Microsoft Speech Server Gives Texas Bank Something to Talk About

Woodforest National Bank, one of the top earning banks in the United States, doesn't like to keep its customers waiting. When the bank’s aging touch-tone call system reached full capacity, an average of 8,000 calls per day, the bank turned to Microsoft technology to keep customers happy.

"The longer it takes customers to get the information for which they called, the greater the frustration, length of call, and likelihood they will hang up and dial a live operator," said Michael Webster, systems analyst at Woodforest National Bank. Customer dissatisfaction is costly, he added.

The bank chose Microsoft Speech Server 2004 to replace the antiquated touch-tone system. The Microsoft-based solution gives customers fast and easy interactive voice access to account information—from account balances and transaction histories to changing their PIN numbers.

Speech Server Solution Reduces Call Times, Offers Room to Grow

With the new Speech Server 2004 solution built on the scalable Microsoft .NET Framework, the bank can successfully maintain its 48-channel phone capacity with plenty of room to grow.

"The application is clean and simple," said Jim Duke, executive vice president of technology at Woodforest National Bank. "Using the power of Microsoft speech technology, we expect to reduce call times by up to 50 percent, provide intuitive error recovery, and process detailed input."

In the future, the bank plans to extend the solution to include Spanish voice recognition and text-to-speech (TTS) capabilities.

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Improved Service has Customers Talking

Customers can now call the bank and talk their way right to the information they need—quickly and easily. Not only are customers placed on hold less and for shorter periods, but customer service representatives are freer to help solve larger issues and provide better service.

"Rather than complicating the application to make it service every inquiry, we've focused on the more typical items such as account balance, statement history, and pending transactions," Duke says. "This frees up our customer service staff for the harder questions and lets us maintain the personal service levels we're known for."

With the Microsoft-based solution, Woodforest National Bank is able to:

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System Can Notify Customers of Suspicious Activity

Customers can access their banking information around the clock and even have current account information sent to them by e-mail each day.

"Because of the rise in consumer and commercial fraud, we think our customers will find great value in voice-enabled automatic account balance notification," said Lynn McKee, the bank’s senior systems analyst. "It's an account watch dog or early warning system for suspicious account activity."

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Try Microsoft Speech Server in 180 Day Evaluation

Order the Microsoft Speech Server 2004 Standard Edition 180-day evaluation CD kit. The evaluation kit contains a 180-day version of Microsoft Speech Server and a full, working version of the Microsoft Speech Application SDK.

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