University of Kansas Selects Phonetic Systems for Speech-enabled Directory Assistance

TEMPE, AZ - Phonetic Systems, a provider of speech recognition solutions to access to people, information and business applications, announced that the University of Kansas has chosen PhoneticOperator to voice-enable the university's main phone directory of 37,000 records across five campuses. The directory will be available for individuals both on and off campus to reach university staff, faculty, students and departments. "We are thrilled to have been chosen to work with the University of Kansas as they take this major step forward in making their communications system easier, more cost-effective and more efficient," said Mark Bannon, vice president sales and technical services at Phonetic Systems. "Through the power of voice, we are able to provide a flexible and scalable solution that will improve each caller's overall satisfaction while providing substantial operational savings." Elizabeth Pesek-Shields, voice services manager for KU, said that the university is using the PhoneticOperator system to manage the first point of contact for all incoming calls to the university switchboard and that the system has been positively received by callers. "We have found that callers from both on and off campus appreciate being able to quickly get the phone numbers they need 24 hours a day," Pesek-Shields said. "The system handles about 1,000 calls a day, freeing our switchboard operators for more complex calls. Listings are now automatically updated each night from student and personnel databases, making our directory assistance more accurate than ever before."