Spiegel Brands Inc. Implements Guided Self-Service Solution from Spoken Communications, Inc.
Guided speech IVR is far more effective and efficient than IVR alone.
BELLEVUE, Wash., Aug. 21 -- Spoken Communications, the only provider of Guided Self-Service(TM) solutions, announced today at SpeechTEK in New York, that Spiegel Brands Inc., a leading retailer in women's apparel and home decor, has successfully implemented its ground-breaking Call Guiding(TM) Solution in the Spiegel call center. This sophisticated system has enabled many of Spiegel's live call center agents to become guides, who silently monitor and assist multiple callers simultaneously to ensure self-service success.
Through its use of the Spoken Call Guiding(TM) Solution, the Spiegel call center has been able to replace the traditional menu-driven touch-tone approach to receiving and routing calls. This new self-service solution enables a human guide to monitor and assist four or more simultaneous calls behind the scenes increasing the quality of the caller's experience, while reducing caller frustration and lowering costs.
"By having our agents act as guides, we are able to provide our customers with a better experience than traditional IVRs," says Tom Scott, CIO Spiegel Brands Inc. "One of the biggest problems with traditional IVR solutions and even sophisticated voice recognition systems is that a customer must conform to a fixed set of menu options. Guided IVR eliminates the need for menus and gets over 90 percent of the calls directed to exactly the right destination, in just one step. While traditional IVR completion rates have been less than 30 percent, we have been able to experience completion rates of over 70 percent" with the Spoken Call Guiding Solution. That translates into a much better experience for the customer and a significant reduction in call handle time and cost."
Proven Best of Both Worlds Solution
"After observing the Spiegel Guide handling multiple calls silently and efficiently, I could clearly see the potential that the Spoken solution offers to our industry," said Dan Faulkner, director of product management and offer marketing at Nuance Communications, a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions. "By providing the speech recognition engines that support the Spoken Guided Self-Service solutions, Nuance is helping Spoken deliver a compelling and successful application to improve the caller experience."
The division of traditional IVR technologies and live agents has been a long-standing problem for call centers, creating operational inefficiencies and challenging caller experiences. Spoken's solution is the best of both worlds. By having agents act as guides, callers are ensured a successful automated experience, call centers get a more flexible call response system and live agents can shift their focus to selling and away from routine servicing.
"We are pleased to offer the industry this innovative guided self-service solution that integrates the knowledge and expertise of human agents with technology," said Bill Norman, Chief Operating Officer at Spoken Communications. "We all know the customer is any company's most important asset, yet these customers have been left alone to try and navigate the limitations of IVR menus or speech recognition applications. Spoken Communications Call Guiding(TM) Solution with silent agents changes all that by providing a simple 'How Can I Help You?' approach that works."
About Spoken Communications
Spoken Communications provides the only Guided Self-Service(TM) Solution that has fully integrated the human call center agent and speech technology so agents are able to handle multiple calls -- silently and simultaneously. This innovative approach, developed by Spoken, ensures call centers and their customers will have self-service success. Spoken Communications is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. When the caller experience matters, Spoken Communications is the only choice. For more information please visit http://www.spoken.com/.
Source: Spoken Communications, Inc.
CONTACT:
Tonia Lopez-Song of
Spoken Communications, Inc.,
+1-425-679-0696,
spokenpr@spoken.com
