TEL 355: Communication and Information Systems in

Organizations

Speech-Enabled Interactive Voice

Response Systems

Professor John F. Clark

Interactive Voice Response

• Serves as the bridge between people and computer databases via phone lines

• Used in a variety of applications including stock trades, account information and transactions, ticket reservations, etc.

• Represents the natural progression from touch-tone systems to natural speech recognition in telephony-based self-service

Speech Recognition Spectrum

• Touch-Tone Replacement– Recognizes spoken letters and words that represent

the keypad

• Directed Dialogue– Recognizes fairly simple words and phrases that are

clearly enunciated

• Natural Language– Recognizes more complex phrases and sentences

spoken in a conversational manner

History of IVR• Significant research and development by ARPA

since the late 80s• Early Discrete Number Recognition required

careful enunciation and separation• Continuous Speech Recognition can handle

unbroken strings of words• But, recognition of free-form conversation is not

yet a reality• However, it is commercially viable in a number

of customer service applications

Natural Language Technology• Phonetic Speech Recognition

– Breaks spoken words into fundamental sound units called phonemes

– Enables greater accuracy in recognizing larger vocabularies

• Language Modeling– Makes the best guess for sounds that are not

adequately recognized– Compares sounds to a database of sounds and

creates a confidence score for possible meaning

Rationale for IVR• Reduces spiraling labor costs

• Higher call volumes make IVR a more cost-effective solution

• Increased processing power means newer systems are faster and more accurate

• Software and hardware costs continue to decrease

• IVRs are less costly and faster to implement than Web-based solutions

Benefits of IVR• Dramatic reduction in operational costs

• Improves productivity– A higher percentage of calls can be partially or

fully automated– Frees the service agent from many routine tasks

• Savings in overhead costs– As a result of decreased labor expenses– As a result of decreased real estate requirements

and related infrastructure

IVR Capabilities

• Speaker-independent phonetic recognition

• Natural language and number recognition

• Continuous alpha-numeric recognition

• Modular approach to software development

• Barge-in capability

• Speaker-trained voice verification

• Support for multiple languages

Commercial Viability of IVR• Customers interact with business via phone

• IVR reliability and accuracy is over 90%

• By 2003, 30% of new automated lines in call centers will understand speech

• Directed speech recognition application pays for itself in 9-18 months in call centers with more than 50 agents

• Total revenues for speech technology and services in telephony will exceed $38 billion by 2003

Current Uses for IVR• Package tracking• Stock quotes and trading• Insurance claims• Travel arrangements• Prescription refills• Restaurant reservations• Banking activities• Interaction with government agencies• Directory Assistance

IVR Security

• Verbal security steps such as PIN numbers are easier to accomplish for the user than touch-tone keypad entry

• Voice Print Technology– Tests vocal characteristics of utterances to verify

the identity of the speaker– Especially beneficial for providers of financial

services and telecommunications services where much information is subject to fraud

Continuous Improvement Cycle• Design

– Project scope, system architecture, user interface• Develop

– Prototype application and production application• Test

– Evaluate prototype, production pilot testing• Deploy

– Production deployment, user interface tuning• Monitor

– Post-production evaluation, monitoring use

Development and Deployment Strategy, Part I: Design

• Determine the project scope– Explore business objectives and goals

– Evaluate how users will use the system and the kind of transactions you will support

• Determine the system architecture– Decide on specific applications

– Determine the specifications for applications

– Plan for a smooth transition

• Assign development responsibilities and develop budgets

Development and Deployment Strategy, Part II: Develop

• Develop prototype applications– Subsets of your system’s ultimate functionality– Observe and assess the experiences of a select

group of users– Determine all the features to be included in

your production application– Think about connectivity with data,

telecommunications, and information systems

Development and Deployment Strategy, Part III: Test

• Reduce risk by testing with targeted end users and conduct focus groups

• Observe and evaluate minimally-trained workers in realistic settings

• Implement a pilot test in an actual business setting with live, untrained callers as a preliminary, limited deployment

• Identify desired improvements

Development and Deployment Strategy, Part IV: Deploy

• Fully deploy the IVR system

• Manage the upgrade so that it doesn’t affect system reliability

• Tune the user interface and vocabulary to the production environment

• Ensure the IVR system is consistently satisfying callers and meeting your business objectives

Development and Deployment Strategy, Part V: Monitor

• Track critical usability indicators– Recognition accuracy

– Transaction completion rates

• Create usage reports and detailed call statistics• Design and implement evaluation tools such

as customer satisfaction surveys• Fine-tune your system for maximum

performance