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Customers Speak, Is E-Commerce Listening?
BY KEVIN MAYER
On the eve of the holiday shopping season, speculation over the outlook
for e-commerce yields divergent views. In the New York Times, an
article quoting analysts such as Odyssey Research and Jupiter Media Metrix
suggested that e-commerce has become just another retail channel, residing
alongside existing channels, and that it may boast no special immunity
from the overall downturn in the economy. Thus, if traditional retail
outlets suffer, so will e-commerce outlets.
The Times, however, also referenced a somewhat rosier scenario
that appeared in a Yahoo!-sponsored study conducted by A. C. Nielsen.
According to A. C. Nielsen, telephone surveys revealed that consumers
interested in online shopping rose from 54 percent of respondents to 60
percent between August and October. The increase, however, was not
attributed to customer fears related to the events of September 11.
Instead, A. C. Neilsen’s managing director, Travyn Rhall, noted that “the
trend of growing confidence in the Internet and in e-commerce is being
driven by the convenience, speed, and information capabilities of the
Internet, and not by fears of terrorist attacks.”
To back up this conclusion, A. C. Nielsen indicated that while
confidence levels in the Northeast, the region hardest hit by the tragedy,
were up 34 points, the overall index jumped just 9 points in the six-week
period between the early September edition and the October edition of the
study. The index also found more Internet users nationwide plan to spend
$1 billion more on holiday-related spending ($12.4 billion) than
previously projected. Even with security issues dominating news headlines,
84 percent of Internet users firmly reject the notion that they intend to
shop online due to concerns about shopping in large public places.
Instead, the findings confirm that users now have increased levels of
comfort with the online medium as they turned to the Internet as never
before for news updates and communication services.
“On September 11 and during the weeks following, the Internet played
an essential role for millions of people by enabling communication,
delivering news, and channeling charitable giving for emergency relief
agencies,” said Rob Solomon, vice president and general manager, Yahoo!
Shopping. “Yahoo! witnessed increases in traffic and donation patterns
in astonishing numbers. The Index confirms that consumers now recognize
that e-commerce-related activities, such as donating or shopping online,
are safe, secure, and very convenient.”
“E” FOR “ENHANCED”
If we accept that e-commerce is enjoying growth because consumers
perceive that it is secure and convenient, we might ask whether e-commerce
could enjoy even more growth if its security and convenience could be
enhanced. No doubt e-commerce could stand improvement in these respects.
No doubt e-commerce users harbor lingering fears over credit card usage
and the safety of personal information.
To the extent there is interest in improving e-commerce, and in
promoting additional growth, there are opportunities for those who may
offer communications solutions. For example, communications solutions
could broaden the appeal of e-commerce, helping it encompass more than
PC-based, browser-mediated interactions. E-commerce could be more natural.
It could accommodate the natural, human preference to speak and listen,
instead of confining users to point-and-click interfaces.
The most obvious solution, broad deployment of multimedia PCs,
accompanied by a proliferation of e-tailers capable of managing multimedia
sessions, not to mention wider availability of residential broadband
connectivity, is hardly the only solution. Many potential customers will
lack multimedia terminals and broadband connectivity for some time to
come. In any case, many potential customers will balk at always being tied
to a desktop PC. They’ll insist on being mobile, relying on mobile
phones and telemetric-equipped autos. And, whether they’re driving or
not, potential customers won’t be too eager to navigate the limited
interfaces presented by tiny keypads and tiny screen displays.
For customers relying on phones or mobile devices, convenience may come
down to whether they’ll be able to speak and listen their way through
commercial transactions. Such convenience, while seldom raised in
mainstream discussions of e-commerce, is a subject of abiding concern in
the communications solutions marketplace. In this marketplace, though
applications such as interactive voice response (IVR), we’re already
familiar with the challenges of voice-enabling customer interactions. We’re
already familiar with the tradeoffs posed by efforts to maximize
convenience. We’re already familiar with the need to consolidate the
management of multiple customer interaction channels.
