Interactive Voice Response (IVR) at ASA Solutions has successfully implemented leading-edge solutions to Fortune 1000 enterprises for nearly a decade. In doing so, ASA has become a forerunner in the employment of the following technologies:

Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

Interactive systems voice response have become a valuable addition for many businesses. Encouraged by the prospect of automating common phone inquiries, Speech Recognition has become a key component for almost every business sector. Initially, IVR systems provide touch-tone only interactions with callers. As the technology moves rapidly forward, speech - in the form of Automatic Speech Recognition - is becoming the primary choice for caller interaction providing a more intuitive, user-friendly interface.

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR)

Automatic Speech Recognition engines enable Interactive Voice Response systems to recognize natural spoken phrases or utterances to provide automated services, previously available only through a combination of touch-tone applications and customer service representatives. With ASR, the capability of an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) to handle complex caller interactions allows businesses to provide a more human touch to their IVR systems, while freeing up existing customer service representatives from handling more mundane tasks.

Voice eXtensible Markup Language (VoiceXML)

VoiceXML is a standards-based development language that is used to implement speech and DTMF applications.

Its Primary Benefits Are:

• Simplifying the addition of Speech Recognition to the Voice Response Interactive systems.
  
• Connecting IVRS with existing web, legacy, and customer service systems already in place. Using standards to integrate IVR Software with the rest of your infrastructure provides a number of opportunities for businesses to improve customer service and reduce costs. From increasing the number and quality of phone-based customer service applications to encouraging collaboration between Web and Interactive Voice Response teams, the businesses implications of implementing VoiceXML are substantial.
  
• Portability: Given VoiceXML’s standards-based architecture, it has quickly become the language of choice for development of new Interactive Voice Response (IVR) applications. This allows customers to leverage applications developed today on a wide variety of platforms, thus eliminating the need for costly re-writes down the road.

Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)

Computer Telephony Integration provides intelligent call routing as well as screen pops and data pops of caller information directly to a customer service representative’s desktop. When a caller needs to interact with a live agent, the agent can more intelligently handle the caller’s inquiry using the information passed from the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) or phone switch. Intelligent routing can be utilized to route callers to agents with specific skill sets to minimize the number of transfers to different departments or agents. Information sent to an agent’s screen can include customer account information, or even information about what steps the caller took in one of the automated IVR applications. All of these features make CTI a key business component in maximizing customer satisfaction.

Text-to-Speech (TTS)

Text-to-Speech enables an Interactive Voice Response to translate the written word into the spoken word. Initially used to read back customer information retrieved from a back-end host or database, TTS became easily recognizable as ‘computer-sounding’ portion of an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) application. With advancements in technology, TTS has become as natural sounding as a human voice recording, making it easier to create and modify voice prompts for production applications.

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