In this omni-channel world, the phone continues to be customers’ preferred means of reaching out to enterprises. For example, in healthcare every patient journey involves many phone calls, from making appointments to getting test results to paying bills. Eliminating friction in the calling experience has a profoundly positive impact on patients’ level of satisfaction with their overall healthcare consumer experience.
One specific point of pain experienced by people who call large organizations on the phone is an IVR (sometimes called a phone tree). Ordinary IVR forces callers to follow a set script that lacks the natural flow of an everyday conversation. The series of hurtles, for example, “Press 1 for…”, “Listen closely because options have changed”, makes the process extremely frustrating.
Intelligent speech technologies like Automated Speech Recognition and Natural Language Understanding allow for a more modern, speech-enabled user interface that can solve the majority of IVR issues. Voice-first technology, when set up properly, managed well, and consistently tuned, is the very best way to improve calling experiences for people who contact large organizations on the phone.
At Parlance, we deliver speech recognition as a managed service. By mimicking the dialogues and call flows of live call center agents and operators, we create natural, conversational interactions that allow callers to connect with the right resources easily and quickly. And when more callers are able self-serve to get connected, agent workload is reduced. With Parlance enabling call routing, live agents are more available help people who need complex support.
By Sheila Kelly