TEL 355: Communication and Information Systems in Organizations

1. TEL 355: Communication and Information Systems in Organizations Speech-Enabled Interactive Voice Response Systems Professor John F. Clark

2. Interactive Voice Response • Serves as the bridge between people and computer databases via phone lines • Used in a variety of applications including stock trades, account information and transactions, ticket reservations, etc. • Represents the natural progression from touch-tone systems to natural speech recognition in telephony-based self-service

3. Speech Recognition Spectrum • Touch-Tone Replacement • Recognizes spoken letters and words that represent the keypad • Directed Dialogue • Recognizes fairly simple words and phrases that are clearly enunciated • Natural Language • Recognizes more complex phrases and sentences spoken in a conversational manner

4. History of IVR • Significant research and development by ARPA since the late 80s • Early Discrete Number Recognition required careful enunciation and separation • Continuous Speech Recognition can handle unbroken strings of words • But, recognition of free-form conversation is not yet a reality • However, it is commercially viable in a number of customer service applications

5. Natural Language Technology • Phonetic Speech Recognition • Breaks spoken words into fundamental sound units called phonemes • Enables greater accuracy in recognizing larger vocabularies • Language Modeling • Makes the best guess for sounds that are not adequately recognized • Compares sounds to a database of sounds and creates a confidence score for possible meaning

6. Rationale for IVR • Reduces spiraling labor costs • Higher call volumes make IVR a more cost-effective solution • Increased processing power means newer systems are faster and more accurate • Software and hardware costs continue to decrease • IVRs are less costly and faster to implement than Web-based solutions

7. Benefits of IVR • Dramatic reduction in operational costs • Improves productivity • A higher percentage of calls can be partially or fully automated • Frees the service agent from many routine tasks • Savings in overhead costs • As a result of decreased labor expenses • As a result of decreased real estate requirements and related infrastructure

8. IVR Capabilities • Speaker-independent phonetic recognition • Natural language and number recognition • Continuous alpha-numeric recognition • Modular approach to software development • Barge-in capability • Speaker-trained voice verification • Support for multiple languages

9. Commercial Viability of IVR • Customers interact with business via phone • IVR reliability and accuracy is over 90% • By 2003, 30% of new automated lines in call centers will understand speech • Directed speech recognition application pays for itself in 9-18 months in call centers with more than 50 agents • Total revenues for speech technology and services in telephony will exceed $38 billion by 2003

10. Current Uses for IVR • Package tracking • Stock quotes and trading • Insurance claims • Travel arrangements • Prescription refills • Restaurant reservations • Banking activities • Interaction with government agencies • Directory Assistance

11. IVR Security • Verbal security steps such as PIN numbers are easier to accomplish for the user than touch-tone keypad entry • Voice Print Technology • Tests vocal characteristics of utterances to verify the identity of the speaker • Especially beneficial for providers of financial services and telecommunications services where much information is subject to fraud

12. Continuous Improvement Cycle • Design • Project scope, system architecture, user interface • Develop • Prototype application and production application • Test • Evaluate prototype, production pilot testing • Deploy • Production deployment, user interface tuning • Monitor • Post-production evaluation, monitoring use

13. Development and Deployment Strategy, Part I: Design • Determine the project scope • Explore business objectives and goals • Evaluate how users will use the system and the kind of transactions you will support • Determine the system architecture • Decide on specific applications • Determine the specifications for applications • Plan for a smooth transition • Assign development responsibilities and develop budgets

14. Development and Deployment Strategy, Part II: Develop • Develop prototype applications • Subsets of your system’s ultimate functionality • Observe and assess the experiences of a select group of users • Determine all the features to be included in your production application • Think about connectivity with data, telecommunications, and information systems

15. Development and Deployment Strategy, Part III: Test • Reduce risk by testing with targeted end users and conduct focus groups • Observe and evaluate minimally-trained workers in realistic settings • Implement a pilot test in an actual business setting with live, untrained callers as a preliminary, limited deployment • Identify desired improvements

16. Development and Deployment Strategy, Part IV: Deploy • Fully deploy the IVR system • Manage the upgrade so that it doesn’t affect system reliability • Tune the user interface and vocabulary to the production environment • Ensure the IVR system is consistently satisfying callers and meeting your business objectives

17. Development and Deployment Strategy, Part V: Monitor • Track critical usability indicators • Recognition accuracy • Transaction completion rates • Create usage reports and detailed call statistics • Design and implement evaluation tools such as customer satisfaction surveys • Fine-tune your system for maximum performance