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SRCThe Speech Recognition Company

Practical Usage of Telephony and Desktop Speech Recognition

Presentation to the British Computer Society19th March 2002

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SRC, The Speech Recognition CompanyColin HowmanManaging Director Desktop SolutionsColin 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 ConsultingKenton 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 fortelecoms 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.

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Background to SRCEstablished 1995Leading services and solution provider for Speech Recognition technologies in UKBacked by 3i and Cazenove & CoSRC Telecom launched Dec 2000Experienced speech applications development team in placeVoiceXML platform and development systems in placeCarrier grade hosting platform operational since Oct 2001Independent (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)

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SRC Service OfferingsBusiness 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

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Speech RecognitionDesktopTelephony

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

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Desktop Speech Recognition

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Desktop Speech RecognitionThe market place and requirementWhat is Desktop SR

How does it workWhat does it work onSome myths

Demonstration of a speech engineUse with a common application: Email

Its application: Case study – Morgan ColeCosts/ Business benefitFuture applicationsQuestions

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SRC – Desktop Solutions

SRC delivers: Improved efficiency of text and data entry for corporate and professional organisationsSRC Solutions

Speech Recognition solutionsDigital Dictation solutions

Customers include BAT, HSBC, Denton Wilde Sapte, Irwin Mitchell, DTI, SFO, Knight Frank, Morgan Cole, BAT, St. Paul Insurance Co, London Underground.

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Desktop SR Targets a niche market1 m people using analogue dictation in UK300,000 UK lawyers and surveyorsLarge number in professional services sector and governmentBusiness requirement for SR

Secretarial support costsImplications of no secretarial supportTime to client

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Desktop Speech RecognitionCore engine technology: How does it work?

Audio modelLanguage model

What does it work on?All Windows OS / Apple MacP3’s, 256MB RAM

Some mythsAccentsBackground noiseColdsTime to learn voice

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Focus on Speech dictation

DemonstrationApplication for people who produce text

Letters, reports, memos, advice notes, drafting created themselvesE-mailCombine with templates

BenefitsIndependence from supportReduce time spent/wasted keyingBetter service at lower cost

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Morgan Cole

Top 20 UK law firm700 staffStrong provincial and west country baseSubstantial property, private client and commercial practicesVision is to deliver better service to customers through technology

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Morgan Cole: Project Stages

Phase 1 trial of Speech recognition and digital dictationMeasurement of business benefitsDecision to lead with Speech Recognition

Greater cost savingsFaster 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 thingsTechnology phobia

135 lawyers currently using SR, 350 by year end

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Morgan Cole: Digital Dictation Workflow

Transcription MethodsInput Methods

Transcription

RemoteTranscription

Desktop Input

Telephone Input

Digital Portable Input

Internet/WAN

Network

Internet/WAN

Network

Telephone Line

Telephone Line

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Technical SR Solution: Key Factors

Vocabulary is key to successSRC ToolsUnderstanding of lawyers customer, partner names, documentation and terminology

Building a speech solution for lawyersTemplatesCase and matter management

Input devicesTraining – delivered by SRC and Morgan Cole staffSupport

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Morgan Cole: Change Management

Technical solution only half the storySupport of all staffClear statement of project objectives to all staffFull support of technology team

Trust suppliersClear roll out methodologyCommitted dedicated SRC/ Morgan Cole team

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Focus on Business CaseSecretarial Costs

Natural wastageSavings in overtime and temporary staff

Lawyers timeInitially takes longer but soon seen to…Free up fee earners timeFlexible working/home working

Document turnaround time/Service to customerTypical costs for 100 people £150kPayback period can be as short as 4-5 months

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Some future applications

As devices get smallerPDA’s/ WearablesSolutions for mobile workers

Microphone technology improvesNatural language understandingProcesses become voice enabled

Mail sortingSnaggingData entry/collection

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Discussion & Questions

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Telephony Speech Recognition

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Telephony Applications - What can they do?

v-Commerce applicationsCheck Price and AvailabilityBooking / Ordering (by Product Name or Code)Literature / Brochure RequestsOrder StatusFind a LocationFinancial transactions / services

Other Call Centre applicationsCall routingCustomer identificationInformation services / access to content

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Is the Technology mature enough?

Widespread applications in US -Schwab, UPS, Fidelity, Sears, United Airlines

Handling millions of calls per monthFirst few launched in UKLloyds TSB aim to front 100% of all telephone banking calls within 12 monthsMature UK & European language modelsEmpirical evidence of preference over touch-tone

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Telephony ControlDialogue Manager

Database or Website

DTMF Tone Recogniser

Pre-recorded Audio

Data Lookup

Public Telephone Network Speech Recognition

Text-to-Speech

Call Flow of Speech Applications

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Considering a touch-tone system?