While maximizing convenience is a laudable goal, so is minimizing
expense. Attempts to negotiate this tradeoff have had mixed success. For
example, IVR has often been deployed in such a way that customers could be
forgiven for wondering if IVR isn’t more convenient for the seller than
it is for the buyer. Seemingly interminable scripts, intricate menus, and
incessant prompts for touchtone input have given IVR a less than stellar
reputation. And yet, while IVR may be deployed as a convenience to contact
centers, conserving costly live-agent resources, it may also be deployed
sensibly, with restraint, extending the hours of business operations
beyond the workday, providing for agent intervention when agents are
available. Moreover, IVR may be subordinated to highly integrated customer
relationship management (CRM) applications, allowing contact centers (or
interaction centers) to accommodate shifting customer preferences with
respect to communications medium, while ensuring consistency in the
fulfillment of customer demands, regardless of which communications
channels convey these demands.
CUSTOMER FOCUS
All of these considerations contribute to something like a
communications solutions mindset. That is, with this mindset, any
technological approaches to enhanced customer interactions are assessed in
terms of convenience, cost-effectiveness, and consistency. Other important
“C” words include convergence, which may reference the ability to
manage both voice and data interactions, perhaps over a common
infrastructure, or perhaps via the integration of otherwise incompatible
infrastructures, and consolidation, which may reference a more managerial
point of view, that is, to the creation of a single or unified view of the
customer.
Of late, the technological means of enhancing customer interactions are
focused on speech. Relevant technologies include automatic speech
recognition (ASR), text-to-speech (TTS), and speaker verification. All of
these technologies may apply, regardless of whether customer interactions
are mediated via IVR or voice portals. IVR, as we’ve seen, may dispense
recorded prompts and accept touchtone input. It may also, with speech
recognition, accept spoken input, brief utterances, such as numbers or
simple commands. It may also accept less structured spoken input, full
sentences, if enabled by natural language speech recognition technology.
Alongside IVR, and sometimes competing with it, is the voice portal.
The voice portal, sometimes referred to as the “talking Web,” has
often emphasized the delivery of content on demand. And not particularly
specialized or individualized content, either. Sports scores. Stock
quotes. But lately voice portals have focused less exclusively on
lowest-common-denominator consumer-grade information delivery. Instead,
they’re moving towards enterprise-scale collaborative and information
management applications, as well as enhanced e-commerce applications.
ANALYST’S EXPECTATIONS
According to Datamonitor, an independent market analyst, standalone voice
portals that relied on generating new revenues from voice portal services
alone, have, in most cases, been forced to rethink their strategies.
Alternative approaches include the following:
- Externally-facing enterprise voice portals can help businesses
improve their levels of customer service while reducing the associated
costs.
- Internally-facing enterprise voice portals can empower mobile
employees and automate aspects of costly corporate infrastructure.
- Voice portals can help telcos improve service, retain customers,
generate new revenues, and reduce costs.
- Voice portals can help wireless telecoms in the same ways as
fixed-line telecoms, but can also help them offer 3G-style services
without the associated cost. They can also improve the
user-friendliness of mobile interactions.
- Voice portals allow automotive companies, and others, to benefit
from the revenue opportunities provided by offering Internet-style
services to consumers while driving — in time that would otherwise
be considered “dead.”
- Voice portals can help Web portals leverage their existing
investments and generate new revenues through the provision of their
services to the wider audience, in terms of both numbers and frequency
of use, that phone access allows.
All of these opportunities may account for Datamonitor’s projections.
The firm notes that global investment in voice technologies in 2001 is
already up by 22 percent on total spending in 2000. Moreover, the firm
anticipates a compound annual growth of 43 percent between 2000 and 2006.
As for global investment in business applications of speech recognition
technology across networks (voice business), Datamonitor expects today’s
$650 million to grow to $5.6 billion by 2006. Currently, enabling
technologies, including ASR and TTS, account for the largest proportion of
voice business value chain revenues. However, by 2006, there will have
been a value shift towards applications and services. Application
development will become the most valuable section and will generate 31
percent of value chain revenues in 2006, compared to 23 percent in 2000.
Another analyst, The Kelsey Group, has announced that its research
indicates that increased return on investment in multimedia contact
centers requires enhancement of the customer experience, not mere
replacement of live agents with technology. “In this economy cost
containment and ROI are important, but so in enhancing the customer
experience,” asserts Mark Plakias, senior vice president of The Kelsey
Group’s Voice & Wireless Commerce Program. “Too often, ASR
developers sell their wares by comparing the cost of an ASR-handled call
to the cost associated with live agents. This is superficial, because the
real ‘pain’ is in call centers that are ‘hitting the wall’ with
traditional touchtone IVR systems.”
