SRC The Speech Recognition Company
Practical Usage of Telephony and Desktop Speech Recognition
Presentation to the British Computer Society 19th March 2002
1 SRC, The Speech Recognition Company
Colin Howman Managing Director Desktop Solutions Colin is one of the founder directors of SRC, founding the company in 1995. He has extensive experience of introducing speech software into companies, and has drawn on this experience to write many papers and articles published in both the trade and vertical press. Colin is also a regular conference speaker on this subject, and is widely considered to be one of the leading experts in this field in the UK. Prior to setting up SRC he worked for Guinness Plc, in a variety of roles within sales, marketing and operations.
Dr. Kenton Sanmogan Director of Solutions, Marketing and Consulting Kenton is responsible for the definition and marketing of telephony-based speech solutions and heads up SRC's consulting services. Prior to joining SRC in 2001, Kenton was European Operations Director for Commerce One where he was responsible for implementing e-commerce solutions for many telcos and multinationals. Kenton was previously lead consultant in Europe for telecoms at PricewaterhouseCoopers and has extensive experience of implementing call centre, customer services, billing and network management solutions. Kenton also held a divisional director level position at Nortel Networks delivering professional services and was responsible for establishing a significant services business for Nortel in Asia.
2 Background to SRC Established 1995 Leading services and solution provider for Speech Recognition technologies in UK Backed by 3i and Cazenove & Co SRC Telecom launched Dec 2000 Experienced speech applications development team in place VoiceXML platform and development systems in place Carrier grade hosting platform operational since Oct 2001 Independent (Technology partnerships in place with world class partners e.g. SpeechWorks, Nuance, IBM, ScanSoft etc). Customers – Blue chip (Lloyds TSB, IBM, HSBC, BAT, ICI, M&S, Cap Gemini etc)
3 SRC Service Offerings Business consultancy to re-engineer business processes though analysis of text-speech interaction and advise on how best to deploy speech technology Application Development of speech solutions (for desktop, telephone and other environments) Implementation, integration, piloting and maintenance of high quality bespoke speech solutions (including dictionaries and vocabularies) Hosting of telephony speech applications in carrier grade environment Desktop Speech Recognition and Digital Dictation allows spoken text to be efficiently captured and, where necessary, distributed for completion
Complete range of world leading Speech Services
4 Speech Recognition
¾ Desktop ¾ Telephony
CNN.com has identified speech recognition as one of the "hot technologies for 2002" The New York Times named it as a "2002 technology to watch" IDC predicts the worldwide market for telephony speech technologies will be worth $3.5bn by 2005
5 Desktop Speech Recognition
6 Desktop Speech Recognition
The market place and requirement What is Desktop SR How does it work What does it work on Some myths Demonstration of a speech engine Use with a common application: Email Its application: Case study – Morgan Cole Costs/ Business benefit Future applications Questions
7 SRC – Desktop Solutions
SRC delivers: Improved efficiency of text and data entry for corporate and professional organisations SRC Solutions Speech Recognition solutions Digital Dictation solutions Customers include BAT, HSBC, Denton Wilde Sapte, Irwin Mitchell, DTI, SFO, Knight Frank, Morgan Cole, BAT, St. Paul Insurance Co, London Underground.
8 Desktop SR Targets a niche market
1 m people using analogue dictation in UK 300,000 UK lawyers and surveyors Large number in professional services sector and government Business requirement for SR Secretarial support costs Implications of no secretarial support Time to client
9 Desktop Speech Recognition Core engine technology: How does it work? Audio model Language model What does it work on? All Windows OS / Apple Mac P3’s, 256MB RAM Some myths Accents Background noise Colds Time to learn voice
10 Focus on Speech dictation
Demonstration Application for people who produce text Letters, reports, memos, advice notes, drafting created themselves E-mail Combine with templates Benefits Independence from support Reduce time spent/wasted keying Better service at lower cost
11 Morgan Cole
Top 20 UK law firm 700 staff Strong provincial and west country base Substantial property, private client and commercial practices Vision is to deliver better service to customers through technology
12 Morgan Cole: Project Stages
Phase 1 trial of Speech recognition and digital dictation Measurement of business benefits Decision to lead with Speech Recognition Greater cost savings Faster service to customer Follow with digital dictation for those who cannot/won’t use Speech Recognition Don’t want to change the way they do things Technology phobia 135 lawyers currently using SR, 350 by year end
13 Morgan Cole: Digital Dictation Workflow
Digital Portable Input
Network Transcription
Internet/WAN
Telephone Line
Input Methods Transcription Methods
Telephone Input Telephone Line
Internet/WAN
Remote
Network Transcription
Desktop Input
14 Technical SR Solution: Key Factors
Vocabulary is key to success SRC Tools Understanding of lawyers customer, partner names, documentation and terminology Building a speech solution for lawyers Templates Case and matter management Input devices Training – delivered by SRC and Morgan Cole staff Support
15 Morgan Cole: Change Management
Technical solution only half the story Support of all staff Clear statement of project objectives to all staff Full support of technology team Trust suppliers Clear roll out methodology Committed dedicated SRC/ Morgan Cole team
16 Focus on Business Case
Secretarial Costs Natural wastage Savings in overtime and temporary staff Lawyers time Initially takes longer but soon seen to… Free up fee earners time Flexible working/home working Document turnaround time/Service to customer Typical costs for 100 people £150k Payback period can be as short as 4-5 months
17 Some future applications
As devices get smaller PDA’s/ Wearables Solutions for mobile workers Microphone technology improves Natural language understanding Processes become voice enabled Mail sorting Snagging Data entry/collection
18 Discussion & Questions
19 Telephony Speech Recognition
20 Telephony Applications - What can they do?
v-Commerce applications Check Price and Availability Booking / Ordering (by Product Name or Code) Literature / Brochure Requests Order Status Find a Location Financial transactions / services Other Call Centre applications Call routing Customer identification Information services / access to content
