How speech recognition can ensure business continuity for your telephony

1. How speech recognition can ensure business continuity for your telephony Tony Norman Senior Technical Sales Consultant Tony.norman@TelephoneticsVIP.co.uk

2. Ring, ring… no one there • In recent years business continuity has been dominated by IT-protecting data and data recovery • Both the London Underground bombings and the Buncefield oil terminal fire incidents highlighted to many firms in the UK how vulnerable companies can be in respect of telecoms

3. The sobering facts • 24% of businesses suffered a loss of their telecommunications links during the last year • CMI • 60% of businesses that experienced a loss of telecommunications service for a period of ten days ceased trading within a year. • Henley Management Institute • This should come as no surprise given that 80% of commercial transactions are conducted via telephone.

4. Ring, ring… no one there • In the Buncefield Oil Facility explosions, although several of the buildings on the estate were destroyed, the telecoms infrastructure was hardly affected • The phone lines were working which meant calls came into the building but there were no staff to answer them

5. Ring, ring… no one there • The trouble is, the immediate DR solution companies think of • – moving on to a second secure site – • is fraught with practical problems when it comes to telecoms.

6. 01442 20XXXX PSTN Ring, ring… no one there • Most companies rely on a range of Direct Inward Dial numbers to reduce the number of calls going to the switchboard operators

7. 01442 20XXXX PSTN Ring, ring… no one there • Your carrier can switch your number range to another location within about 40 minutes but the Direct Dial information is not presented so all the calls go to the switchboard operator and swamp the service.

8. A Solution for Slaughter and May • Slaughter and May, a leading London law firm, has been using a speech-activated directory at its Bunhill Row, London office since June 2005. • Now the firm has used an extension of this speech solution to ensure telephony continuity in any situation.

9. A Solution for Slaughter and May • The system is a speech driven virtual operator. • It enables members of the firm to simply say the name of the person or department they wish to contact and be connected quickly and efficiently • Remembering extension numbers or searching for them in telephone directories is no longer required.

10. A Solution for Slaughter and May • In the event of an emergency or disaster, Slaughter and May were keen to ensure continuity of service to all their clients. • They therefore decided to implement a Business Continuity system for the firm’s telephony. • The decision was taken that a second voice-activated directory would be installed at Slaughter and May’s contingency site.

11. A Solution for Slaughter and May • The system has a duplicate database of contacts and synchronises with the Bunhill Row office systems to ensure contacts remain up to date. DR Site Bunhill Row DATA VAD VAD

12. PSTN DR Site Bunhill Row VAD VAD A Solution for Slaughter and May • In the event of an emergency damaging the infrastructure of Bunhill Row such as fire, electrical fault, careless excavator…

13. A Solution for Slaughter and May • or more extreme circumstances, for example a terrorist attack… PSTN DR Site Bunhill Row ContactPortal VAD

14. PSTN DR Site Bunhill Row ContactPortal VAD A Solution for Slaughter and May • The main phone contact numbers would be re-directed to the voice-activated directory at their contingency site.

15. PSTN DR Site Bunhill Row ContactPortal VAD A Solution for Slaughter and May • This provides a polite and efficient service to clients and minimises any interruption to business.

16. PSTN DR Site Bunhill Row ContactPortal VAD A Solution for Slaughter and May • If desired, the DR system can inform callers that an evacuation is in process, prior to connecting them to their requested contact

17. A Solution for Slaughter and May • The DR System allows members of the firm to have a dedicated evacuation contact location in the system. • When an evacuation is invoked, calls for a contact will be routed to their pre-defined evacuation contact location instead of their desk. • If no evacuation location has been set a mobile and/or home number would be tried before placing the call to the operator.

18. A Solution for Slaughter and May • If, during an evacuation, members of the firm decide their pre-set evacuation location is no longer appropriate, users can change their contact location using the system’s TUI (Telephone User Interface). • For example, if their evacuation location is “mobile” but the user is working at home they can route calls to their home number instead, thus ensuring maximum flexibility at a critical time.

19. A Solution for Slaughter and May • The DR system will also enable members of the firm to call into the contingency site and use the speed dial facilities to ensure they can easily contact other staff and clients without needing to look in directories or speak to operators • This is despite being at temporary office accommodation or even working from home.

20. But wait a minute! • How can you tell all those staff that this is happening? • You could rely on the fire alarm but what if it is out of normal office hours? • What about people who are off site?

21. What do organisations do now? • Manual paper-based process • Multiple Contact numbers per person – mobile, home, office pager etc. • Cascade systems are fatally flawed • 10 successful calls could take as long 20 – 30 minutes

22. Time is a valuable commodity • Contact many people quickly • Pass information • Gain a response • Measure data • Improve process

23. How can you achieve this? • Use an electronic notification system • Stores and administers the call out lists • Fast calling - in excess of 30 contacts per minute in a basic system. • Response from Contact is logged • Real-time statistics of contacts responses • Full audit of the incident with instantaneous reports

24. Improve the process Run Test Collect Reports Tune Process Analyse Cycle of Continuous Improvement

25. In Summary

26. Ring, ring… no one there • The Important Question • HOW LONG CAN YOUR BUSINESS LAST WITHOUT TAKING A SINGLE PHONE CALL? ?