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Verizon Communications, AAA, and Others: Advances in Speech Recognition Software Are Extending the Utility of Traditional Applications
and to spawn transactions. As a result, these speech systems-previously the domain of call center and telephony managers-are increasingly becoming something for the IT shop to worry about, if not manage. Verizon's speech application, for example, can trigger a line test, update customer accounts, schedule repairs, and create trouble tickets-processes that require interfaces with many systems. "If you create something that's just a veneer, people get it very quickly," says Fari Ebrahimi, senior vice president for IT at Verizon. "But for customers to really get value, you need to do something with the back office." Many of Verizon's back-office functions have been redesigned as Web services and are accessible by customers over the Web or by spoken request. The new system handles some 50,000 repair calls per day and has boosted the percentage of calls that are fully automated from 3 percent to 20 percent, Ebrahimi says. He won't say how much the company is saving in labor costs, but he says it's "millions and millions. " Verizon's National Operations Voice Portal is deployed across three geographically dispersed data centers, and calls are routed from point to point using voice-over-If' technology. The system uses speech recognition products and user interface designs from ScanSoft Inc. (which obtained much of Dragon's speech technology via acquisition). Telephony servers at each data center are connected to back-office application servers running BEA Systems Inc.'s BEA WebLogic Server. "The technology that used to be in those telephone silos, managed by the call center manager, is now becoming standards-based and is being driven by the same application server that serves the Web pages," says William Meisel, president of TMA Associates, a speech-technology consulting firm in Tarzana, California. "Now the IT department can create the applications in an environment that's more familiar to them." Organizations that have deployed speech technology say that recent advancements in natural-language understanding have made the systems more acceptable to callers. "With IVR, it was 'Touch or say three,'" says Joe Alessi, vice president for marketing and IT at AAA Minnesotallowa. "Now we can say, 'I'd like to change my address.''' The organization last year replaced a Touch- Tone-based IVR member service system with a self-service system built on the Say Anything natural-language speech engine from Nuance Communications Inc. One objective was to reduce turnover in the call center by freeing agents from handling mundane calls, such as requests for new membership cards. Another goal was to address the problem of callers bailing out of the IVR system because they found the menus confusing, Alessi says.

he velvety voice of that nice young woman on the other end of the phone is really just digits on a disk somewhere at Verizon Communications Inc., but "she"remembers that you spoke to her a few moments earlier,beforeyou were interrupted. "I apologize if I ask some questions you already answered," the voice says. She sounds genuinely contrite. But the virtual telephone-repairwornan is just getting warmed up. "I'll test your line from here," she intones. "OK, Igotthe line test started. It could take up to a minute. I'll also checkto see if anything's changed on the line since you lastcalled."While the test runs, she asks you for more information about your telephone problem, and she seems to understand your every response. Presentlyshe says, "The line test is finished now. Unfortunately, it couldn't determine if the problem is in Verizon's network or with your equipment, so we need to dispatch a technician .... Here we are-I've picked up all of our technicians' current schedules. The earliest we can schedule it is onThursday,June 3, between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Can someonegive access to the premises at that time?" The call is soon completed, and on June 3, so is the repair. Computerized speech has come a long way in 20 years. AsVerizons system illustrates, the technology has become smarter, easier to use, and more integrated with other applications. Such technical advances, plus product introductions thatfacilitate the deployment of the technology by mainstreamdevelopers, are enabling new uses for automated speech systems. Researchin automated speech recognition (ASR) goes back to the 1930s, but serious commercialization of it didn't beginuntil 50 years later. In 1988, Dragon Systems Inc. demonstrated a I'C-based speech recognition system with an S,OOO-word vocabulary. Users had to speak slowly and clearly. One. Word. At. A. Time. The next big step came in 1990, when Dragon demontrated a 5,000-word continuous-speech system for PCs and a large-vocabulary, speech-to-text system for general-purpose dictation. Then, in 1997, Dragon and IBM both introduced continuous speech recognition systems for general-purpose use. Meanwhile, corporations began rolling out interactive voice response (IVR) systems. The earlier ones-indeed, mostin use today-are menu-driven: "For your fund balmce,sar or press 'one.'" A few advanced systems are more conversational: "What city are you departing from?" Despite the steady advancements to bigger vocabularies, lower error rates, andmore natural interfaces, however, speech products have remainedspecialized tools for niche markets such as PC Da\;gation by the disabled, medical dictation, and tightly . . erviceinteractions,

tal annual savings of $200,000, according to AlessI. T. Rowe Price Group Inc. in Baltimore also upgraded its menu-driven IVR system to a free-form speech system based on IBM's WebSphere Voice Response and Voice Server with natural-language understanding capabilities. The investment company reports big savings in telephone charges because automated calls can be completed faster.

nee. ey cou a ta e tree to four minutes, because y have to go through five or six menu legs. Now the same transaction takes 30 seconds because you can speak it all in one sentence."
Source: Adapted from Gary H. Anthes, "Speak Easy," Computenuorld, July 5, 2004. Copyright 2004 by Computerworld Inc., Framingham, MA 01701. All rights reserved.

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS

1. What are the business benefits and limitations ofIVR at Verizon and others? How could their use of IVR be improved? 2. What types of business situations would benefit most from IVR technology? Which ones would benefit least? 3. Given the advancements in voice recognition software over the last 20 years, what types of new applications for IVR do you see in the next 20 years? Give examples. 1. IVR technology is advancing rapidly in terms of its ability to simulate natural language conversations and accept common phrases. Using the Internet, research the state of the art in speech recognition. One good place to start is www.scansoft.com. 2. Simply simulating natural conversations is but one capability of speech software applications. Text-to-speech, voice verification, and speech-to-text are a few others. Break into small groups with your classmates, and brainstorm how speech recognition systems can be used in innovative and useful ways. Do you think we will eventually eliminate the need for humans in common telephone interactions? Is this good or bad?