DTMF may not be as productive as you think…Many callers zero out to live agentsInteraction with DTMF system is cumbersome for usersFrequent callers want to circumvent menu trees

* Source: Nuance User Score Card, 2000 (a US consumer survey)

Callers prefer voice interfaces:• 80% prefer speech recognition to touch tone*• 84% prefer speech recognition to human operators*

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Caller Perceptions of Speech Applications

AvailableTo everyone that has a telephone

Easy to useSimply say what you want without having to learn to use new technologies or devices

AccessibleTransactions can be executed using the device that’s most convenient

SecureCan use a person’s unique voice print to protect access to secure information

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Why introduce Speech Applications?

Increased RevenueA new/enhanced sales channelMore transactionsInformation as a paid for service

Accurate ProcessLess errors & reworkConsistent customer experienceLimits automatically triggered

Reduced CostsLowest transaction costNo need for overflow call centreLess agent time on non-critical calls

Efficient OperationFewer missed callsPeak hours better supportedSimpler Agent Resource Planning

Solving Specific Business Challenges/ IssuesObviate the need to deploy additional agents in an expanding call centreMeet seasonal and one-off customer contact requirements without the need for large numbers of temporary call centre agentsOffer additional services that could not be cost effectively delivered by call centre agents

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Demonstration – Grand Prix BettingDriversDavid CoulthardEddie IrvineEnrique BernoldiFernando AlonsoGiancarlo FisichellaHeinz-Harald FrentzenJacques VilleneuveJarno TrulliJean AlesiJenson ButtonJos VerstappenJuan Pablo MontoyaKimi RaikkonenLuciano Burti Michael SchumacherMika HakkinenNick HeidfeldOlivier PanisPedro De La RosaRalf SchumacherRubens BarrichelloTarso Marques

TracksHungaroring (Hungary)Suzuka (Japan)Albert Park (Australia)Sepang (Malaysia)Interlagos (Brazil)Imola (San Marino)A1 Ring (Austria)Monte Carlo (Monaco)Gilles Villeneuve Circuit (Canada)Nurburgring (European)Circuit De Nevers (France)Silverstone (Britain)Spa Francorchamps (Belgium)Monza (Italy)Hockenheim Ring (Germany)Indianapolis (America)Circuit de Catalunya (Spain)

Try the following and see what happens:you can say “help”, “tutorial”, “repeat ” or “goodbye ” at any prompt “eight quid on Montoya in Britain”“three pounds on Burti in Belgium”“I would like to bet two hundred pounds on DC to win the Australian grand prix”“a monkey on Mika in Monaco”“twenty pounds on Jenson Button in Germany”you will be asked which of the two grand prix in Germany you want, you can reply “the European one”.“a tenner on Schumacher”you will be asked for which Schumacher brother and then a grand prix name“a pound on Japan” - you will be asked for a driver nameBarrichello in the Canadian grand prix” -you will be asked for an amount

Demo

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Art not Science

Voice Applications - The Design Challenge

Computer conforms to human protocolsUnderstanding Natural LanguagePhonetical workDialogue flowDisambiguationPersona

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Voice Applications - Growth SectorsCall 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 /yrTypical call centre turnover rate exceeds 25% /yr

Touch- tone automation is clunkyMany users hang up, or wait for an operatorMost touch-tone solutions are proprietary

Using Voice TechnologyAverage cost per call (ASR): £0.30 to £0.50Average cost per call (human): £0.85 to £3.00

A Call centre handling 5,000 calls per day might save £1 million per year

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Hosted Speech Recognition Services

Customer’s ownData Systems

Customer contact agents

ACD / IVR / CTI Systems

Voice path

Data path Internet / Intranet / Data links

Public Telephony Network and SRC

Telco Partner Network

SRC Speech Hosting Platforms

Caller

SRC

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Benefits of Hosting

No CapexScaleable Telco grade platformShared riskAnnual commitment onlyNo lost calls - calls answered within one ringMulti-vendorFuture ProofingPersonnel

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SRC Competitive Edge

Focused speech based solutionsHosted solutionsService rather than ‘box’ Shared RiskLargest multi-disciplinary speech development team in the United KingdomVendor independent

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Discussion/Questions?

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Delivering Leading Edge Speech Solutions

A Complete Range of World Leading Speech Services