Speech Recognition Can Reduce Overhead

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Call the bank and speak your account number.  Call the Better Business Bureau and have a company profile read to you.  "Punch" a time clock by calling a phone number from the client's office to log your attendance.

All are examples of using Interactive Voice Response (IVR) with speech recognition technology to make interactions faster and easier while lowering operation costs.  Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is a technology that allows a phone system to detect voice and keypad inputs.  Speech recognition and text-to-speech are features often included on IVRs.

It used to be this technology was cost-prohibitive for small to medium size organizations.  However, pricing is becoming more competitive and -in case you've ever been frustrated when your voice isn't recognized - speech recognition engines have improved dramatically.

IVRs can help an entire organization gain the competitive advantage of superior customer service in areas such as these:

• Automate retailer or manufacturer account inquiries, order status, shipment locators, pricing information, literature requests.
• Pre-qualify or "triage" callers based on need indicated first through IVR.
• Enable employees to focus on callers who genuinely need their attention instead of simple common requests.
• Enable people to contact you and get necessary information 24 by 7.
• Provide account balances, bill-pay functions, etc.
• Inquire about healthcare claims, eligibility inquiry, open enrollment, test results.
• Automate Time & Attendance (and send to payroll firm), training registration, job postings.
• Expedite IT Help Desk ticket inquiries without bothering technicians working to resolve the problem.
• Improve collections by notifying or updating status.

Many IVR systems can also initiate calls and deliver messages (even collect information during the call).  The great news is that whether your phone system is old or new, it can usually be enabled for IVR and speech recognition using an interface card.