Robert Treumann

1
Rapid Deployment of Speech based self service
Applications

• Robert Treumann
• Time iCR

2
Agenda

• Market Forces
• natural language Speech Recognition
• Voice Application Service Provider Overview
• About Time iCR
• Summary of Benefits
• Question and Answer

3
Market Forces
4
Business Dynamics are Changing
Todays Customers Are

• Better informed . . . more self-sufficient
• Less discretionary time
• Mobile
• Connected . . . anytime . . . anywhere

Businesses Today

• Enhance operational efficiencies
• Leverage corporate assets
• Maximize business revenues
• Increase customer satisfaction
• Focus on quality and quantity

5
Call Centre Woes

• High transaction volumes
• Simple, self-contained functions
• Routine calls with low agent value-add
• Focus agents on complex tasks
• Off-hour self-service, 24x7
• Call volume spikes
• Seasonal, hourly, daily, or event-driven
• Information not captured always captured by
  touch-tone

6
What Enterprises Need

• Flexibility
• Ability to rapidly response to changing business
  conditions
• Tie together Revenue and costs
• Increase customer satisfaction
• Enhance operational efficiencies
• Focus on quality and quantity

7
Natural Language Speech based automated call
processing
8
What is Speech Recognition?
The ability of a computer to understand and react
to spoken language.

• In the telephony arena,
• Speech Recognition enhances
• Call and voice processing applications
• Service provider offerings
• Customer contact centres
• Voice web / Voice portal applications

9
Why use Speech Recognition?
Sources IDC, Yankee Group, 1999
10
Impact of Speech

• Cut Costs, Drive Revenues
• Enhanced transactions and data collection
• Reduce on-hold time
• Free agents for revenue producing tasks
• See ROI in weeks/months

• Differentiate Your Business
• Provide value-added services
• Enter new markets
• Extend the Brand

• Improve Service and Satisfaction
• Deliver convenience ease of use
• Increase speed of info delivery
• Eliminate confusing menu options
• Expanded business hours -- 24/7

11
Customer Service (Example)
Internet
Touch-tone
Live Operator
12
Speech in the EnterpriseService at a Fraction of
the Price
Costs per call
Agent Specialty
Agent Typical
Its 14 times less expensive than a live agent.
Speech All
Douglas Fields, UPS
Sources Cahners In-Stat, 2001 Giga Information
Group, 2000
13
Agent Replacement with Speech Automation

• The cost of an agent, including associated
  facilities, is 51,000 per agent, per year

Source Giga Information Group, 2000
14
Costly Agents
Its not just the salary

• Phone agent quality 46 below expectations
• Phone agent skills 37 below expectations
• Competition for agents 40 said severe
• Call center agent turnover rate 23 annually
• Forced to raise starting wage within last 12
  months 45 said YES

Source BenchmarkPortal Survey, March 2001
15
The 80 Solution
VaSP Total life cycle management
16
The ASP Alternative
When the going gets tough, like in todays
uncertain, angst-ridden economy, it may pay to
have a service bureau buddy who can help you
get through it.Call Center MagazineFebruary 6,
2002
17
Time iCR aSP Ready Architecture
18
Speech Technology Building Blocks
19
Tuning and Optimization
Key Components

• Dynamic grammars
• Transcription Workbench
• Automated Tuning Report Generator

20
VaSP Economic Model
Fixed Costs Variable Costs

• Capital Acquisition
• Hardware
• diversity/redundancy
• Core Software
• Routing
• Recognition
• Dictionaries
• APIs
• Custom Application Dev/maint
• Technical IT Resources
• Tuning Tuning Tuning

• Service Provider Based
• Costing driven by
• minute
• PRI
• port
• call
• transaction

VaSP Immediate Savings
21
Deployment Options
Voice - Application Service Provider

• All Speech Processing is done at the service
  provider
• Flexible
• Survivable
• Efficient to operate

Management/Support
Speech Processing
Database
Inter - Intra City Multi - Carrier Fibre Ring
Back-up Site
Customer
Primary Site
22
Deployment Options

• Speech Processing and Databases are distributed
  between the Customer and
• Additional Diversity
• Less Flexibility
• Higher Cost

Voice - Application Service Provider
Management/Support
Speech Processing
Database
Speech Processing
Database
Inter - Intra City Multi - Carrier Fibre Ring
Back-up Site
Customer
Primary Site
23
Deployment Options

• Speech Processing and Databases are located at
  the Customers site
• Remote management and maintenance
• Off load internal resources
• Deeper technical expertise

Voice - Application Service Provider
Remote Management/Support
Inter - Intra City Multi - Carrier Fibre Ring
Back-up Site
Customer
Primary Site
24
About Time iCR
25
Time iCR- Voice aSP Competencys

• Physical Hosting Services
• Infrastructure (Space, Power, Backup, Security)
• 24 x 7 Hardware and Software Management
• Services
• Connectivity
• Multi-carrier options
• V-Business Applications
• Full life cycle management
• Design - Development - Testing - Maintenance
• Continual Improvement Process
• Testing - Tuning - Optimization

• Professional Services
• Certified technical resources
• Nortel, Nuance, Oracle, Sun, etc.
• Voiced and data integration experts
• Experience
• Long Term Service Record
• Reference Customers
• Multi-Language Support
• Scale
• Thousands of existing in service ports

26
Benefits of Outsourcing Value Add

• Carrier grade service
• No capital investment
• Redundancy diversity
• Risk reduction of developing deploying new
  services
• No infrastructure to manage
• Increase speed to market
• Manage fluctuating call volumes
• Internal resource reallocation to core
  competencies

Time iCR Fully Managed Solutions

Best of Breed Technology
27
Analysts Support Speech Applications
to succeed, enterprises must reassess their
selection criteria for IVR platforms or risk
rapid obsolescencethe prime forces behind the
changing architecture include the move toward
voice portal application networks powered by by
VoiceXML Source The Gartner Group
the improved voice quality and return on
investment of hosted voice application providers
will offer a serious challenge to legacy IVR
vendors. Source Giga Information Group
Voice Application Networks represents an
attractive proposition for network operations
eager to offer value-added services but faced
with severely limited capital expenditure
budgets. Source IDC
28

• Questions
• Answers