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Choosing & Integrating A Speech Platform Session A104 Wednesday, February 21, 2007. Tom Hanson Director, Product Management Avaya Voice Self Service. What is a Speech Platform?. Speech technologies are highly focused, independent “engines”
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Choosing & Integrating A Speech PlatformSession A104Wednesday, February 21, 2007 Tom HansonDirector, Product ManagementAvaya Voice Self Service
What is a Speech Platform? • Speech technologies are highly focused, independent “engines” • ASR engines interpret spoken words/phrases into discrete digital values • TTS engines interpret written text into spoken language • Speech technologies need connectivity to… • The caller • Data to answer the caller’s question/complete the transaction • Applications that specify call flows, options, spoken prompts, etc. • The contact center to provide intelligent transfers, context • Other automated and assisted-service applications • The Speech Platform typically delivers the speech technologies combined with this connectivity
Selecting a Platform:Key Considerations • Integration with existing IT web and voice application infrastructure/strategy • Platform availability (reliability, scalability, manageability) • Application design tools • Vendor roadmap & support • The contact center suite and communications integrations • Initial costs, ROI, total cost of ownership
Key Considerations:IT/Voice Integration • Architecture & Integration • Software-only • Web-based/multi-hardware platform/multi-OS support • Existing IT&IP applications/strategy • SOA/Web-based • Standards support • Modularity • Media processing • Management • Applications • Dynamic licensing & configuration options
Key Considerations:Platform Availability • Reliability • Telephony integration • High availability • Virtualization • Scalability • Distributed software model • From 1 port to tens-of-thousands • Migration and evolution • Common platform that scales seamlessly as capacity needs change • Manageability • Distributed platform/application management • Integrated IT management • Integrated contact center management
Key Considerations:Application Design • Application Design Tools • Tool quality and platform support • Openness • SOA integration • Viability/Roadmap • Availability • Distribution • Cost • Multi-lingual application support • Support community • Partner support • Contact Center tooling strategies
Key Considerations:Vendor Roadmap & Support • Roadmap • Industry-leading execution and vision • Migration/evolution strategy for customers over time • Simplicity or complexity? • Silo or Suite? • Support • Global services/support expertise • Broad/deep partner channel • Strong user community
Key Considerations:The Contact Center Suite and Communications Enabled Business Process • Speech/IVR applications are only 1 element of the Contact Center or of Communications Enabled Business Process • Intelligent customer interaction demands rich, flexible integration between contact center components • Cross-component… • Connectivity • Tooling • Management • Pricing/Licensing • Communications Enabled Business Process required extended integrations • Business Process Workflow • Rich Communications Integrations
Key Considerations:Costs/ROI/TCO • Platform should be highly cost competitive for initial purchase • Regardless of size (1 port to tens-of-thousands of ports) • Port pricing and maintenance for complete solution (maintenance should always include free software upgrades) • Additional capacity pricing • Return On Investment often one of the highest IT investment options • Competitive platform and services costs • Application discovery expertise • Rapid time-to-market for platform & application implementation • Low total cost of ownership, driven by: • Platform architecture • Appliance model • System management and application design tools • Contact center integration
Conclusion • Selecting the right speech/IVR platform for your organization begins with a focus on your customers • It must be a part of an integrated solution that delivers intelligent customer interaction across the contact center • The best platform… • Fits well into your existing IT/Telephony environment • Has high availability • Offers a powerful application tooling strategy • Delivers a highly competitive ROI/TCO