ScanSoft and Comfort Launch Taxi Booking Service in Asia

PEABODY, MA and SINGAPORE - ScanSoft Inc. (NASDAQ: SSFT), a supplier of speech and imaging solutions, has deployed "SpeedCall," an automated taxi booking service for Comfort, a taxi operator in Singapore. Comfort has accelerated its booking process using the Speechify Text-to-Speech (TTS) software, a member of the SpeechWorks family of speech solutions from ScanSoft. Repeat customers can bypass call center operators when booking a Comfort taxi via its Dial-A-Cab hotline at (65) 6552 1111. Comfort's data mapping technology identifies repeat callers based on his or her telephone number, and using the Speechify engine, confirms the caller's most recent pick-up address. "Comfort is constantly exploring new ways to make taxi booking easier and faster for our customers," said John Lee, chief operating officer of Comfort Transportation and Yellow-Top Cab. "Harnessing Speechify Text-to-Speech software, as another form of automating our call processes, has made it more convenient for our customers and brings us another step closer to meeting our customers' needs of getting a taxi within the shortest time." Comfort services almost 400,000 passenger trips a day. Comfort CabLink (its satellite dispatch system) dispatches between 25,000 to 30,000 bookings on an average day, some days reaching a peak of 40,000 successful bookings. Automated bookings have become increasingly popular. During the five-month trial run using SpeedCall, Comfort's automated booking jobs increased by over 30 percent. Plans are in the pipeline to further enhance the system. Currently, SpeedCall is available only for fixed telephone lines. "Comfort is well known for providing innovative services for its customers and we are delighted to be working with them to enhance its customer service," said Steve Chambers, general manager of Network Speech Solutions at ScanSoft. "This is the first application of Speechify for taxi booking services in Singapore, and it adds to an impressive list of "firsts" for ScanSoft in the Asia Pacific region."