Verizon Business Extends Automated Speech Recognition Services to Internet Protocol Networks

To meet the needs of the growing number of businesses that are converting their networks to an Internet protocol infrastructure, Verizon Business is now offering its speech services in an IP-enabled version.

The new capability, announced Tuesday (Aug. 25), allows customers to run their speech services on the company's Hosted IP Interactive Voice Response (IVR) platform, as an alternative or in addition to its traditional Hosted IVR platform.

The services help callers conduct simple self-service inquiries and transactions over the phone. For example, a caller could use a speech application to check an account balance, find a store location, order literature, update an appointment, or inquire about an insurance claim -- all without having to wait on hold to speak to a customer service agent.

Hosted Solutions Can Breathe New Life into Legacy Systems

So it’s Spring 2009, and your contact center development budget has already been cut due to expected revenue downturns. Yet your business partners keep knocking at your door for new applications, because they’re being asked to get creative with their revenue generation and retention efforts. And, you’re being asked to pull costs out of your expense budget, which inevitably comes from IT or development headcounts. Maybe your contact center is contracting, too.  All of these conflicting pressures and market changes are forcing companies to seek out new options. Contact centers and IT organizations can get more functionality with less investment by blending their current solutions with many combinations of hosted or SaaS (News - Alert) solutions, from call routing to CRM to unified communications (UC).

(more in source article)

Verizon Business Launches Open Hosted Speech Services

Verizon has launched its new open hosted speech services, which allows customers to create and host their own speech applications while they continue to rely on Verizon Business' speech platform, which includes interactive voice recognition services.
According to the company, this new open hosted speech services (OHSS) gives users flexibility and oversight typically associated with customer premises equipment-based solutions, without the large capital costs or burden of platform management. [click heading for more]