Insurance giant Standard Life has cut the number of misrouted calls it receives by 66 per cent using a natural language voice recognition system across its life and pensions business.
The proprietary speech engine software, supplied, customised and integrated by vendor VeCommerce, is driven by an intelligent voice engine which recognises the query and takes the customer through voice-activated scripts.
Peter Inman, Standard Life customer services director, says before the system was installed 30 per cent of incoming calls were being redirected.
‘Customers always got through to an individual agent when they called, but not necessarily the right one,’ he said. ‘Integration went smoothly and the customised software was seamlessly integrated into our service-oriented architecture.’
The system, known as Sheila, has enabled a 25 per cent capacity and flexibility increase for handling calls in the teleservicing centre, through promotion of self-service functions.
It includes an improved security process which saves up to 40 seconds per call.
‘The key issue for organisations dealing with common enquiries is to offer alternative channels for customer interaction, of which voice recognition is clearly one,’ said Neil Ward-Dutton, analyst at Macehiter Ward-Dutton.
The sophistication of the technology will drive additional convenience, he says.
What do you think? Email feedback@computing.co.uk
Further reading:
reader comments