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Speech recognition with the Deutsche Bahn

Speech recognition with the Deutsche Bahn. Spotlight colloquium by Matias Musmacher DB Dialog Telefonservice GmbH Solmsstraße 71 60486 Frankfurt Telefon: 0 69 - 478 96 750 Fax: 0 69 - 478 96 709 London, March 2001. Agenda. Goals for the project. Concept. Introduction of the system.

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Speech recognition with the Deutsche Bahn

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  1. Speech recognition with the Deutsche Bahn Spotlight colloquium byMatias MusmacherDB Dialog Telefonservice GmbHSolmsstraße 71 60486 Frankfurt Telefon: 0 69 - 478 96 750Fax: 0 69 - 47896 709 London, March 2001

  2. Agenda Goals for the project Concept Introduction of the system Usability trials Lessons learned

  3. Goals for the project • The customers were dissatisfied with the Deutsche Bahn. Fernmündliche Reiseauskunft Ansagedienste • about 1,7 million calls per year • local number 011581-011587 • service for the 60 major cities in Germany • about 25 million calls per year • local number with access code19 4 19 • 72 telephony rooms • about 1200 employees • Introduction of an IVR-System • Integration in 12 Call Centres in 1999

  4. There was no national standard of quality • people had to stay on the phone for a long time • only 60 stations were covered by the service • no interaction quality • 60 local numbers had to be promoted (011581-011587) • no communication concept or campaign • no data about number of calls, customer base etc. marketing issues • Deutsche Telekom introduced a service fee for the recording ofthe messages • the customer was charged by his carrier cost issues Goals for the project • The recorded messages had to be improved in three main areas.

  5. Goals for the project • Deutsche Bahn has six major goals for the project. • Create a general acceptance for a speech recognition system • Give the customers the correct timetable information • Choose a system for better service • Introduce a reliable system • Keep it simple for the IT-department • no sunk costs

  6. Goals for the project • The Deutsche Bahn made a decision for a query based system. Methods of interaction Costs Freies Sprach- dialogsystem Freie Abfrage Reisedaten Menüabfrage Reisedaten Timetable depending on time of call Chosen method Status Quo Customer value complexity

  7. Projektplan Functionality and RFP Contract with partners Kick-off Decision about station names Hardware installation Dialog-Design Training of the recogniser Recording of prompts Test Pilot Start 6/98 7/98 8/98 9/98 10/98 11/98 12/98 01/99 2/99 3/99 4/99 5/99 Concept • We took a conservative approach within the project.

  8. 01805-996633 Agent ACD IVR as a separate System 01805-996622 ACD IVR + less routine for the agents + the customer decided which service to use + add-on Service Pro • No overflow function for the call centres Contra Concept • From the marketing point of view the IVR is today positioned as a stand-alone service reasons • Clear position as a substitute for the Ansagedienste • Launch as completely new service • Introduction with only a small negative image transfer in case of failure • Integration with the call centre service is possible in the future

  9. Concept • The design phase was about implementing the dialogues for the prompts. • Start with an explanation of the system • Dialogues‘ structure similar to the web • One word utterances by the customer • „Help function“ in case of misrecognition • Call transfer to a call-centre agent in case of three misrecognitions in a row Process • Strict call for action • Whole sentences • Text based on customer language text

  10. functionality pricing soft factors • General information • hardware criteria • Speech recogniser • call transfer • voice box • connectivity to databases, Mainframe • CTI options • Administration • Pre-Sales Service (Projectmgt) • Post-Sales Service • Invest • costs for service, upgrading etc. • cost for more equipment • Flexibility of vendor sales personnel • References • Customer interviews • Know-how of implementing systems in a complex environment (Mainframe, Call-Center) in Germany Concept • We then developed a request for proposal.