Plakias notes that a superior voice user interface can improve customer
satisfaction by suppressing “abandons” and “hostile transfers”
from frustrated callers who have difficulty using complex touchtone
interfaces. “The real story of improved ROI will be closely linked to
customer satisfaction. Automated speech can reduce lost calls, and free
agents to upsell and provide great service. Client retention and enhanced
revenue opportunities — not firing agents — will deliver strong ROI.”
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, chronicling investments in
telephony technologies supporting natural language recognition, reveals
that the IVR market generated revenues of $1.22 billion in 2000 that are
projected to reach $2.41 billion by 2007. This analyst notes that while
customer-oriented Web sites were viewed as a self-service option, many
created more questions than they answered, inadvertently increasing call
center volume. As product markets become more competitive, there will be a
surge in the number of call centers necessary to retain and satisfy
consumers. In addition, the analyst projects that advancements in IVR
software that combine telephone and Internet capabilities will offer
enhanced features and drive market opportunities. According Frost &
Sullivan researcher Alpa Shah, “Speech recognition is expected to
revitalize the market as it will encourage the replacement and enhancement
of installed systems.”
Joining the chorus of experts who indicate speech recognition is no
longer a futuristic technology, Allied Business Intelligence (ABI) asserts
that robust systems and tools have been developed to support and enhance
key applications in the emerging Internet/Intranet-centric world. “Although
implementations have been primarily by wireless carriers and travel and
financial industries, a plethora of other sectors will soon follow the
same paradigm,” said ABI senior analyst Anna Karampahtsis. According to
ABI, by the end of 2006, there will be close to 291 million voice portal
users. These users will vary by their frequency of use, and those
implementing voice strategies must understand the distinctions between the
groups. Of the 291 million, 25 percent will be infrequent users, 40
percent will be frequent, and 35 percent will be habitual users of voice
portals.
Finally, we can cite one more analyst that focuses on the blending of
self-service channels with agent-mediated channels in the contact center.
This analyst, The PELORUS Group, forecasts total customer contact center
revenues, including call centers, related voice systems, Web-based
applications, middleware, and integration services, will reach $13.6
billion by 2005. The analyst goes so far as to refer to “blended media
solutions.” According to PELORUS, one of the largest opportunities for
vendors will be encouraging and supporting the transition among existing
call centers to the new blended contact center approach. PELORUS
anticipates that revenue from products that add communications channels to
the contact center and integrate them with voice-based systems will
flourish.
Al Fross, president of PELORUS, notes, “Just as companies once
encouraged callers to embrace voice processing systems during high volume
periods, callers will be encouraged to visit a company’s Web site or
press a ‘call back’ button. Consumers are already demonstrating a
willingness to do so. And businesses understand that potential cost
savings and increased customer service translate into an attractive ROI.
Indeed, some companies have reported that costs have decreased to as
little as 10–20 percent the cost of a traditional contact center call,
after implementing blended media solutions. Ninety percent of existing
call centers will employ at least one form of non-voice communications
within 24 months. Accordingly, near-term opportunities for blended media
solutions may prove dramatic.”
SERVICE CONTINUUM
In broad terms, what we’re seeing are various ways to close the gap
between inexpensive self-service channels and expensive agent-mediated
channels, shifting the balance between these channel types as we might
adjust a radio dial, tuning appropriately depending on the customer or
transaction or any special circumstances. The self-service options,
including IVR and e-commerce, may be made better in their own right, more
natural and more convenient, by infusing them with speech recognition
capabilities. No more touchtone-only IVR, thanks to speech rec-enabled
IVR. No more PC-browser-only e-commerce, thanks to voice portals.
In addition, the self-service options may be integrated with the
agent-mediated channels. That is, a self-service session may escalate to
an agent-mediated session, without requiring the customer to begin again,
repeating steps already completed in a transaction, or repeating
information already divulged. This sort of capability has long been a key
differentiator between relatively simple and relatively sophisticated IVR
applications. Also, IVR applications have long wrestled with the challenge
of keeping scripts and menus manageable for users, not to mention
interacting with applications such as workforce management and
skills-based routing, and integrating with legacy data structures.
Alongside continuing refinements in IVR, we have the evolution of voice
portals, aided in no small measure by VoiceXML, a markup language for
defining voice user interfaces. The VoiceXML standard, now in its second
version, allows for the creation of documents or pages that support
telephone access. These documents, in turn, describe how a voice
processing platform may take advantage of TTS or sound files (for
presenting information audibly), and how a user may take advantage of
speech recognition (for spoken input) and DTMF (for touchtone input) to
interact with a VoXML application. VoiceXML documents and the user
interactions they describe are processed by a VoiceXML interpreter.
