• IVR Service Provider
• Articles

IVR Can Pay Dividends When Speech is Analyzed

By Rory J. Thompson, Web Editor

We’ve all heard the term, but unless you’re actually involved in implementing it, how much do you really know about speech analytics?

It’s a topic that Gerald Sinclair, WFO practice manager at Uptivity, an inContact Company, addressed in a recent blog post, and he made some salient points worth sharing.

“Speech Analytics is one of those solutions that sound great, and we are so excited to try on, but eventually lead to being placed in ‘the back of the closet’ because it loses favor,” Sinclair said. “This occurs mainly because we have forgotten how to … utilize it.”

Speech Analytics is a tool that can cost-effectively transcend your organization and enhance your customer journey by analyzing your interactions, identify trends and help your organization make decisions based on data that was once unavailable, he added.

To that end, Sinclair listed some steps needed to get a speech analytics program up and running in your company:

Assemble Your Dream Team: “Speech Analytics is a solution that requires a cross-functional team to input, participate and maintain in order to achieve optimal results and to keep the solution relevant,” he said. “This cross-functional team should consist of members of the operations department and, ideally, should also include representation from the executive level.”

Taking Speech Viral Across Your Organization: Make your whole organization aware of its existence and functionality, he advises. “Making Speech Analytics results go viral across your enterprise is a great way to increase product awareness.”

Use it to Its Best Advantage: Achieving ROI with Speech Analytics is dependent on how you utilize the product. “Have your dream team represent the organization; brainstorm the challenges from various departments and white board them,” Sinclair suggests.

Rifle or Shotgun? “Many organizations use a ‘shotgun’ approach and try to tackle all the challenges at once,” he notes. “This is not ideal for Speech Analytics as it is more of an art than science and takes time to optimize and analyze reports to make sure you are getting back relative data. We recommend that you start with a more narrow approach; focusing on one or two areas first.”

With a little exercise and consistency with these practices, you will be at the forefront of Speech Analytics and become the example of success with analytics, Sinclair concludes. “Set the trend that others follow by purchasing or removing their own solutions from the closet.”

To see his full blog post and more suggestions, click HERE.