Speech Recognition-Don't make me talk to the automated person...

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Posted Thu 20 November 2008 @ 1:22 p.m. by Megan Lacy

I was out to dinner with small but successful business the other night and the conversation got on to contact centre’s that have speech recognition as part of their service option when calling. And the most disappointing thing was that there were no ‘happy’ service stories with the technology during the evening.

One story was of a genuine cough during the call and the next thing this person was transferred to another area as it ‘recognisied’ a cough as a word.  I know this is might be an extreme case, but I feel the majority of kiwis, are not enjoying this new technology and I  can only hope that the companies currently using this speech recognition software are ensuring they are gathering regular feedback or research on customer satisfaction.

Unfortunately, my story was also an unhappy experience with speech recognition. My concerns during the call was that, I couldn’t get out of the system and couldn’t speak to a real person unless I went through the process. And actually, by the time I have finished I would been happy to wait more 5 minutes in the queue than getting frustrated with the software during this lengthy encounter. By the end, I was close to cringing and rocking in the corner of my office, as I was trying to understand why any company believes this is delivering a high level of service, as it was not giving me any customer satisfaction. 

I’m however relieved that the benchmarking results from Callcentre.net for 2008 show only 0.03% of centre's use speech recognition in New Zealand and there doesn’t seem to be a drive to have this technology in the next 12 months for other centres. 

Should we get back to basics and don’t over complicate the task of answering customer calls.  Technology isn't always the answer. We humans still like to be answered by real people.  I bet many or most New Zealanders would be happy to wait for a few more minutes than be subjected to speech recognition or 5 menus that still don’t help.  

My question is: am I the majority or minority thinking on this? Has technology got out of control? I personally don’t think speech recognition is way of the future.  Happy to be proved wrong or politely corrected. Again all I want to answered by a real person, who is happy to help me. I don’t think the computer robot person who answers my call ‘truly understands my needs’.

Categories: Benchmarking | Leadership | Lifestyle | Technology

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4 comments

• Mick SC says:

  Agree
  Fed up with the Automated and endless menus.
  likewise the deaf and stupid female voice that intones apologies : "I am sorry i did not get that" and repeats the question to about the fourth iteration. This brings on phone rage. In the case of a well known ISP in the Red Sector, I abandoned the communications arrangements. I simply changed ISPs and got 5 times the speeds for 2/3 the cost, plus real and helpful people in the call centre after only a few minutes wait. Perhaps TUANZ should be paid to to produce a video training aid on "How to loose customers with your call-centre"

  Added: 21 November 2008, 1:48 p.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive

• raton says:

  I unfortunately have to agree with Mick and this article. The technology is still not ready. I personnaly never managed to achieve anything out of speech recognition out of that strange feeling of being trapped and potentially facing the complete impossibility to solve my problem. Or worst, being directed to a part of the (big) company that has absolutely no relation with my call ( and I did not even knew existed!) to reach a person that tell me to call back the same system and try to get properly directed ... Question: are these systems tested before customers being made available to customers?

  Added: 21 November 2008, 2:38 p.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive

• Mike Banbrook says:

  It saddens me to see the views expressed in this blog item. Unfortunately there are a few high profile speech systems that have been poorly designed and implemented that are giving this excellent technology a bad name. As part of this industry, we see improving the customer experience as one of the most important components of what we do. Many of the solutions we implement are so effective that callers barely even notice they have interacted with a speech system. When utilized effectively, speech recognition can not only have significant positive effects on customer satisfaction but also improve the security and privacy of customer transactions and ensure the whole process is more efficient for both the caller and the organization.
  
  One of the key issues, and the area that is often poorly implemented by non-specialists, is that a speech solution should adhere to good customer experience standards including the ability to always provide an easy exit to an agent, never have loops where a caller can get stuck, keep track of user frustration and pass to an agent where there is an issue (before it becomes a problem). The system should also be regularly reviewed and fine tuned – in much the same way as you would with live agents.
  
  We have numerous examples of live systems both here, in Australia and across the globe where both the feedback of the deploying business and more importantly the end users (the callers) is overwhelmingly positive. For some examples please see the VeBlog on our website (www.vecommerce.com).
  

  Added: 21 November 2008, 4:32 p.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive

• Heaven can wait says:

  Can't stand them - in fact it's a slap in the face for their customers to foist this on them.
  Fortunately in most cases hitting the 0 button or playing music to the system will get you a real person.
  Failing that, and if you are willing to, find a company that values their customers

  Added: 24 November 2008, 2:44 p.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive

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