Think Tank Session

Voice-Driven Enterprise Applications

Wednesday, September 13, 2000

SUMMARY

In the next few years, it is expected that most people accessing the Internet (particularly globally) will not do so using a standard PC, but through wireless phones and PDAs.

As these new Internet devices are not conducive to extended typing, many believe that voice technologies will have to be deployed. Additionally, voice recognition technologies are quickly being aligned for large scale systems deployment across enterprises.

How can these technologies be applied to enhance effectiveness and productivity of business applications? Is there money to be made for those creating voice-only solutions? The latest Silicon Valley World Internet Center Think Tank Session focused on how these technologies could be applied and utilized for cross-enterprise applications.

Speakers included Sunil Soares, Program Director of Product Management for IBM's Voice Systems; Bruce Grant, Key Practice Director of Advanced Technologies for Luminant Worldwide Corporation; Bryan Mekechuk, Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder for VOCI Corporation; and Linda Cliff, CAAPS Business Project Manager & Senior Consultant for Kaiser-Permanente's Enterprise Integration Group. Other companies, including Nuance Communications, BeVocal, TellMe Networks, Milo, and others participated in high-level discussions about the 12-18 month market for voice-driven enterprise applications. There was much discussion on what applications will be most relevant, including discussion of speech recognition/language understanding; text-to-speech and media playback; as well as call control and transfer systems. Companies are currently deploying systems to cut costs within call centers, to enhance customer satisfaction and company image; to improve productivity of employees; as well as for other areas.