The 2008 speech technology Excellence Awards.

Customer Interaction Solutions • August, 2008 • AWARDS & Recognition

Speech technologies are becoming increasingly prevalent with each passing day. Thanks to advancements in the algorithms used to interpret speech, coupled with today's faster processors, we now have speech recognition systems in our cars and on our cell phones that can carry out simple voice commands, i.e., "call home;" speech-to-text solutions that let corporate executives have their computers take dictation for them; and voice recognition systems that are accurate enough to be used to grant people access to high security facilities.

Of course speech technologies are also having a significant impact on the call center. For example, today's IVR systems sport sophisticated speech engines that can ask callers open-ended questions, such as "How may I help you today?" and then intelligently direct the call to the appropriate agent within the center. Then there's the advent of speech analytics software that mines call recordings for data, which can be used to improve agent performance, boost customer satisfaction and gain new insights into customer behavior. Organizations can then use this insight to drive important business decisions.

Customer Interaction Solutions magazine recognizes that speech technology is now a key differentiator for call centers (after all, we have been covering call center technology for nearly three decades, and have witnessed me progression from primitive auto-dialers and recording systems to full CTI integration, to IP PBXs with remote VoIP call center agents). Not only do call centers employing the best speech solutions have an edge in terms of delivering superior customer service, they also have an advantage in terms of being able to realize the operational efficiencies and cost savings that speech technologies can bring. Soon it will be the norm, rather than the exception, to find advanced speech technologies playing an important role at both the front-end and the backend of any call center operation.

With new speech technology products for the call center constantly coming onto the market, it has become increasingly difficult to keep up with the latest trends in this rapidly growing field. That is why Customer Interaction Solutions launched the Speech Technology Excellence Awards, to find the best-of-the-best of these new products and pass our findings along to our readers. Following are the winners of the 2008 Speech Technology Excellence Awards.

Congratulations to the winners!

Autonomy talk

Qfiniti Explore

www.etalk.com

CallMiner

CallMiner Eureka!

www.callminer.com

ClickFox Inc.

ClickFox '08

www.clickfox.com

Convergys Corporation

Convergys SpeechPort