Why is ‘tuning’ important in a speech self service deployment?
Investing in proper Voice User Interface (VUI) design and ongoing tuning will ensure you deliver consistent quality and positive customer experiences.

Do I need ongoing Contact Centre consulting/professional services for my speech self service?
Our experts set up and then analyse system logs of detailed consumer interactions to better understand how your systems are performing. Without this focus, systems can stop being attuned to customer needs and not operate with sufficient efficiency to handle a reasonable number of transactions. Having a good system stops customers opting out and electing to call an agent directly. For transactions that require live agent support, voice self-service can help collect information in advance, thereby reducing handling time and improving customer satisfaction. Our consulting and professional services ensure you continue to get the most from your interactions and investment.

What do I need to consider when thinking about deploying Speech Self service strategies in my own organisation?
Speech Self Service is built on a foundation of v-xml.  It will, in all likelihood, require the upgrade or replacement of proprietary IVR systems to enable support for speech.

Return on Investment is more often realised on speech enabling new applications vs. speech enhancing existing touchtone applications.  Examples include up-sell or cross-sell activities; caller pre-qualification; or forms style input using voice.

Standardisation on VoiceXML, for example, allows for closer alignment of content and business logic with web applications. Voice Portals are also native VoIP technologies, thereby reducing total cost of ownership and increasing application flexibility. Routing, queuing and treating calls at the edge of the corporate WAN enables enterprises to support a broader array of customers than in the past.

Here are some other things to consider:

Many parts of a business, not just contact centres, can benefit from speech self service strategies. Once you’ve identified the opportunities, develop a plan to migrate existing applications to either a corporate voice portal utility or a service provider model. This way you can take advantage of increased economies of scale for equipment, software and staffing for voice self-service systems.

Use VoIP to extend voice portal applications to the network edge. Branch networks with local numbers can now install media gateways and tap into centralised voice portal applications at a lower cost.