The interesting thing about VoXML is that it has the potential to enlarge
the community of developers creating voice-activated applications.
Developers may resort to tools and technologies similar to those used to
create HTML applications for the Web. Thus, VoXML development, with
respect to traditional IVR, sets up a classic “disruptive technology”
scenario. VoXML, as a potential disruptive technology, threatens to become
increasingly sophisticated, taking on applications long within the purview
of highly evolved IVR systems. And, as in typical disruptive technology
scenarios, so-called legacy solutions are not content to stand still.
They, too, continue to evolve, attempting to forestall, frustrate, or
assimilate the challenging tools or technologies. Some of these maneuvers
are evident in recent news and developments, which are summarized below.
RECENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Developments in voice-activated applications appear on several fronts. For
example, announcements have been issued by IVR stalwarts, VoXML platform
providers, and speech technology providers.
IVR Stalwarts
Aspect Communications. Aspect announced the release of
Aspect Customer Self-Service (CSS) version 6.0. This software is designed
to enable widespread deployment of voice recognition technology in a
customer contact center environment as well as a new level of data
integration, so users will be able to complete complex transactions
without the need for live assistance.
In describing the CSS release, Aspect cites five advantages. First,
since Aspect CSS links to other CRM databases and platforms, customers are
now assured of getting the complete information necessary for finishing a
transaction. Aspect CSS also connects with Aspect eWorkforce Management,
which allows companies to plan their contact center staffing and allow
CSRs to have more flexibility in accessing and changing their work
schedules via speech recognition. Second, this integration with CRM
systems ensures that if customers ask to speak with a customer sales or
service representative (CSR), they are efficiently routed to the
appropriate one. The system also ensures that the CSR receives the
relevant customer information. Third, by using voice recognition
technology, Aspect CSS provides a level of security previously
unattainable with passwords. Fourth, many companies are finding that
customers actually prefer self-service applications, so they can get what
they need quickly and without hassle. Finally, Aspect has decoupled its
CSS software from hardware. Aspect’s new version of CSS comes as a pure
software option and runs on standard systems, which Aspect claims makes it
easier to implement, upgrade, and support than proprietary IVRs.
The Aspect CCS integrates with the Aspect Contact Server, which enables
more complex self-service applications and allows more contacts to be
handled entirely through self-service. A contact server is a business
communications software platform that manages customer contacts from
multiple sources (voice, fax, Web, or e-mail) and serves them though a
single system so that companies have a single and consistent view of their
customer. The Aspect Contact Server integrates information from different
sources providing CSRs and self-service with the complete view of the
customer. Customers benefit from a contact server because they won’t be
misrouted and their issues can be resolved upon initial contact more
easily. As the Forum Corporation reports, the average company is losing
between 15 and 35 percent of its customers annually, and 69 percent of
these losses are due to poor sales or service interactions. By reducing
customer churn by just 5 percent, according to the Harvard Business
Review, businesses can see a rise in revenue of 25 percent or more
depending on the business.
Edify Corporation. The company has announced the release
of its enhanced customer interaction management platform Electronic
Workforce 7.2. Featuring significant upgrades for the automated and
assisted management of customer-driven e-mail traffic from the contact
center, Electronic Workforce 7.2 also provides a fully integrated Windows
2000 based interactive voice self-service system that allows customers to
take advantage of speech-enabled applications from technology partners
including SpeechWorks.
Edify also announced that it is integrating OpenSpeech Recognizer 1.0,
SpeechWorks’ speech recognition engine, into the Edify Voice vCSR
(virtual Customer Service Representative) product line. OpenSpeech
Recognizer is an open, standards-based recognition engine. Optimized for
VoiceXML, the recognition engine understands more than one million words,
well above the industry standard of 80,000 to 100,000 words today. In
addition, new “endpointing” technology is specifically designed to
increase accuracy in wireless environments. Advanced telephony technology
from NMS Communications will support the new Edify-SpeechWorks product.
NMS Communications’ telephony boards feature very high port densities
and powerful voice processing abilities, resulting in excellent
recognition accuracy. As a result, speech solution developers can focus on
robust speech applications that provide a high quality customer
experience.