21 Is the Technology mature enough?
Widespread applications in US - Schwab, UPS, Fidelity, Sears, United Airlines Handling millions of calls per month First few launched in UK Lloyds TSB aim to front 100% of all telephone banking calls within 12 months Mature UK & European language models Empirical evidence of preference over touch-tone
22 Call Flow of Speech Applications
Pre-recorded Audio
Text-to-Speech Public Data Lookup Database or Telephone Website Network Speech Recognition
DTMF Tone Recogniser
Dialogue Manager Telephony Control
23 Considering a touch-tone system?
DTMF may not be as productive as you think… Many callers zero out to live agents Interaction with DTMF system is cumbersome for users Frequent callers want to circumvent menu trees
Callers prefer voice interfaces: • 80% prefer speech recognition to touch tone* • 84% prefer speech recognition to human operators*
* Source: Nuance User Score Card, 2000 (a US consumer survey)
24 Caller Perceptions of Speech Applications
Available To everyone that has a telephone Easy to use Simply say what you want without having to learn to use new technologies or devices Accessible Transactions can be executed using the device that’s most convenient Secure Can use a person’s unique voice print to protect access to secure information
25 Why introduce Speech Applications?
Increased Revenue Efficient Operation A new/enhanced sales channel Fewer missed calls More transactions Peak hours better supported Information as a paid for service Simpler Agent Resource Planning
Reduced Costs Accurate Process Lowest transaction cost Less errors & rework No need for overflow call centre Consistent customer experience Less agent time on non-critical calls Limits automatically triggered Solving Specific Business Challenges/ Issues Obviate the need to deploy additional agents in an expanding call centre Meet seasonal and one-off customer contact requirements without the need for large numbers of temporary call centre agents Offer additional services that could not be cost effectively delivered by call centre agents
26 Demonstration – Grand Prix Betting Drivers Tracks Try the following and see what happens: David Coulthard Hungaroring (Hungary) you can say “help”, “tutorial”, “repeat ” or Eddie Irvine Suzuka (Japan) “goodbye ” at any prompt Enrique Bernoldi Albert Park (Australia) “eight quid on Montoya in Britain” Fernando Alonso Sepang (Malaysia) “three pounds on Burti in Belgium” Giancarlo Fisichella Interlagos (Brazil) “I would like to bet two hundred pounds Heinz-Harald Frentzen Imola (San Marino) on DC to win the Australian grand prix” Jacques Villeneuve A1 Ring (Austria) “a monkey on Mika in Monaco” Jarno Trulli Monte Carlo (Monaco) Jean Alesi Gilles Villeneuve Circuit (Canada) “twenty pounds on Jenson Button in Jenson Button Nurburgring (European) Germany” Jos Verstappen Circuit De Nevers (France) you will be asked which of the two grand Juan Pablo Montoya Silverstone (Britain) prix in Germany you want, you can reply Kimi Raikkonen Spa Francorchamps (Belgium) “the European one”. Luciano Burti Monza (Italy) “a tenner on Schumacher” Michael Schumacher Hockenheim Ring (Germany) you will be asked for which Schumacher Mika Hakkinen Indianapolis (America) brother and then a grand prix name Nick Heidfeld Circuit de Catalunya (Spain) “a pound on Japan” - you will be asked Olivier Panis for a driver name Pedro De La Rosa Barrichello in the Canadian grand prix” - Ralf Schumacher you will be asked for an amount Rubens Barrichello Tarso Marques Demo
27 Voice Applications - The Design Challenge
Computer conforms to human protocols Understanding Natural Language Phonetical work Dialogue flow Disambiguation Persona
Art not Science
28 Voice Applications - Growth Sectors Call Centres Employ about 1.3% of European labour force (3% in US) Typical number of calls handled per agent: 35k /yr (20/hour) Typical total cost of a call centre agent: £30,000 /yr Typical call centre turnover rate exceeds 25% /yr Touch- tone automation is clunky Many users hang up, or wait for an operator Most touch-tone solutions are proprietary Using Voice Technology Average cost per call (ASR): £0.30 to £0.50 Average cost per call (human): £0.85 to £3.00
A Call centre handling 5,000 calls per day might save £1 million per year
29 Hosted Speech Recognition Services
Public Telephony Network and SRC Telco Partner Network ACD / IVR / CTI Caller Systems Customer contact agents
SRC Speech Hosting Platforms
Voice path SRC Data path Internet / Intranet / Data links
Customer’s own Data Systems
30 Benefits of Hosting
No Capex Scaleable Telco grade platform Shared risk Annual commitment only No lost calls - calls answered within one ring Multi-vendor Future Proofing Personnel
31 SRC Competitive Edge
Focused speech based solutions Hosted solutions Service rather than ‘box’ Shared Risk Largest multi-disciplinary speech development team in the United Kingdom Vendor independent
32 Discussion/Questions?
33 Delivering Leading Edge Speech Solutions A Complete Range of World Leading Speech Services
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