SpeechWorks Implementation at Credit Lyonnais

PARIS, FRANCE and BOSTON, MA - SpeechWorks International Inc. (Nasdaq: SPWX), a developer of speech technologies and services, announced that its call routing application for Credit Lyonnais, one of France's largest banking groups, has serviced more than one million calls using SpeechWorks' speech recognition technology. SpeechWorks and French partner NetCentrex, an enabler of next-generation VoIP networks and services, implemented the call routing service for calls to select Credit Lyonnais branches in 2002. Customers that call their Credit Lyonnais branch are welcomed by a French speaking speech service. This service guides the caller through various banking options such as listening to account balances and transferring funds. SpeechWorks' technology recognizes the caller's commands and executes them. The caller can also be redirected to a customer care manager if he or she wishes to do so. "The SpeechWorks solution handles 100 percent of inbound calls to these branch locations. The maturity of SpeechWorks' technology lets callers easily navigate through complex applications that go beyond recognizing simple 'yes' and 'no' responses. The speech-enabled application is more intuitive and feature-rich than touchtone applications, which didn't meet our customer service requirements," said Marc Oppenheim, Manager of Multi Channel Platforms at Credit Lyonnais. "Today, virtually all of the calls are successfully completed through the speech system, which we believe is proof of our customers' satisfaction with speech." "Credit Lyonnais came to us looking for an automated customer service solution to offload calls coming into its call center and to reduce call center costs, without compromising quality of service," said Steve Chambers, chief marketing officer at SpeechWorks. "Today, with our partner NetCentrex, we have successfully handled over a million calls in less than 12 months, while simultaneously increasing caller satisfaction for Credit Lyonnais' customers."