  11. Introduction of the system • Technical architecture • The system consists of 4 crucial parts: • 1. Dialogue platform • 2. Speech recogniser • 3. Online database query to the mainframe • 4. ACD of the call centre Call Centre IVR-System Dialogue caller Phonem based recognition 01805-996622 Train connection Erkanntes Wort Recogniser Platform Train connection query DB-Mainframe

  12. The first step brought to the customers 3200 stations and 4500 phrases. These were recorded about 120 times. Introduction of the system • The project consisted of two teams, one from the business side and one technical. • decision about the number and names of included stations • decision about possible utterances and phrases („London Liverpool Street“ vs „Liverpool Street London“) • decision about foreign stations • Recording of the station names by employees from all over Germany • Connection to the mainframe DB-insider

  13. The system works with short answer times. Introduction of the system • The project consisted of two teams, one from the business side and one technical. • Implementation of the dialogue by the vendor • programming and training of the recogniser • connection to the ACD via DPNSS • Recording of the prompts partners

  14. Introduction of the system • Example dialogue Elements Prompts Caller utterances “Herzlich Willkommen beim ReiseDialogSystem der Deutschen Bahn! Wenn Sie schon mit dem System vertraut sind, sagen Sie weiter.” “Weiter.” „shake hands“ “Bitte nennen Sie Ihren Abfahrtsbahnhof.” “Bitte nennen Sie Ihren Zielbahnhof.” “Sie möchten also von Bremen Hauptbahnhof nach Hannover Hauptbahnhof fahren?” “Bremen Hauptbahnhof.” “Hannover Hauptbahnhof.” “Ja.” Station prompt “An welchem Tag möchten Sie abfahren?” “Um welche Uhrzeit möchten Sie abfahren?” “Sie möchten also am 20. März um 07:00 Uhr abfahren?” “20.03.” “7:00 Uhr” “Ja.” Date and time prompt “Es gibt die folgende Verbindung: Am 20. März mit Inter Regio 2581 um 07:09 Uhr von Bremen HBF, Ankunft in Hannover HBF um 08:14 Uhr. Möchten Sie ‘früher’, ‘später’ oder ‘wiederholen’? “Weiter.” Train connection “Sie können nun einen der folgende Punkte auswählen: ‘Rückfahrt suchen’, ‘Zeit eingeben’, ‘Verbindung suchen’, ‘Ende’.” “Vielen Dank für Ihren Anruf. Wir wünschen Ihnen eine gute Reise. Auf Wiederhören.” “Ende.” termination

  15. The test was done in three steps: The system was also tested by a call-centre bureau on its behaviour under great call volumes Usability trials • The system was tested by an external market research company. A. Studiotest with 200 persons (group of future customers) in Munich and Cologne B. discussion in two rows (Frankfurt) C. test of the speech recogniser

  16. reactions: • the majority of the people reacted in time. • No differences of the reaction time span occurred • problems occurred with utterances like („ich möchte gerne nach...“ oder „äh...“) these led to a misrecognition rate of 30% • Recognition: • The amount of utterances reduced after the first call • There was no major change in the recognition rate • Emotional reactions: • The majority of people reacted calm / neutral. • Stress came up in cases of continued misrecognition Usability trials • Findings

  17. satisfaction Ease of use Usability trials • The people were asked about their satisfaction and the ease of use.

  18. Lessons learned • The introduction of the system led to mixed reactions within the public, the customers reacted calmly. • high percentage of frequent users ( about 15%) • 2000 callers per day without any communication campaign • call transfers rate at 2 percent • harsh reaction from the yellow press • tests from the media show criticism in both ways ( “good system” vs. “ stupid machine”)

  19. Lessons learned • Because of the mixed reactions we decided to improve the system and put it up to a new usability trial within spotlight. • Integration of all 7800 German stations • Optimisation of the dialogue • Create a general acceptance for speech based recognition in Germany • Look into dialogue of other players in the industry

  20. Lessons learned • The usability trial in November 2000 led to interesting results forthe Deutsche Bahn. • System is seen as an alternative for direct train connection, the length of the train connection prompt is the key influence for the efficiency • system is too complex for people with a low level of education • 80% of the calls were successful • a huge majority of people prefer the call-centre service to the IVR system • There were less problems with the date and time prompt • people were missing information about prices and platforms

  21. Market research/ business plan Stufe 3: Integration of IVR and call centre Market research/ business plan Step 2: More information and new services Step 1: today Lessons learned • Deutsche Bahn will take a conservative approach to develop the next services. Integration with call centres time

  22. Questions ?

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