IVR

The University of Edinburgh has conducted a new study into speech recognition systems and how speech and computers interact. The study found that speech recognition systems have more difficulty understanding men than women, they have trouble understanding the first word of sentences and that certain things can cause speech recognition systems to error.

According to the University researchers, men use what is known as fillers such as ‘umm’ and ‘errr’ much more than women which is why men find it harder to be understood by computers. The researchers also found that not pronouncing words properly hindered understanding as did using similar sounding words in similar contexts such ‘I told him’ and ‘I told them.’ Let’s hope the researchers also found a way around these problems!

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is finally on its way to being accepted and even welcomed after a long, hard few years. Once described as ‘inefficient’ and ‘awkward,’ IVR has come a long way in the past few years. New technologies such as speech recognition have enabled IVR systems to act as automated agents that are capable of engaging in fairly natural dialogue – to a certain extent. For short or basic transactions and services, IVR systems are actually now preferred in some cases and new functions such as sending proactive notifications to customers are ensuring that IVR becomes accepted.

…Elite sent to me-

Six IVRs a-saying
Five call record-ings!
Four mobile phones
Three NGNs
Two Swyx systems
And a way to queue my calls effect-ively!

IVR or Interactive Voice Response is a system used to partially or fully automate your incoming calls. Many call centres are using interactive voice response technology as an Auto Attendant to guide their callers through to the relevant department. IVR can however offer much more than just an Auto Attendant service; contact Elite to find out what IVR can give to you this Christmas!

In the past it has seemed like a favourite pastime is IVR (interactive voice response) and speech recognition bashing – everyone, it seems, has had a go at it. Now however, we get the last laugh after popular BBC 1 programme ‘The One Show’ has publicly lauded automated telephony solutions after a report on the show. Using demonstrations of the National Rail Enquiries Train Tracker service, The One Show demonstrated how any problems were entirely due to users not answering questions properly. With an estimated audience of 4.4 million people, that’s a huge boost for IVR and speech recognition.

It’s a basic fact that to be a successful call centre, you need to have a content customer base. Callers who ring up will need to enjoy the utmost in customer care to feel valued as a client. With recent opinions stating that IVR (Interactive Voice Response) is a dying technology, call centres who rely on IVR are worried. To maintain productivity and customer satisfaction through your IVR, you can follow a few simple guidelines:

-design your IVR with your customer in mind
-keep your IVR simple with few options, as customers tend to stop listening after 7 seconds
-always have a ‘zero out’ option to get through to an operator
-don’t overload the customer with information
-maintain your brand image

And when the customer finally comes through, continue to provide them with a pleasant experience!

New research suggests that although most customers show a general dislike of IVR, it is still a widely used technology, particularly in the telecoms industry with 56% of call centres using an IVR solution. Although IVR may not be that well liked outside of business, it is an extremely useful tool when it comes to cutting call time and directing calls. Speech recognition is also extremely useful and is more widely accepted than simple auto-attendant IVR solutions. Disliked or not, you simply can’t argue with IVR results!

1) Keep things as simple as you can. People can only remember so much information, so when you’re giving menu choices, anything over 6 generally confuses people.
2) Consider what interactions you need to automate. Going IVR mad and automating everything will not benefit your business!
3) Research your target audience. Is your intended market location specific? Do you need to alter your persona? What do you need to offer via IVR? Answering these questions first could benefit your company.
4) Offer a human option. Although it defeats the object of you having IVR, it is better than dealing with an irate customer who has tried and failed to get through to an operator.
5) Hire a specialist. Specialist companies such as Elite Telecom have linguistic experts who can help you get the most out of your IVR.

Speech Recognition ( IVR ) is one of the most innovative and advanced pieces of technology on the market. The most notable feature of a modern speech recognition system is the level of development compared to previous generations, many of which had a reputation for being unreliable and patchy!

Speech recognition has come a long way since it first appeared on the market and it’s viability has also reached a tipping point in terms of cost, making it better value than ever for businesses looking at their bottom line. Also, in most cases there is compatibility with current systems allowing it to be ‘bolted on’ to existing infrastructure. This technology can be incredibly useful in automating any part of a contact call where detail is required and it is particularly well suited to collecting payment by phone. A high administrative cost per booking or payment is a clear drag on profit margins, so anything which helps to drive that down will show prominent financial benefits.

Speech recognition has already seen extensive take-up in the tourism and banking sectors in order to manage payment for holiday bookings and account details. Judicious use in line with current systems can see all card and other financial details collected before the caller is connected with an agent for that personal touch to a call – affording them more time to concentrate on talking to customers about other products and further support. The systems have sufficient flexibility to allow people to input details using a touch tone keypad, making them extremely accessible for all customers. Any callers experiencing difficulty with voice or keypad input can of course be put through to a call handler to complete the procedure manually. The systems can also be used to easily process account details or Membership and security and data protection questions before the call is connected, leaving staff to deal with the issue in hand and to advise the caller effectively!

Millions of consumers who are deaf, hard of hearing, mute or have problems with speech are being ostracised by IVR, recent studies show. Telephone interactions more often than not now use IVR- presuming that the consumer has perfect hearing and clear speech. When this is not the case, where does that leave us but cutting off a part of the population? Luckily, our nation is not so xenophobic as to leave people with hearing or speech difficulties out in the cold. Video IVR is luckily, well on the way to being widely available.

Laura Dilley, Assistant Professor at a Michigan State University has recently received a grant allowing her to continue research into speech and how humans comprehend speech. Dilley has already made some interesting discoveries and has high hopes that her research will have positive implications for people with disorders and speech difficulties such as autism and stuttering.

Aside from the implications for medical disorders, Dilley’s research could have far-reaching consequences for speech recognition technology and IVR, improving the way people interact with such systems.