copyright 2006 © telephonetics vip ltd how speech recognition can ensure business continuity for...

Copyright 2006 © Telephonetics VIP Ltd

How speech recognition can ensure business continuity for your telephony

Tony NormanSenior Technical Sales [email protected]


Ring, ring… no one thereIn recent years business continuity has been dominated by IT-protecting data and data recovery

Both the London Underground bombings and the Buncefield oil terminal fire incidents highlighted to many firms in the UK how vulnerable companies can be in respect of telecoms


The sobering facts

24% of businesses suffered a loss of their telecommunications links during the last year

CMI

60% of businesses that experienced a loss of telecommunications service for a period of ten days ceased trading within a year.

Henley Management Institute

This should come as no surprise given that 80% of commercial transactions are conducted via telephone.


Ring, ring… no one there

In the Buncefield Oil Facility explosions, although several of the buildings on the estate were destroyed, the telecoms infrastructure was hardly affectedThe phone lines were working which meant calls came into the building but there were no staff to answer them



The trouble is, the immediate DR solution companies think of– moving on to a second secure site – is fraught with practical problems when it comes to telecoms.



Most companies rely on a range of Direct Inward Dial numbers to reduce the number of calls going to the switchboard operators

PSTN01442 20XXXX



Your carrier can switch your number range to another location within about 40 minutes but the Direct Dial information is not presented so all the calls go to the switchboard operator and swamp the service.

PSTN01442 20XXXX


A Solution for Slaughter and May

Slaughter and May, a leading London law firm, has been using a speech-activated directory at its Bunhill Row, London office since June 2005. Now the firm has used an extension of this speech solution to ensure telephony continuity in any situation.



The system is a speech driven virtual operator.It enables members of the firm to simply say the name of the person or department they wish to contact and be connected quickly and efficientlyRemembering extension numbers or searching for them in telephone directories is no longer required.



In the event of an emergency or disaster, Slaughter and May were keen to ensure continuity of service to all their clients.They therefore decided to implement a Business Continuity system for the firm’s telephony.The decision was taken that a second voice-activated directory would be installed at Slaughter and May’s contingency site.



The system has a duplicate database of contacts and synchronises with the Bunhill Row office systems to ensure contacts remain up to date.

DATA

VAD VAD

Bunhill Row DR Site



In the event of an emergency damaging the infrastructure of Bunhill Row such as fire, electrical fault, careless excavator…

VAD VAD

Bunhill Row DR Site

PSTN



or more extreme circumstances, for example a terrorist attack…

ContactPortal VAD

Bunhill Row DR Site

PSTN



The main phone contact numbers would be re-directed to the voice-activated directory at their contingency site.

ContactPortal VAD

Bunhill Row DR Site

PSTN



This provides a polite and efficient service to clients and minimises any interruption to business.

ContactPortal VAD

Bunhill Row DR Site

PSTN



If desired, the DR system can inform callers that an evacuation is in process, prior to connecting them to their requested contact

ContactPortal VAD

Bunhill Row DR Site

PSTN



The DR System allows members of the firm to have a dedicated evacuation contact location in the system.When an evacuation is invoked, calls for a contact will be routed to their pre-defined evacuation contact location instead of their desk.If no evacuation location has been set a mobile and/or home number would be tried before placing the call to the operator.



If, during an evacuation, members of the firm decide their pre-set evacuation location is no longer appropriate, users can change their contact location using the system’s TUI (Telephone User Interface).For example, if their evacuation location is “mobile” but the user is working at home they can route calls to their home number instead, thus ensuring maximum flexibility at a critical time.



The DR system will also enable members of the firm to call into the contingency site and use the speed dial facilities to ensure they can easily contact other staff and clients without needing to look in directories or speak to operatorsThis is despite being at temporary office accommodation or even working from home.


But wait a minute!

How can you tell all those staff that this is happening?You could rely on the fire alarm but what if it is out of normal office hours?What about people who are off site?


What do organisations do now?

Manual paper-based processMultiple Contact numbers per person – mobile, home, office pager etc.Cascade systems are fatally flawed10 successful calls could take as long 20 – 30 minutes


Time is a valuable commodity

Contact many people quicklyPass information Gain a responseMeasure dataImprove process


How can you achieve this?

Use an electronic notification systemStores and administers the call out listsFast calling - in excess of 30 contacts per

minute in a basic system.Response from Contact is loggedReal-time statistics of contacts responsesFull audit of the incident with instantaneous

reports


Improve the process

RunTest

Analyse

TuneProcess

CollectReports

Cycle of Continuous Improvement


In Summary



The Important QuestionHOW LONG CAN YOUR BUSINESS LAST WITHOUT TAKING A SINGLE PHONE CALL?

?

copyright 2006 © telephonetics vip ltd how speech recognition can ensure business continuity for...

Documents