Finally, Edify announced the formation of its new Natural Language
Solutions Group (NLSG). Built around former Atomic Tangerine personnel,
tools, and methodologies as well as its own in-house experts and
technology, the new group strengthens Edify’s position as a global
provider of voice recognition consulting services. Edify’s NLSG gives
customers access to an elite team of speech applications consultants,
speech scientists, and natural language experts, supporting their ability
to rapidly build and deliver natural language solutions.
Syntellect. Like Edify, Syntellect has announced the
launch of a consulting group. A provider of speech-enabled enterprise
voice portal software and hosted services, Syntellect indicates that its
Solutions Consulting Group will help clients build, refine, and execute
customer, employee and partner self-service strategies. In addition
Syntellect has announced that it now supports Siebel 7, the seventh major
release of Siebel eBusiness Applications from Siebel Systems, a leading
provider of e-Business applications software. Syntellect has joined the
Siebel Alliance Program as a software partner and will submit the
integration of its Vista IMR (Interactive Media Response) software
platform for validation with Siebel 7 within 90 days of general
availability, providing organizations with complete e-business solutions
that increase productivity, maximize revenue and profit, and significantly
enhance customer acquisition, satisfaction, and retention.
VoXML Platforms
Audium. The company announced the release of Audium 2.0, a
powerful application platform that allows businesses to deploy smart,
dynamic IVR applications throughout the enterprise and call center. “It
is time to replace inflexible and proprietary IVR hardware and software
with a standards-based platform,” said J. Cory Wright, Audium’s COO.
“Audium 2.0 makes this a reality.” The company claims Audium 2.0 is a
full voice application platform that businesses, systems integrators, and
independent software vendors can use in conjunction with a VoiceXML
browser to provide a complete replacement of older, proprietary IVR
systems. This release, asserts Audium, cuts development time by 75 percent
and gives developers the power of dynamically generated VoiceXML allowing
the phone channel to respond to changing business conditions and give
customers and employees the information they need when they need it.
BeVocal. The company announced its full support of the
Working Draft VoiceXML 2.0 specification. The release, from the World Wide
Web Consortium, is meant to pave the way for expanded Web access via the
telephone. VoiceXML 2.0 is designed to create audio dialogs that feature
synthesized speech, digitized audio, recognition of spoken and DTMF
(touch-tone) key input, recording of spoken input, telephony, and
mixed-initiative conversations. These developments interest BeVocal since
the company provides an in-network platform, called BeVocal Foundation,
that enables carriers to create and deliver next-generation enhanced
services such as voice-activated dialing, voice portal, and voice
messaging applications. This VoiceXML 2.0 platform is designed to be easy
to deploy, manage, and maintain, resulting in a faster time to market and
a lower total cost of ownership for carriers.
Cambridge VoiceTech. The company announced the release of
Cambridge Voice Gateway, a fully compliant, fully scalable Windows NT
VoiceXML platform for speech recognition and advanced voice automation
applications. “Cambridge Voice Gateway represents a quantum leap into
the new world of VoiceXML,” said Lou Abbruzzesi, the company’s CTO.
“This is the first truly complete, truly scalable VoiceXML solution for
Windows NT, designed and built to host carrier-class, high-volume
commercial telephony applications. We believe it marks the beginning of a
new era in speech application development.” As a complete implementation
of VoiceXML — the new industry standard language for advanced speech
technologies — Cambridge Voice Gateway provides a versatile platform for
a wide range of enterprise applications utilizing today’s speech
recognition, text-to-speech, and voice authentication engines, Abbruzzesi
said.
Comverse. The company, a supplier of software and systems
enabling network-based multimedia enhanced communications services,
announced its new VoiceXML browser and gateway. Comverse’s VoiceXML
browser and gateway enables end users to access Web-based information and
perform transactions by speaking naturally into any wireless or wireline
telephone. The Comverse advanced voice portfolio also includes a voice
messaging and voice portal platform for both consumer and enterprise end
users.
Comverse’s gateway is a carrier-grade platform for running VoiceXML
1.0-compliant telephony applications. The core component of the Comverse
VoiceXML gateway is the Comverse VoiceXML interpreter — the software
that reads and processes VoiceXML applications. The interpreter gives
service providers real-time control of multiple VoiceXML applications
being accessed simultaneously by multiple users.
