With some call centers recording tens of thousands of calls per day, the process of finding those calls can often times be a lengthy and aggravating process. Fortunately, contact center supervisors are now using Speech Analytics to automate the process of identifying important – or not so important – calls through personal categorization.

If a system had basic identifying information such as customer name, caller id or agent name, a query could then be cross-referenced according to those details. Ultimately by implementing Speech Analytics, customers can now have all of their recorded calls processed and “listened to” by creating a category of specific keyword phrases, for example, such as “Disgruntled Callers.” The query can be run against the index of analyzed calls to instantaneously pull matches on screen, thus providing staff with the ability to dig through important search results in near real-time.

There are many interesting and entertaining categories which can be created with speech analytics systems, but they can usually be broken down into two categories: The “Dictionary” and “Phonetic” methods. While the dictionary-based systems require users to define words and phrases in advance so the speech engine can detect those words as it analyses the audio, the “Phonetic Based Indexing Engines” are much faster and don’t require word programming in advance.

When comparing speech analytics systems, price is certainly a factor. Consider the clear benefits of having a solution which is completely integrated with your quality optimization solution, such as being able to evaluate calls identified in a real-time report in one or two clicks. NICE and Verint (News - Alert) were among the first call recording & quality monitoring vendors to offer an integrated speech solution, but only the largest enterprise could really afford the hefty price tag (News - Alert). To contrast, the enterprise-ready “Virtual Observer Call Insight” speech analytics solution is fully integrated in a web-based user interface, immensely scalable and robust, while breaking through the price barrier so small and mid-sized contact centers can also realize the benefits of speech analytics.