pink slips waiting for me. I'd rather listen to that many voice messages, because I can answer most of them on the spot. If I don't have the answer, I forward the message to the person who can get back to me with the information I need."

Cassell travels frequently and uses Aspen to keep in constant touch with his office. Often his work days extend into evenings and weekends.

"I use Aspen after-hours to ask questions," he says, "and the answers are waiting for me the next day."

Since installation of the system in 1985 (a second Aspen was added a short time later), it has grown to serve more than 2000 users. Central Bank has several thousand employees in 90 locations throughout Alabama, but most of its voice processing users are in Birmingham--at the main office, the operations center, and local branches. Key people in branches throughout the state have voice mailboxes.

Central Bank chose the system partly because it integrates with the bank's Rolm VLCBX. This enables Aspen to answer busy or unanswered lines with a personal greeting from the person being called. It provides message-waiting indication on users' phones--through a light, LED, or broken dial tone--when they have new messages in their mailboxes. It lets callers transfer out of the system at any time to reach live assistance.

Personnel Efficiencies

Central Bank discovered many applications to save time and money.

Bobbie Robinson, from the human resources office in Mobile, says a short memo costs $15 in salary time.

"I use Aspen to send information on new hires to department managers," she says, "and I send copies of the voice messages to other people who need the same information. Voice messaging eliminates paperwork, so I'm saving time for my secretary, the person who delivers the mail, and the secretary at the other end. Now we have time for more important tasks, and it all adds up to saving money. We won't have to add staff as quickly as we grow."

Chuck Robey, director of security, put the 25 Birmingham area branches--as well as the regional assistant security officers in Decatur, Montgomery, and Mobile--on a group distribution list. He can record one voice message and instantly send it to everyone on the list.

But the system's security role is not confined to Central Bank. By providing mailboxes to four other Birmingham banks with full-time security departments and to the Birmingham police department's business services division, Robey can immediately exchange vital information.

"Aspen is an important preventative weapon against check and credit fraud, as well as robbery," Robey says. "I know that with information exchanges on the voice processing system, we prevent bad check losses every day."

Information flow among Central Bank's branches, other banks in Birmingham, and the police is almost continuous. "It's difficult to prove, but I'm sure these fast information exchanges that voice messages make possible are keeping crime and fraud from being committed. They help us keep the situation well under control," Robey says.

The security staff is more confident it's on top of things. "That makes the routing easier and helps us feel better able to cope with a crisis or problem," he says.

Central Bank has an extensive statewide computer system. Whenever there is a problem on a terminal, a message appears on its screen instructing the user to phone an extension number to reach the Help Desk. Callers to the Help Desk can hear a fresh message telling them how long to expect the computer system to be down.