How Does Voice & Speech Recognition Technology Work in Call Centers?

February 11, 2021

How Does Voice & Speech Recognition Technology Work in Call Centers?

Everyone has had contact with voice technology. Whether it is Siri, Alexa, or any phone call that asks you to say “yes or no” after the tone, it is all voice technology.

If we are honest, it is incredible. The technology that is available now is unlike anything that has ever been in call centers.

In previous years, voice analytics was expensive, and still a mostly manual process. However, this is not the case anymore. New technology has brought speech analytics into a realistic and useful realm within the call center world.

 

 

Voice technology has now brought computer-based assistance into the reality of all call centers around the globe. New speech technology abilities have now given cost-effective ways to record all calls and the data to be automatically analyzed.

This new ability can record and process the information on 100% of all calls, and then give detailed and specific data as visual reports instantly, no matter how large the call volumes.

How Does Voice Technology work?

Speech Analytics does more than recognize speech. It has word and phrase recognition with scoring. The analysis takes place live, during a call, therefore giving data live too.

Along with this data, scores are given depending on target keywords and phrases which are set up in the initial commissioning of the software.

 

 

That makes this software very customizable depending on business needs at the time of commission, and also very easy to change due to updated processes.  There are three components to speech analytics:

• Recognizing words or phrases – Of course, no matter how smart computer programs get, there is only so much that they can do. So that is why they pick up keywords or phrases to analyze what is going on in the call.
• Scoring of that data – Scoring of that data based on inputs decided by the company.
• Triggering an action –  Action triggers can be anything that you want them to be; however, most of the time, they are indicators based upon either customer or operative responses to given questions or queues.

Main Uses of Speech Analytics

Businesses use speech analytics for various reasons. Of course, it takes away the need for so many people to be doing manual analytics, but here are a few of the other reasons:

Prove Compliance

Compliance is a significant factor in almost every business these days. What is a better way to prove that you are complying than recording everything that you do?

Resolution of Disputes

How many times in customer service, have you had phone calls from someone saying that they got told this or that the operative told them that? Probably more times that you can count, right? Well, speech analytics can erase the uncertainty from these situations.

Efficient, Paperless Trails

No company could not benefit from a little bit more efficiency. However, paper trails are not practical. Paperwork is a lengthy, bulky, and outdated system. You can remedy this issue with the use of automated systems.

Agent Training

Of course, possibly the most critical reason for speech analytics is agent training. You can show all of your staff examples of good, average, and reduced call management, and also any other aspects of calls that you may require clarification on.

This ability comes in especially useful when trying to get all of your operatives to a similar standard after updates to your processes or standard procedures.

Benefits of Speech Analysis

There are three main aspects of your business that can have performance improvements through speech analysis:

Firstly, it gives excellent ability in the identification of agents who are possibly struggling within their role.

This identification will allow for pinpoint accuracy within their training schedule and coaching process.

Secondly, it will allow you to get a lot more personal with your customers and find out what they require from you.

In turn, this customer knowledge will allow you more significant insights into keeping your customers and gaining new ones.

Lastly, it will identify issues with your business processes. As I pointed out in the Q&A for Quality Assurance article, quality Assurance can, and will, help any business.

By keeping track of all aspects of your process, from initial customer contact, right through to customer satisfaction, will ensure a standard of quality that everyone will expect.

You see, speech analysis is a significant player in QA as it allows for complete traceability.

Do You Need Speech Analytics?

Well, if you run a call center, then the basic answer is yes. You may not think that you NEED it, and to be honest, there are not any rules to say that you have to have it.

Although, as I have pointed out, there are many benefits to speech analysis.

The analytics that you gain from this system can be an invaluable tool in finding out broader answers to questions like:

• What do my customers want?
• How are we helping?
• What can we do better?

These are probably the three main questions that every business needs to answer for constant improvement. That is where call centers now have the leading edge.

If you were to run a small shop, for example, you would have to ask each customer for feedback or have comment forms placed around the shop and hope that people fill them in, and honestly.

That is not likely. Monitoring every customer on every call can answer these questions without having to ask the customer directly.

How Can Call Criteria Help?

Here at Call Criteria, we know that while voice technologies are amazing, they are also only as good as the people trained to use them, and not as good as humans at language recognition.

This fact can lead to inaccurate reports, poor customer experience, and even lawsuits.

However,  we combine the powerful computing power of voice recognition software with the unmatched accuracy of human hearing and reliable human analyst skills to offer what no one else can.

That is a 98.7% accurate view of your call center’s performance at an affordable cost. This percentage ensures the most accurate reporting of your performance that is possible.

So the answer to the original question: Is voice technology the future of call centers? Is yes, but not alone. Contact us to find out more.