It is the stuff that Hollywood flicks are made of – humans comfortable interacting with machines. They become an everyday part of life and humans come to rely on the machines for even their existence – at least until the machines decide they need to rule the world.

 

It’s safe to say we’re not there, at least not yet, but humans are becoming more comfortable interacting with voice self-service solutions. According to a new report published by BT (News - Alert) and Nortel, this channel is being viewed more favorably than ever before by U.S. and U.K. consumers.

The research found that as many as 71 percent of U.S. and U.K. consumers would be happy to receive a call that used voice recognition to inform them that their plane, train or bus would be late. Another 80 percent reported that they would look favorably on automated calls that informed them of the time of delivery of goods to their homes.

 

The report, Fragvergence: Changing Consumer Attitudes to Diverse Contact Channels, was based on both a quantitative survey of 1,018 U.S. and U.K. consumers and a qualitative set of in-depth interviews with consumers.

This research revealed that 69 percent of Americans and 66 percent of Britons would prefer that companies use advanced voice recognition in order to reduce their costs. Not only are consumers more comfortable with this interaction, lower costs can trickle down to the customer making it a win for everyone.

While U.S. consumers are still warming to the idea of IVR solutions, they are twice as supportive of call centers as their U.K. counterparts. In fact, 33 percent of Americans report that these centers deliver good or excellent service.

Andrew Small, head of CRM capability, BT Global Services (News - Alert), commented in a Tuesday statement: "It is a misconception that people are afraid of machines and always prefer human interaction. Business should be awake to this and consider how, why and when customers want to use a certain channel of communication."

Charlie Wade, Director Product Strategy, Nortel (News - Alert), contributed in Tuesday’s statement: "With consumers demanding lower prices and better service, and, as the study shows, prioritizing these over well-known brands or a high quality product, companies need to assess the best possible strategy for managing their communications with customers.”

“There has to be a balance struck between reducing cost while maintaining and indeed improving, levels of service in the customer's eyes," Wade added.

Customers appear to have stark preferences on which channels they wish to use for different services, according to this report. For financial services, for instance, 56 percent of U.S. respondents and half of U.K. respondents welcomed voice recognition for checking their account balance. Only 12 percent and 13 percent respectively liked the idea of setting up the direct debit using IVR.

At the same time, when considering travel, 56 percent of U.S. respondents and 53 percent of U.K. respondents were happy to check timetables using voice recognition, but only 23 percent and 16 percent respectively welcomed the interface as a means of purchasing tickets.

Charlie Wade of Nortel commented: "It is a fairly lucid message from consumers. They are saying 'yes we are happy to use automated channels in certain circumstances and embrace new technology, but we still expect to choose to speak to a human being where necessary.'"

Andrew Small, head of CRM capability, BT Global Services, shared in the Tuesday statement: "Our research showed that consumer preferences are both particular to the sector and also the application being used.”

“Voice self-service is not an appropriate mechanism for many interactions, particularly those that are emotional or complex, but can be effective for simple and quick activities. Given the speed of technology development, it is easy to forget that customer preferences also change quickly.”

“It is therefore important to monitor the changing attitudes and behavior of customers and continually test the usability of new channels and offer customers a choice. Providing the option to talk to a live agent if a customer becomes frustrated with voice recognition is an important safety net for preventing customer frustration," Small added.

There is still a long way to go before consumers are ready to see the call center go away and perhaps we will never get to that point. But, the fact that we are more willing to interact with self-service portals means that the organization can lower costs and improve customer service delivery – a satisfying move for all.