TuVox Speech Central

on April 3, 2008

in VUI, callcenter automation, caller experience and podcast

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PODCAST: Did We “Get Human” Yet?
Nick Ezzo
The recent issue of Business Week (3/3/2008) has an update on the “Get Human” initiative started by Paul English in 2005.

For anyone living under a rock during 2005-2006 when Paul was making the rounds of NPR and MSNBC, here’s what GetHuman is — you go to his website (www.GetHuman.com) and it lists a few hundred companies’ customer service numbers and tells you what to press or say to speak to a living, breathing person on the other end of the phone. Eureka!

After the initial novelty wore off, Get Human morphed into a proposed “standard”, with the half-hearted and opportunistic support of Nuance and Microsoft.

So here’s my take on this thing. When I read the Business Week article, I got the sense that the author (Jena McGregor) started out with a premise — Get Human is dead! – and pretty much wrote a page to support that preconceived notion.

If you actually go to GetHuman.com, you’ll see that a transformation has taken place since 2006.

Although the idea of a standard never took hold, the site now has a new focus. In addition to the IVR cheat sheet, there is a new “Consumer Rating” column, kind of like a Web 2.0 vigilante version of the Better Business Bureau.

And (hilariously), there is a column of affiliate web ads on the far right, implying that Get Human is paying its web hosting bills by driving traffic to the very companies they are exposing. Genius!

Angel.com’s Blog has an interesting take on the momentum loss of the Get Human movement. Ahmed Bouzid makes some very valid points about how the IVR/ACD vendors need to carry the flag to re-energize the campaign.

While that’s probably a sound approach, I prefer a market-driven strategy. In certain situations, people will always want to talk to a real person. Companies understand that. In other cases, the IVR is so unbelievably bad, people bail out because of sheer frustration.

Eventually, killer automation apps like the American Airlines IVR will prevail, and the lumbering old touch-tone dinosaurs will eventually die out.

And on that day, we might not need to “get human” any more.

Your Call Is Important — Not.

Published

PODCAST: Your Call Is Important To Us — Not.

on February 26, 2008

in caller experience and podcast

. 1 Comment

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Nick Ezzo Since last summer when we launched TuVox Speech Central, people have been sending me stories about really bad IVR and ACD systems that they call into.

I’ve been keeping a running list of some of the most offensive (and untrue) statements ever uttered by these abominations of automation. Here are a few worth noting:

Your call is important to us. Really? If it was truly important to you, I think you’d staff adequately, or at least give me an automated system to use.
For quality purposes, your call may be monitored or recorded. I’ve been hearing this little gem for years, and I’m still waiting for the quality to show up. A better way to word this might be “We record. Don’t sue us.”
Please listen closely, as your options have changed. No, they haven’t, and please take this annoying little message off its permanent place at the front of your menu. It’s delaying me from actually listening closely to the options, which I repeat, are exactly the same as they were the last time I called.
Did you know we have a website? No kidding. Welcome to 1995. Let me guess: its www, then your company name, then dot-com. Note to ACD administrator: please delete this non-informative announcement as soon as you read this.
Your call will be handled by the next available representative. Absolutely not true. The next available representative will handle the guy that has been waiting longest. Think about it.
Due to unexpected call volume… You can use this excuse probably once a year. Why, then, do I hear this message every time I call your call center?

Well, that’s all I can think of for now. Please let me know if I forgot any. And if you are responsible for an ACD or IVR, I would suggest killing some or all of these useless clichés of modern life.

I will pay you cash money.

Go to %&$#@!!

Published

Abhijit Barde

on January 28, 2008

in VUI and caller experience

. 0 Comments

Abhijit Barde Recently, I came across a video making fun of voice automated apps in an unusual service automation scenario: confessing your sins.

The video gently nudges the issue about how callers are at the mercy of rigid and badly designed voice apps.

Sadly, in real life there are lots of badly designed voice apps where caller are faced with no choice but to use the apps no matter what.

My personal experience with a few commercial apps is that I felt I was trapped in the voice system trying to do things the system’s way. All of us know that a bad voice app could be detrimental to caller adoption, potentially affecting customer loyalty.

I am not going to dwell on VUI best practices. A lot has been said about VUI best practices and is essential to all voice apps. But companies that spend thousands of dollars on designing cutting edge system fail to take into account customer feedback –which is the most critical part to the success of the app. Companies miss out on simple things like Wizard of Oz testing and caller surveys which help gauge caller perceptions and system adoption.

There are a few independent companies such as (www.vocalabs.com and Sterling Audits) that help you methodically audit and benchmark usability of your customer service. Those of you who want to follow the scientific benchmarking approach I would recommend following two books: Gourmet Customer Service and “How to Audit and Benchmark Your Voice Response System”.

So in closing, referring to a quote in the video, remember that if your users are complaining about your automated applications they are probably already in hell.

Giving the Jailhouse Keys to the Caller

Published

on January 11, 2008

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A colleague recently sent me an article by Donna Fluss at CRMXchange. In her article, she highlights the new American Airlines self-service application called Remember Me. As you’ve read in a previous Blog entry, TuVox designed this system to recognize callers’ phone numbers and give passenger- and trip-specific information to the caller.

I like Donna’s take on it:

American Airlines’ recently announced initiative changes the dynamics slightly and shifts some of the responsibility for service enhancement to customers.

