Industry Solutions: Financial Services
Leading financial services companies are helping to set the pace across all industries when it comes to incorporating speech technology into their service offerings and infrastructure. As many have already discovered, adding a speech interface to customer and employee support services can contribute to making these interactions more natural, efficient, and productive. Microsoft Speech Technologies provide an easy, economical way to quickly incorporate speech capabilities into a broad range of applications in the financial services industry.
Data Sheet
Financial Services Data Sheet
Many financial companies are looking to technology to help distinguish their products and services in increasingly crowded marketplaces, and to provide high-quality customer service. Adding a speech interface to customer and employee support services can contribute to improved efficiency and productivity and can decrease costs and deliver a return on investment (ROI) in a short time frame.
Videos
Financial Services Video
This video covers business scenarios specific to financial services that can be enhanced through the use of Speech Server.
Leading Regional Bank Scales Up IVR Solution To Meet Rapid Growth Curve
Woodforest National Bank has been using a Microsoft Speech Server 2004 based IVR application for the past two years and needed to scale up the Telephone Banking System solution. Specifically, it wanted to address the growth in call volume, create a new Spanish language application, and move to a real-voice interface. Again, using its own in-house IT expertise, the existing .NET infrastructure, and powerful Microsoft Speech Server 2004 R2 software, Woodforest addressed each opportunity.
Case Studies
Leading Regional Bank Sees IVR Solutions Reduce Operator and Long Distance Costs
Compass Bank wanted to begin to update its touch-tone customer services with new IVR solutions but wanted a low cost platform with future flexibility and measurable ROI. Using the expertise of Intervoice and its Omvia voice-enabled suite with Microsoft Speech Server 2004, the auto-attendant solution was deployed to handle 66 percent daily internal and external calls.
Leading Regional Bank Scales Up IVR Solution To Meet Rapid Growth Curve
Woodforest National Bank has been using a Microsoft Speech Server 2004 based IVR application for the past two years and needed to scale up the Telephone Banking System solution. Specifically, it wanted to address the growth in call volume, create a new Spanish language application, and move to a real-voice interface. Again, using its own in-house IT expertise, the existing .NET infrastructure, and powerful Microsoft Speech Server 2004 R2 software, Woodforest addressed each opportunity.
Insurer Offers 24/7 Customer Service with Speech-based Solution
When Grange Insurance Group, a regional property casualty insurer in the western U.S., wanted to extend its customer service hours to allow around-the-clock billing inquiries, it turned to Microsoft Global System Integrator Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Microsoft Speech Server. TCS developed a Speech Server solution that allows a user to get the billing details of a policy over the phone. The around-the-clock billing inquiry application is distributed over three servers: one to handle the telephony; one to generate and recognize speech; and one that hosts the SALT-based Microsoft ASP.NET application and interacts with the billing database.
Financial Services Partners
Financial Services Partners
Microsoft has partnered with leading speech industry companies to deliver Microsoft Speech Server applications to the financial services industry. Take look at our partner capabilities in financial services and experience some of their specific demo applications built on Microsoft Speech Server.
Demos
The following recorded audio demonstrations simulate a variety of Speech Server-based application transactions typical for financial services organizations. They also demonstrate several best-practices for the design of effective voice user interfaces (VUI).
Funds Transfer
Common customer transactions such as checking account balances and transferring funds are great candidates for automation via Speech Server. This voice user interface has a simplified opening and sub-menus so callers aren't easily confused, yet are able to quickly get to the information or service they want.
Credit Card Activation
Activation of products and services is one method companies are using to help thwart unauthorized usage. Applications like this credit card activation system can use the Automatic Number Identification (ANI) feature in the background (commonly referred to as caller ID) to cross-check the caller's telephone number to the one that's on file. Listen carefully during the system's playback of the credit card numbers to hear an example of how the system uses an upward vocal inflection (like at the end of a question) to prompt the user to verify the middle digits of the card number.
Customer Survey
Automating customer surveys makes it easier for customers to provide honest, anonymous feedback about your products and services. Note how in several instances during this transaction the application naturally and unobtrusively assists the caller to formulate her answers in a way that can be captured and tracked by the survey.
Field Report
Speech-enabled enterprise applications, like this automated field agent scheduling and reporting system, can increase the efficiency and productivity of mobile employees, for whom access to a networked computer is usually limited or non-existent. Additionally, having a natural sounding automated system manage job dispatch and status eliminates the need for a human intermediary between the system and the field agent, thus reducing data entry and reporting errors.
Change Insurance Coverage
The ability to update accounts both online and over the telephone 24x7 is a great benefit for both your customers and your company. Notice at the beginning how the caller "skips over" the opening menu, and asks for something that would normally appear later as part of the Change an Existing Policy sub-menu. This example of a "mixed-initiative" dialogue (one where either the caller or the system can initiate the interaction) gives the application a more natural, conversational feel, and helps the caller complete the transaction more quickly compared to a strict "directed dialogue" style of application.