January 2003
VXML 2.0: Freeing Hands and Leveling the IVR Playing Field
BY CHARLIE RABIE
While only about 150 million PC users have Internet access, more than 1
billion people worldwide use telephones, a number that continues to grow.
The sheer number of consumers who regularly use the phone makes the global
potential for new voice self-service applications enormous.
A new standard, VoiceXML 2.0, coupled with IP contact centers is creating
a revolution in self-service, allowing users to access Web pages, fill out
detailed order forms or conduct any transaction over the telephone that
would normally be completed over the Web. This revolution in self-service
can extend to just about any application that frees the hands of phone users
to continue writing, typing, driving -- or just resting.
Historically, it has often been cheaper to provide customer service over the
Internet rather than over the phone. The advent of VoIP-based IVR has led
companies to reexamine phone-based customer service for potential
cost-savings with the still-growing global reach unmatched by younger modes
of customer interaction. Speech technology allows us to tap into this
opportunity with highly effective voice self-service solutions that maintain
interoperability with both legacy hardware and back-end architecture, while
staying open to new technologies as they advance and become accessible.
In the past, widely adopted proprietary solutions that are incompatible with
new technologies have stifled innovation. VoiceXML, which avoids this
problem by providing a universal framework for building voice applications,
eliminates the need for proprietary IVR software. Because VoiceXML bridges
the gap between Web and voice data, companies now have the ability to reduce
service costs while providing more reliable, interconnected, flexible, and
convenient customer experiences over the phone. VoiceXML is a powerful tool
that provides developers with a common ground on which to build voice
applications. This in turn saves companies money and ultimately improves
customer service.
Companies such as IBM,
AT&T, and
Motorola worked on early versions of
languages that eventually merged into VoiceXML.
VoiceXML allows for streamlined application development, smooth portability
and the facilitation of voice/data/Web convergence. VoiceXML is an open
protocol for enabling speech recognition technology, allowing end users to
access Web-based data over the phone. The creators of VoiceXML consider open
systems to be of great importance to the advancement of speech recognition
and the accessibility of new technologies through vocal interaction. The
open standards approach lends itself well to the growing market of speech
recognition technology.
Of course, vendors of proprietary technology face the grim reality that
compliance with VoiceXML standards has essentially leveled the playing field
for newcomers. Some have argued that there is still a need for both VoiceXML
interoperable software and proprietary technology for vertical-specific
needs that are too complex for current versions of VoiceXML to support.
The truth is that VoiceXML 2.0 allows for the creation of standards-based
solutions that are interoperable, portable, and highly complex, while saving
costs in development, implementation, and upgrading. �VoiceXML is clearly
gaining credibility as a leading protocol for customer service voice
applications,� said Bern Elliot, research director at
Gartner Group. �And
because it enables companies to leverage existing Web applications, VoiceXML-based
self-service provides the framework for a more integrated customer contact
management solution.�
VoiceXML provides a universal method for building voice applications that
use natural speech recognition technology. The advantages of VoiceXML have
resulted in a rapid adoption rate. By tightening ambiguities that existed
within prior versions of the standard and improving portability for more
complex applications, VoiceXML 2.0 is a milestone in a path towards IVR
system development based upon pure standards rather than proprietary
technology. VoiceXML has brought elegant interoperability to IVR software --
protecting customer investment and controlling cost of ownership. Adoption
of VoiceXML affords developers competitive advantages while extending
portability into the historically proprietary interactive voice response (IVR)
market. VoiceXML 2.0, enhances extensibility and provides an elegant
framework for voice technology development and data convergence.
Growing devotion to pure standards-based voice technology and systems
will bolster service reliability, tighten information security, justify
total cost of ownership, and ultimately enhance the customer experience. The
World Wide Web Consortium developed the 2.0 specification for VoiceXML 2.0,
released in October of 2001, which gleans the proven elements of newly
developed IVR software and universalizes them without encroaching on more
sophisticated solutions in which dedicated applications are still needed,
and essential, for more granular and application-specific development
layers. According to Gartner Group�s Bern Elliot, contact center outsourcers
that do not offer VoiceXML solutions by the end of 2003 will suffer a
significant competitive disadvantage by a probability of 80 percent.
