Select The Right Speech Application For Your Business

Customer Inter@ction Solutions, May 2005

So, you're considering speech technology as part of your customer care solution. But with all of the options out there, what is the best way to implement speech within your enterprise, and how can you ensure that you reap all of the cost savings and operational efficiencies possible? No single answer applies to every company. Consider the following: the type of business you're in; your business objectives for implementing speech; and your daily customer interactions.

What Kind Of Business Are You In?

Certain types of companies and customer interactions require a more sophisticated, or specialized, speech interface than others. For example, a healthcare company whose customers include both physicians and patients will need an application that cannot only understand routine patient requests, but one that will also be able to comprehend complex medical terminology. In addition, companies with customers in multiple regions or countries require an application that can comprehend different accents and expressions.

The more complex your situation is, the more customization you will likely need.

What Are You Trying To Achieve By Implementing A Speech Solution?

While reducing costs is almost always a goal, it shouldn't be the only goal. Using any type of speech solution will always be cheaper per minute than using a live person. But speech can also be used to streamline the call process, to shorten customer wait times and to enable live agents to spend more time providing quality service to customers when needed.

We've all had the frustrating experience of calling a customer service number where a speech-recognition system asks a series of questions, only to have the agent ask for the same information again. However, if appropriately integrated with a company's enterprise systems, speech applications can streamline calls and make the call process faster. For example, an integrated speech solution can collect routinely asked-for caller data upfront, such as account number or billing address, and then transmit that information in real time to the live agent.

If efficient data handling and call management are priorities, make sure your speech solution is capable of integrating with your existing data management system and providing real-time data to your agents.

What Kind Of Customer Interactions Do You Typically Conduct?

Remember that, while a speech application may be able to handle some calls from end-to-end, it should not completely replace live agent service for every interaction.

While a typical account inquiry can easily be managed by most speech applications, and probably faster than a live agent pulling the same information, it cannot sufficiently address complex billing inquiries or product questions.

Therefore, if you want your speech application to enable you to more efficiently address complex inquiries, it should be fully integrated with your live agents and enterprise system to provide intelligent call routing.

Speech Options

Now that you've identified your business needs, familiarize yourself with the basic types of speech solutions available today:

* In-house solutions can be customized exactly to a company's needs and specifications; however, building a speech application from the ground is very expensive and requires dedicated IT staff.

* "Off-the-shelf " hosted applications are developed by companies with technology expertise and can be implemented in a short timeframe. You continue to get upgrades as the technology advances. However, this pre-packaged approach is geared toward meeting a generic need, not providing a customized solution.

* Outsourced solutions provided by companies such as West Corporation are customized to blend seamlessly with your existing operations and back-office systems. Outsourcing can also help companies reduce risk, as the costs of maintaining or upgrading the technological infrastructure are paid for by the solution provider.

Each option has pros and cons, but armed with a thorough understanding of your specific business needs, you can find a solution that will help reduce customer care costs and improve service for your customers.

West has helped many of America's largest companies discover the numerous advantages of outsourcing their speech applications. For more information, please contact West Corporation at 1-800-841-9000, or visit www.west.com.