Going backwards - Custom-build speech applications can create more problems than they solve, says Philip Padfield

With bad publicity over the general state of call center services, many organizations have turned to the most sophisticated technology they can get their hands on to improve the caller experience. Unfortunately, in the process, many have lost sight of their overriding aim (to raise customer satisfaction), and have ended up doing the exact opposite…

This includes trying to devise intelligent speech recognition applications that appear to try to delude the customer they are speaking to a live agent. This misses the point of the technology entirely, leading customers down a new road of discontent.

While custom-built speech applications allow companies to tailor the solutions to their exact requirements, they also provide unlimited scope to steer customers away from real, human interaction – the primary reason many people choose to try their luck at getting through to phone-based contact centers, rather than defer to Web FAQs and email!

To put too many hurdles between the caller and the agent is to tamper precariously with customer relations. This has become such a problem already that US consumer champion Paul English’s ‘Gethuman’ online database takes great pleasure in instructing customers how to bypass particular companies’ automation systems so they can get to speak to a live agent!

Speech recognition technology should be harnessed strategically and selectively, to facilitate better agent response, rather than replace it. Applied thoughtfully, it can transform the entire operation, boosting customer satisfaction and loyalty, and even driving up revenues as a proportion of call time is subtly refocused on upselling.

This means using the technology to filter out large volumes of routine, time-consuming calls, or substantial parts of them – distributing standard information, checking account balances, paying bills and so on – reducing waiting times for all. This frees up agents’ time so that they not only have a happier time at work, but can deal with more complex customer queries more efficiently.

Every company will have their own way of doing things, but if there is an 80% fit with a packaged speech recognition, this is the safest and most efficient way to go, knowing that the remaining 20% of the functionality you need that’s specific to your organization can be personalized quickly and efficiently. Reinventing the wheel for the rest makes no economic sense, and may lead the business down a blind alley - where original priorities get lost, projects derail and ROI is never delivered.