VoiceXML�s standard development environment saves developers time and saves
companies money. As the standard enjoys broader adoption and application, it
will stimulate innovation and collaboration among experienced engineers
while preserving precious resources in this era of tight budgets.
Already, vertical-specific workshops and forums take place, allowing
participants to share scripts and foster collaboration that applies directly
to their market. For example, in the healthcare industry, linking to a
specific data type like medical test results or medical histories might be
performed a number of ways. By sharing VoiceXML-based development knowledge,
innovators and administrators can home in on the most effective way to
access and provide these specific data types via voice systems. In turn, the
refinement process feeds back to the standard itself. As speech technology
developers identify excellence in applications, these methods can be
evaluated for broad applicability and folded into successive versions of the
overall standard. As with any standardization, VoiceXML must skate the
razor-fine edge between complexity and broad universality. As standards go,
VoiceXML has balanced this beautifully -- capturing the ingenuity of
proprietary developments through each successive version without committing
to unproven methodologies.
One of the greatest benefits of VoiceXML as a standard is the inherent
portability of compatible applications. Software developed following this
standard is more valuable to purchasers as it extends the lifecycle of the
application, and in turn, the user�s system. For example, VoiceXML 2.0
includes the valuable addition of a standard format for grammars. Until 2.0,
grammar was still proprietary, limiting portability across speech vendors.
Now, with standardized grammar, VoiceXML 2.0 further supports vendor neutral
portability and strengthens the viability and usability of speech
recognition applications. VoiceXML-compliant vendors provide service
differentiation by offering greater flexibility, enhanced convenience and
improved customer experience.
VoiceXML has a strong impact on the customer experience of self-service
applications. The majority of self-service applications that exist today are
DTMF (touchtone) driven or Web-based. While DTMF systems have saved
companies money, they have damaged user confidence in computerized
assistance. Just about anybody who�s completed transaction by phone can tell
stories of the seemingly endless phone trees. The rise of the IP contact
center coupled with VoiceXML 2.0 means customers are freed from lengthy
paper forms or clicking through Web fields to exchange information. The key
to taking full advantage of the IVR is for developers and businesses alike
to remember that self-service is not a replacement for personalized service.
VoiceXML provides customers with multiple options on multiple channels and
specialized service, while optimizing the time and skill sets of agents.
Adding more types of voice-self service transactions will help businesses
provide better live service. By relegating repetitive and formulaic
interaction to now sophisticated natural language IVR, contact centers can
preserve human resources for personal and interpretive interaction. Agent
satisfaction is intrinsic to both customer satisfaction and productivity. By
providing an avenue for repetitive tasks to be routed away from agents,
contact centers can offer a more stimulating and motivating work environment
while improving their bottom line.
VoiceXML provides additional benefits to companies trying to provide
excellent service while keeping costs down. It enables developers to build
automated voice services using the same technology they use to create visual
Web sites, significantly reducing the cost of construction and delivery of
new capabilities for the traditional phone customer. VoiceXML also allows
for a standard development environment, shorter and simpler application
development, application portability, and the decoupling of data from
telephony.
�The IVR market is currently going through the biggest change in its
history,� says Brian Strachman, a senior analyst with
In-Stat/MDR.
�Revolutions in technology are changing where and how IVR systems are used.
VXML opens the door to hosted IVR services and custom applications. In
addition, advances in speech recognition are broadening the scope of
potential applications, while Speech Application Language Tags (SALT) is
poised to open the floodgates of IVR applications into the wireless market.�
VoiceXML is paving the way for natural language phone self-service, bringing
innovation to the forefront, improving user experience and fostering a
blooming IVR market based on standards and open systems. Through each
successive version of VoiceXML, the voices of consumers, developers, and
businesses can be better heard.
Charlie Rabie is Vice President of Self-Service Applications Development,
Aspect Communications. Aspect Communications is a leading provider of
business communications solutions that help companies improve customer
satisfaction, reduce operating costs, gather market intelligence, and
increase revenue. For more information, please visit their Web site at
www.aspect.com.
[ Return
To The January 2003 Table Of Contents ]
|