Why are Companies Using It?

Some companies use speech technology because their customers have been less than satisfied with previous touchtone systems and because speech-recognition systems can solve problems that were previously impossible to solve with touchtone technology. Speech technology also works well, can pay for itself very quickly, and helps to build stronger customer relationships. For example, in the first 30 months after United Airlines deployed their speech-recognition flight information system, the system had handled over 50 million calls, and United Airlines had saved over $24 million. The system paid for itself within the first few months of deployment and has been lauded as one of the best uses of speech-recognition design.

In June of 2002, the Kelsey Group's Voice and Wireless Commerce research team conducted a study of nine speech-recognition applications that had been deployed by SpeechWorks International. On average, the annual savings per deployment was $1.02 million, with an average return on investment reached in 9 months. When the company was replacing a touchtone system, the increase in automation was between a low of 30% and a high of 55%. One company commented that after implementing a speech-recognition solution in place of a touchtone system, the abandonment rate of callers dropped by 50%.