“Comverse’s VoiceXML browser and gateway offers end users of voice
Web applications the same ease of use, timeliness, and security that they
have grown to expect on the visual Web,” said Zeev Bregman, CEO of
Comverse. “The open Comverse VoiceXML browser and gateway allows service
providers to use the same data and application/business logic as existing
Web applications, enabling them to rapidly deploy new VoiceXML
applications for subscribers using traditional circuit-switched or VoIP
connectivity. Comverse’s new, intuitive VoiceXML browser and gateway can
also be used across existing enhanced services platforms, making Comverse
an all-encompassing partner for service providers seeking additional
revenue by delivering enhanced voice services.”
Entervoice. The company announced the release of qIVR (“quiver”)
Version 1.2 to create voice solutions with J2EE application servers. qIVR
delivers a Java interface to the VoiceXML specification and provides
portability between VoiceXML platform providers. “As enterprises
continue to improve their customer relationship management (CRM)
applications and maximize their investments in Web technologies, we
believe they will increasingly turn to voice applications to reach
customers beyond the browser.” said Kevin McNamara, CEO of Entervoice.
“In my opinion the next killer applications are voice solutions built
from existing Web infrastructures which will no doubt lead to major cost
savings due to their inherent simplicity.” qIVR is a voice application
enabler, allowing any Java programmer to develop complex applications
without knowing VoiceXML. Application developers use qIVR because it
allows them to introduce phone applications to market faster by applying
their existing business logic already written in Java. Business managers
prefer qIVR because they are not bound to a particular VoiceXML platform
provider and save on the expense of specialized VoiceXML development.
HeyAnita. The company announced its enterprise strategy.
Focusing on voice applications that will increase efficiencies for
enterprises, HeyAnita unveiled a category of products called VoiceManager.
As the name suggests, VoiceManager products help busy professionals manage
their day using a phone and their voice. From checking an e-mail to
setting up a conference call, VoiceManager allows the mobile community to
stay connected with others and access corporate information. “VoiceManager
represents the obvious next step in the evolution and development of voice
technology that was first introduced through consumer voice portals,
ASP-based models and license partnerships,” commented Sanjeev Kuwadekar,
CEO of HeyAnita. “With VoiceManager, HeyAnita is aggressively going
after the enterprise market, allowing easier, more flexible, and secure
deployment of this technology into the day-to-day business environment.”
InterVoice-Brite. iVB Enterprise Solutions, a division of
InterVoice-Brite, is strengthening its speech solution offering by adding
VoiceXML-based products and services in response to increasing market
demand. VoiceXML 1.0 functionality is now being delivered on the OneVoice
platform with initial product deployment targeted for select ASP
(application service provider) customers. InterVoice-Brite is a call
automation solutions company that develops and deploys speech-driven,
self-service applications and corporate voice portals using speech
recognition and text-to-speech technologies. As part of its already
extensive product offering of advanced speech recognition design,
development, and deployment tools, the company will offer VoiceXML
capabilities. Additionally, for its existing customers, InterVoice-Brite
will offer a migration path to VoiceXML for those who desire it.
NetCentrex. The company, an enabler of converged
voice-data (VoIP) networks and next-generation services, announced the
availability of VoiceXML support for its SVI Media Server platform. SVI
VoiceXML is meant to deliver the advantages of standardized Web-based
development and content delivery with the rich feature set and network
connectivity of a carrier-class media server platform. SVI VoiceXML
includes real-time performance and caching optimizations that enable
high-volume voice portal and interactive voice response systems to be
based on VoiceXML.
SVI VoiceXML enables a powerful business model permitting the service
provider to economically host voice portal applications via multi-tenant
media server resources while allowing the enterprise to maintain in-house
application development and management control. Service providers are no
longer required to provide proprietary application development tools and
support, while enterprises can benefit from the flexibility, security, and
the back end application and data interoperability that enrich voice
applications and customer service functions.
The SVI Media Server and interactive voice response solution set is a
robust and scalable platform for the development of voice portal and IVR
services, supporting thousands of simultaneous lines in a wide variety of
telecom configurations. SVI voice features include: collect DTMF, play
file, voice recognition, text-to-speech, audio conferencing, and video.
SVIs distributed architecture separates voice applications from media
control, allowing service providers to reduce the cost of network
resources and economically host customer applications. SVI supports a
comprehensive list of protocols including ISDN, SS7/ISUP, INAP, CAMEL, and
H.323.
