Over the years, it's become fairly commonplace to call up an airline or a financial institution and encounter a speech rec system; these industries were the early speech adopters. But as customers become more familiar with the software, it's making its way into other areas, such as retail, catalog and health care.
In a study last year, commissioned by Nuance (Menlo Park, CA) and conducted by Harris Interactive, it was reported that 61% of speech users were highly satisfied with their most recent speech encounters, 56% of users indicated that they would definitely or probably use the system again, while only 7% said they wouldn't use speech rec again.
"Any transaction that is structured and repeatable is a good fit for speech," says Steve Ehrlich, vice president of marketing with speech app provider Apptera (San Bruno, CA). "Even some of the earlier limitations around recognizing large lists (such as names and addresses) have been overcome. Assisted self-service systems where the speech application handles the definable answers and agents handle the more complex tasks should become more commonplace."
Many of the issues we used to hear about so often, such as dropped calls and end-user rejection, have fallen by the wayside. Companies are getting better at designing user interfaces to provide their customers with systems that are easier to navigate, understand and use. And the most successful companies realize that automation complements live agent service, not replaces it.
"Automation is awesome," says Lynda Smith, vice president and chief marketing officer with Nuance, "but companies have to sit down and think about what is best for their customers when deciding where live agents are needed and where it makes sense to add automation."