It establishes that even in large retail environments, like airlines, enterprises can “partner” with their customers and ask for their help in providing better service. This type of service also empowers customers, albeit in a very small way, to take an action that allows them to receive better service.

What Donna is referring to is the issue of “control” that frustrates callers that are forced into unpleasant situations (like some IVRs).

It would reduce some customer frustration resulting from being totally at the mercy of an enterprise, giving some “control” back to the customer.

It seems that giving the caller the key to his own jail cell is a good thing.

Victory: Heroic Agent Defeats Telephone System at Kaiser

Published

on December 21, 2007

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Steve Pollock

Unfortunately, my son got an injury while at a Boy Scout event earlier this year. He and a knife got acquainted a bit too closely…and ended up needing emergency treatment. He’s fine (he doesn’t seem to be very sensitive to pain, as we’re finding). In any case…

I received a bill from the emergency center, and Kaiser paid part of it, leaving some in dispute. When I called Kaiser to appeal (at a minimum for help), I had a classically bad phone experience. Layers of touch tone menus, jarring on-hold reminders that my call is important, etc. I got ahold of a great agent who offered to transfer me to the appeals group. When she went to transfer me, I heard more hold music…and then I was disconnected. OK…start again.

Next call…same upfront experience. But then I got back to the same agent. Miracle or plan? I’m not sure, but she apologized and offered to quickly transfer me. We go to the transfer and … once again … disconnect.

Of course, you’ve been here too. I started laughing/crying. I’m 30 minutes in to this experience and about to start again. Some office-mates walk up and ask what’s going on. I explain my lament…and while I’m explaining, my cell phone rings. It’s the agent! She has tracked me down, apologizes again, and tells me how to conduct my business with a fax.

Needless to say, given the circumstances, I was very pleased.

Amanda, if I can figure out how to put you up for a commendation, it’s coming.

American Launches “Remember Me”

Published

on December 4, 2007

. 1 Comment

American Airlines has formally announced the TuVox-based “Remember Me” application with a very interesting email to their frequent flyer members.

First, this is a great leap forward in automated application convenience
Second, it’s also a great example of how to proactively contact your customer base and let them know about powerful new self-service capabilities.

Congrats, American!

Is the end of the contact center “labor arbitrage” in sight?

Published

on November 6, 2007

in callcenter automation

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There’s been a long-standing trend in the contact center industry that’s been at the center of cost reduction.

Specifically I’m referring to “labor arbitrage”: The process of substituting lower cost labor from other geographies.

This global phenomenon has gone through some unique phases:

Lower-cost in-country resources
Outsourcing to specialist firms
Lower-cost cross-border resources

The economics behind this process have been extremely compelling for contact center managers. That said, from my recent conversations with executives, I have gotten the distinct impression that the arbitrage has slowed down or even stopped. Some companies have clearly pushed as much labor as they can across borders.

I was wondering how this looked at a global scale, and so I did a little analysis.

Datamonitor, a leading analyst firm that covers contact center agents and technologies, shows continued growth at about a 4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in agent positions worldwide. (For you math geeks who want to check out my calculation, here are the raw numbers - 2007: 7.9M; 2008: 8.2M; 2009: 8.6M; 2010 8.9M).

Now the comparison. Datamonitor shows that the CAGR for outsourced positions is dropping substantially for the

U.S.: 2006-2008: 15% vs. 2008-2010: 5%. That’s a huge shift in the rate of change of the rate of change (yes calculus fans, that’s the second derivative! Mr. Piatt, my math teacher, will be so pleased!). But what does it mean?My take: this validates what I’m hearing from executives. What we’re seeing is that most of the “labor arbitrage” that can be achieved has been ‘squeezed out’ of the system. It appears that the remaining positions can’t be taken across borders for structural reasons (legal/privacy restrictions, customer service quality concerns – real or perceived, availability of skills, management overhead, rising cost of labor globally, etc.).

Says Spock, eyebrow raised: intriguing.

Our perspective is the continued cost pressures faced by contact centers will turn to other fronts. In particular, this will continue to accelerate the adoption of self-service technologies, including kiosk, web self service, and of course voice self-service.

Congratulations, Telecom!

Published

on October 26, 2007

in callcenter automation

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We’d like to give a warm congratulations to Telecom New Zealand, who won the prestigious 2007 Implementation Award by Speech Technology Magazine. The award is provided to companies who achieve significant results from their implementation. The results speak for themselves, and are the result of careful planning, attention to detail, and follow-through.

Check out the article on TMCnet at: TuVox Customer Wins Prestigious Implementation Award.

Breaking Up Is(nt) Hard To Do

Published

on October 3, 2007

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In my Blog entry Knee Jerk Customer Service on August 7th, I described how I dumped my wireless carrier after 5 years of cell phone bliss.

Apparently, some wireless carriers are also breaking up with their customers — if they call too often.

Check out Sprint Drops Customers Who Call for Help Too Often on NPR from July 11th:

Day to Day, July 11, 2007 · Cell phone service provider Sprint is dropping some of its customers who frequently called customer service with problems. The company sent letters to about a thousand customers telling them it was time to move on to another provider.

What is also interesting is the shocked and stunned reaction of the dumped customers on the Sprint Users Discussion Board.

Back in August, I posed the question:

Are their systems and business processes just too knotted up to deliver proactive customer service?

Or, do they just take their customers for granted?

I’m starting to think there is a third option: they see their customers as a nuisance.

The Power of Word-of-Mouth

Published

on September 25, 2007