Many business problems can be solved using cloud-hosted speech search and cloud-based storage technology.
Cloud technology has revolutionized the world of shared services, software, and information within computer networks. Users have been successfully taking advantage of major cloud-hosted systems, such as Amazon, Google Mail, and Google Docs for years. In fact, by 2011 Merrill Lynch says the cloud computing market will reach $160 billion.
Cloud-based storage has also effectively eradicated capacity issues and opened up a huge capability of storage for enterprises, within which data can be stored, shared and downloaded.
Both cloud-hosted technology and cloud storage provide many more possibilities for businesses to use speech analytics, so does the cloud hold the key to the widespread adoption of speech analytics by companies great and small?
At a time when customers are more valuable than ever, many firms that have phone-based customer service or sales functions are missing valuable information, hidden within their stored audio data. The array of opportunities to upsell, cross-sell, obtain competitor intelligence, and increase agent performance are among the benefits, not to mention the opportunities to improve customer relationships and overall experience. All of these dovetail in to the holy grail of customer retention.
Recurring product or service issues that might need to be addressed centrally or at an organizational level are also frequently overlooked, resulting in disgruntled customers, damage to the brand, and wasted resources.
Speech search technology holds the key to addressing these issues, through the identification and analysis of golden nuggets of information hidden in call interactions. In fact, in a fiercely competitive landscape, speech analytics can make the difference between whether a company hears or actually listens to its customers’ needs.
But investing in audio search and speech analysis technologies presents a challenge for many businesses in terms of cost, integration with other business systems, and the impact it has on the existing technology infrastructure. And this is where the cloud comes in...
In the current climate of more for less, companies and entire industries struggle to meet growing customer demands for higher quality and more personalized services or products, now necessary to keep their business. Hosting solutions such as speech analytics in the cloud provides the opportunity to share insights across the organization, deriving intelligence from all types of customer calls to gain vital business intelligence. Additional issues, such as reducing the cost and complexity of accessing this powerful technology, are easily overcome. Multiple points of access open business intelligence up to the enterprise, from the call center manager to the HR, legal, marketing, and sales teams, adding value to the whole business.
Increased capacity and flexibility
Where the technology is cloud-based, the capacity for data storage and the footprint of any application is no longer a point of pain; data can be kept and analyzed over time without reducing the performance of the company network and at a lower cost than an on-site equivalent application. Users of cloud-based speech search applications need not worry about the majority of technology maintenance and failure, which is handed over to the specialists; nor trouble themselves with license and operating costs.
These benefits not only have huge potential for cost savings and increased efficiencies, but they can also open the door to speech analytics technology to many. A software as a service (SaaS) payment model makes it possible for businesses to increase or decrease levels of usage within the business as and when required. For example, a telemarketing campaign might need to be monitored for a set period, but the analytics become redundant after its completion. Elements of functionality can be switched on or off to facilitate specific tasks in this way, or a system can be built up over time as the technology is introduced into a business.
The cloud also eases integration of a speech search and analytics package with other business intelligence or CRM systems; a connector offers the ability to extract data from various sources and feed into a central dashboard.
Monitor and improve performance
Those who outsource business functions to contact centers can also benefit from access to this kind of data to monitor their performance. This increased visibility also acts as a performance incentive for service providers who will be scrutinized alongside competitors on a like-for-like basis.
All-around visibility also has the added benefit of allowing access to valuable data showing indicators such as the most profitable customers and recurring customer problems and business opportunities, quickly and from multiple departments.
Security sits at the heart of cloud concerns, and while these applications sit outside the inner sanctum of the customer’s infrastructure, the majority of data is kept on their own system. We see this progressing in the future; as the technology advances, even more can be accomplished in the cloud, including recording. In fact, some Aurix partners are already operating in this space.
There are many benefits to hosting speech search facilities through cloud technology, and provided this technology is implemented and used efficiently and securely, the business intelligence and analysis it assists can hold the key to profit and process improvements.
As cloud technology becomes more prolific and businesses become more aware of the possibilities, I strongly believe it holds the key to improved speech search and analytics, opening the door to many more users than ever before. The sky’s the limit.
