January/February 2003

Magazine Features

Financial Services: A Model For Enterprise-wide Speech Technology Deployments

Reflecting on five years of growth in the speech recognition market reveals some interesting trends from the financial services industry and user adoption perspectives. Many financial services institutions (includes banks, brokerages, credit unions and insurers) have shed their conservative images through aggressively developing company-wide "speech strategies" to improve customer service, accommodate the highly mobile user, and drive costs out of the business.

Hype vs. Effective Speech Technology

My first real experience with speech technology was in the research group at WordPerfect in 1994. I was given the task of adding speech recognition capabilities to WordPerfect 6. After surveying the available technology and business opportunities, we inked a deal with Dragon Systems to include a version of DragonDictate in the box.

Personality Disorders

What can a persona do for you? This question was the primary focus of several presentations at SpeechTEK 2002. The topic of “persona”, by itself, seems to elicit strong opinions from a number of speech industry personalities. Interestingly enough, a particular participant in one presentation allowed that he wasn’t really sure what a persona was. He went on to ask, rhetorically, “What does ‘persona’ actually mean?”

Speech Solutions Awards and Top 10 Leaders in Speech

Each year Speech Technology Magazine (STM) recognizes significant contributions and achievements of individuals and companies involved in speech Technology. The Speech Solutions Awards and the Top Ten Leaders Speech are selected by the magazine’s readers in an online poll.

System Integration: Keys to Finding the Right Design Perspective

Imagine your home was built in several different eras and styles: The entry is ornate Victorian, the living room is angular 50’s modern, and the bedrooms are done in a country style. As a result, the house is aging and unattractive, but functional and structurally sound. As a first step towards a “face lift”, you added a new guest room last year.

Taking a Look at TTS

What are the current trends in TTS? Some indications appeared during a novel session at SpeechTEK 2002. The author moderated a Show and Tell: TTS Solutions panel in which ten international TTS vendors accepted an invitation to participate.

Uniform Basic Function Commands

Information processing and the Internet are merging with the telecommunications industry to develop mobile devices using interactive services with global access. Speech recognition offers the most natural way for consumers to use new communication devices and services.

Will Consumers Use Speech?

The automated teller machine (ATM) has become a fixture of the commercial landscape, as ubiquitous as gasoline stations on every corner. But, it was not until the late 1970’s, that banks began installing ATM’s out of fear that customers would not accept them. Today, however, few consumers would consider doing business with a bank that did not offer the speed and convenience of automated services.

Forward Thinking

Bin Laden Speaking

In November, an international stir followed Al-Jazeera’s release of a tape purported to be of Osama bin Laden. Al-Jazeera is the satellite television news network based in the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar.

Industry View

The S-Word and Building Glass Towers

Last year, in a vacant lot by the Hudson River in Greenwich Village (where I live), they broke ground on not one, but two 15-story glass residences designed by architect Richard Meier. It was rumored that Calvin would take one penthouse and Martha would take the other.

Q & A

John Ounjian, Chief Information Officer, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Minnesota

Recently, STM sat down with Ounjian who provided at look into his vision for the future of customer service in the healthcare industry and how he thinks we can "shatter the granite" that currently surrounds the customer experience.