Jo Taylor, head of marketing communications, Aculab
Q. Tell us about ACE.
A. ACE - Aculab communications exchange - is Aculab's annual global partner conference taking place this year February 15-18 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The event is a forum for attendees to receive updates on Aculab's current and future products and technology along with our vision of the future in communications. Additionally, through a highly credible list of guest speakers from companies such as BT, Frost and Sullivan, Microsoft and T-Systems, the latest visions and opinions from leaders representing the whole spectrum of the communications industry will be aired. Key to ACE is that it is a communications exchange meaning that in addition to giving information, it is essential that we gather information. Delegates are encouraged to provide feedback, requirements and share future strategies so Aculab can ensure alignment. Networking and facilitating business opportunities are also high on the agenda at ACE. The evening events will enable more networking and encourage delegates to meet with each other to discuss possible future business ventures.
Q. Why should someone attend this event?
A. ACE not only provides attendees with the opportunity to network with Aculab, but also to meet the many other delegates attending the event - and to hear first-hand case study examples. ACE is targeted at both technical and commercial decision makers and is intended to provide information that will help them make an informed choice about getting the most from Aculab and its partner technologies. For companies that are considering moving to Aculab, ACE will play an important role in helping them to make that final step. For all delegates, it allows the opportunity to share their views with over 30 key Aculab personnel - ranging from the board of directors to technical, sales and marketing management - and to influence Aculab's future direction and product developments. This is essential to Aculab because it allows us to have a clear perspective of the market requirements and how we can meet them.
Q. What role does Aculab play in delivering speech solutions?
A. Aculab offers more than simply the hardware and software building blocks required to develop applications. Understanding the complex decision-making and development cycles involved, Aculab puts emphasis and energy into training, support and developing mutually beneficial partnerships with our customers. From this, Aculab is then able to support customers in making the decision about which communications solution to choose for their product development.
Prosody, our media processing resource portfolio, plays a major role in delivering a wide variety of speech-based solutions as can be seen from some of the case studies that appear on our Web site. Prosody is used for essential functionality such as playback of synthesized speech in applications that use text-to-speech (TTS) and for streaming speech input to a speech recognition engine. Its many capabilities are invaluable, for example, the use of echo cancellation to enable barge-in, which is an essential user feature for any credible speech recognition application. The sophistication in functionality of the Prosody interface makes any project quick and easy to develop and bring to the market. In addition, Aculab's comprehensive portfolio of worldwide protocols, including ISDN, CAS, SS7 and IP, together with a variety of host independent approvals mean international product rollout is assured. As Aculab presents a generic API for developers, integration of Prosody for speech applications is easy and time to market is short. Furthermore, Aculab pre-sales consultants are available to provide support to developers creating a speech application and have expertise and experience gained from working closely with a number of speech technology partners.
Q. Which partners will be participating in ACE?
A. We have a superb list of partners who are committed to participating in ACE as either speakers or sponsors of the event. These include Adtech Solutions, BT, Capricode Ltd, designcom Systems, Dial Group, Dolphin Systems, Envox, Interactive Intelligence, Microsoft, NewVoiceMedia, Nuance, powerBridge Computer, Pronexus, T-Systems and VIP. We will also be joined by Frost and Sullivan, who will deliver a keynote presentation on the future of the communications industry. The event is already heavily subscribed with delegates representing countries around the world such as Australia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, UK, United Arab Emirates and the USA.
Q. Why should a company become an Aculab partner? How do you become a partner?
A. Aculab prides itself not only on providing high quality, open standards hardware and software for the communications market, but also on outstanding customer support from the moment they first contact us. Partnering with Aculab allows companies to benefit from our respected product and technology offerings, as well as our unique approach to customer support. Companies can find out more about becoming a "Connected with Aculab" partner by visiting our Web site http://www.aculab.com/partners/partners.htm
Q. What is Aculab doing to make it easier for enterprises to deploy speech technology?
A. To make deploying speech easier for enterprise customers, it first has to be made easy for solution providers.
If we take a few steps back, the key to making the deployment of speech easier and simpler is understanding - understanding the enterprise customers' objectives, the issues they are looking to overcome, their competencies when it comes to deploying a speech system and of course the market they themselves serve.