Telera. The company announced it has launched Telera
DeVXchange, a community for developers to create, test, and prototype
business-centric voice applications for the telephone that run on the
Telera Voice Web Application Platform. DeVXchange provides all the tools
developers need to take voice applications like self-service and IVR from
concept to deployment using the VoiceXML standard. Business applications
such as touch-tone or speech-enabled banking, sales force automation,
enterprise resource planning, and corporate dialers can be created easily
and rapidly with Telera,s developer platform. Telera gives developers
enhanced functionality, enabling them to create robust call control
applications such as interactive call routing and network queuing. Telera
will continue to implement new versions of the VoiceXML standard as it
evolves, giving developers the most advanced, standards-based tools for
creating applications.
Telera offers two classes of licenses for developers to participate in
DeVXchange. The basic license is free of charge and provides developers
with a basic set of tools and resources like speech recognition and
text-to-speech through integration with Telera partners like Nuance,
SpeechWorks, and Fonix. The premier license provides more advanced
toolsets and robust features like outbound notification, interactive call
routing, and queuing, through integration with contact center products
from companies like Cisco and Genesys.
Tellme. The company announced that its Voice Application
Network fully supports the working draft VoiceXML 2.0 specification,
allowing customers to take advantage of the latest in voice application
technology. "Tellme welcomes the W3C's adoption of the VoiceXML
specification and is excited that the preeminent Web standards body is now
shepherding this important new voice standard," said Stephanos
Tryphonas, Tellme's co-editor of the VoiceXML specification and customer
solutions director at Tellme. "With more than 550 member companies in
the VoiceXML Forum, the momentum behind this industry specification rivals
the initial adoption of HTML which drove the Web phenomenon seven years
ago." Tellme also hosts a VoiceXML 2.0 developer community online at http://studio.tellme.com,
where more than 15,000 developers are building VoiceXML applications. In
addition, Tellme operates a VoiceXML network, placing and answering
hundreds of millions of calls annually for enterprises and carriers
worldwide.
Verascape. The company, a manufacturer of high-capacity
VoiceXML speech platforms, announced the availability of its VeraServ
platform based on VoiceXML 2.0. Every VeraServ product ships with licensed
text-to-speech, automatic speech recognition, and a VoiceXML interpreter.
Verascape's Vivance architecture uses the Session Initiation Protocol
(SIP) standard and provides integration into existing IP networks and PSTN
equipment through a UNIX-based, open-system design. Verascape is also
collaborating with VoiceXML pioneer Motorola to deploy carrier-grade
VoiceXML solutions. As one of the initial creators of VoiceXML and a
founding member of the VoiceXML Forum, Motorola is committed to
aggressively leading this market by delivering progressive voice
solutions. Verascape utilizes Motorola's VoiceXML interpreter in the
VeraServ product.
VoiceGenie Technologies. The company announced its voice
Web platform, the VoiceGenie VoiceXML Gateway 5.0. The gateway introduces
platform pooling, supports the newest release of the VoiceXML
specification 2.0, and integrates several advanced features, such as call
control via Genie Call Blending, E1 capabilities for international
support, and higher density. Engineered for large-scale deployment, the
VoiceXML Gateway allows carriers and enterprises to significantly reduce
lifecycle costs and simplify deployment of voice-driven applications and
services.
VoiceGenie also announced Genie IDE, a development suite for
developing, managing, and deploying VoiceXML applications. The new IDE
provides an extensive feature set enabling users at all levels to rapidly
develop and deploy enterprise-grade voice applications, with capabilities
including file editing, file and project management, code assistance,
validation, and platform simulation. The file and project management
features allow users to organize their work, expediting access to voice
application files. Project management capabilities simplify the deployment
process by facilitating remote access, and a publish facility transfers
local files to a remote server. Code assistance features include auto
indentation, tag, attribute, and attribute value suggestion and
completion, syntax highlighting, tag/template insert tool, tag attribute
editor, and tag help.
"A VoiceXML integrated development environment has, until now,
been a void in the VoiceXML industry," said Steve Chambers, vice
president of Worldwide Marketing for SpeechWorks International. "Not
only has VoiceGenie answered this call, they have engineered a powerful
and highly useable IDE that speeds time to market for developers, while
opening the world of VoiceXML to new entrants." Genie IDE is
currently available in beta, downloadable free of change for members of
the VoiceGenie Developer Workshop. Go to http://developer.voicegenie.com
to register.
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