It goes without saying that needs vary greatly. Aculab's success has been through developing close working relationships with our customers, partners and alliances. By partnering with a number of speech technology vendors and toolkit providers, including Envox, InfoTalk, Microsoft (Speech Server), Nuance, Pronexus, ScanSoft and SkunkWorks, we can provide the right components and choices for solution providers so they, in turn, can make deploying speech easier and simpler for their enterprise customers.
Furthermore, through our 'request for change' process, Aculab has, over the past few years, been able to fine-tune our media processing resource technology for best use in speech deployments. Feature enhancements, such as optimized echo cancellation, barge-in control for speech recognition, music-on-hold for Nuance Audio Provider and two B-channel call transfers, all provide evidence of the high level of support and solid relationships we have developed with our customers and partners.
Q. Please discuss an example of a recent deployment and explain why your client was interested in speech and the results from the deployment.
Telstra, the incumbent Australian telco, has just launched a fixed line SMS service developed by T-Systems, powered by Aculab technology. It enables Telstra's 10+ million customers to use SMS services via the established fixed line network.
Messages are sent from a Telstra mobile phone and delivered to Telstra fixed-line customers. The system can send short messages direct to an SMS compatible phone or a fax machine if required. If the subscriber does not have an SMS capable fixed line phone, there are a number of ways messages can be retrieved. Alternatively, messages will be read over the telephone, using TTS either directly to the subscriber or via Telstra's message bank. Using speech technology in this application has allowed the service to be accessed by the whole of the customer base, not just those with a compatible hand set.
Q. We hear a lot about how customers are not served when organizations automate customer service. What do you think is the right balance between great customer service and automation?
Finding the right balance means ensuring that the customer comes away from the communication with exactly the result they set out to achieve, whether it is finding out what is playing at the local cinema or upgrading to a new telephone. Whether a company offers a fully automated service or an agent from the beginning to the end of the communication is not the point, it is whether the service achieves the desired results.
Great customer service can be perceived differently depending on the service required. A good example of this is the service offered by Air Asia to its customers. The system put together by Viztel Solutions, powered by Aculab technology, offers a fully automated telephone service for travelers who wish to enquire about fares and scheduling in advance of booking their flight. With this simple service, it is unlikely that customers will need to speak to an agent, therefore, the fully automated service is acceptable and the customer comes away with the information required, quickly and efficiently - empowered by 'self-service.'
When it comes to actually booking the flight, the traveler speaks to an agent. As a purchase is taking place - which could be of high value - there may be clarification sought from the customer, which will reassure them that the transaction has taken place correctly and the perceived service received by the customer is a positive one.
Q. What is on the horizon from Aculab over the next few months? How will these initiatives impact your customers?
A. We have recently entered into a number of partnerships that better enable our customers to create speech solutions. Aculab is providing a Telephony Interface Manager (TIM) for the Microsoft Speech Server. Our software will allow Microsoft Speech Server to operate with Aculab's media processing resources and digital network access portfolio. The Aculab TIM brings the advantage of Aculab's broad portfolio of worldwide protocols and media processing resources together in a cost effective solution.
Our recent integration with the Envox 6 Communications Development Platform further demonstrates our commitment to making the deployment of speech easier and more widespread.
The technology continuing to make the greatest impact, however, is our Prosody media processing resource range. We entered the speech processing market eight years ago and have been working to optimize Prosody's capabilities for servicing this market sector. In line with this, Aculab has developed its own TTS, ASR and SVI technology, which is available for use with Prosody under a cost-free license to download from our Web site.
At ACE we will also be providing a full update on our latest media processing products -Prosody S, Aculab's host media processing software; and Prosody X, a combined media, IP and TDM card, based on an innovative software architecture.