VoiceObjects (News - Alert) enables organizations to integrate phone self-service into comprehensive customer experience strategies and to manage the complexity of the world’s most sophisticated phone applications. VoiceObjects application server software is currently deployed at some of the world’s leading companies, including Adobe, T-Mobile (News - Alert), and Volkswagen Financial Services, providing personalized customer service experiences to more than 500 million callers each year.

 

Beatriz Infante is CEO of VoiceObjects. Infante brings a wealth of experience and expertise in enterprise software, infrastructure, and communications to the company. Most recently, she was Chairman, President, and CEO of Aspect Communications, which she led to revenues of nearly $600M/year, and also raised $50M in private equity financing. Prior to that, she was SVP of Oracle’s (News - Alert) Application Server division, growing license revenue to over $40M.

 

Infante took the time to respond to several questions I had regarding the leading trends that are shaping the future of the IP communications market.

 

 

BI: Businesses are focusing more on reversing the customer’s negative perception of their phone self-service offerings by deploying applications that personalize the IVR and improve the user experience. In addition, Voice XML technology is redefining the role of the IVR in that it’s becoming more of a 2.0 type platform for supporting multi-channel interactions within the phone portal.

 

BI: Absolutely. As more and more organizations move to a Voice-XML platform and Web services based model, they will begin to leverage the phone portal for delivering content via multiple channels — Web, text, voice and video. This will enable the development of highly efficient and innovative phone self-service applications that personalize the customer interactions and enhance the user experience.

 

BI: Voice-XML, open standard-based applications and Web-based services have all paved the way for companies to develop phone self-service applications that mirror their Web self-service model.

 

BI: Apple’s iPhone offered the user something no other Telcos had —a better user experience. It wasn’t about technology for Apple. Now you’re starting to see Telcos offering handsets that mimic the iPhone’s form and functionality and forgoing the addition of technology-based features that the user doesn’t want or need.

 

Google is tossing their hat into many rings in the telco space, such as creating a Web portal for the iPhone to access Google’s suite of software applications, designing a Google phone and participating in the 700MHz auction, to name a few. They are changing the telco landscape for the better by challenging wireless carriers to adapt their market perspective and business model to one based on partnerships, content and delivering open standards-based applications that run on mobile phones.

 

Microsoft’s decision to bundle the Microsoft Speech Server with their Office Communication Server will lower IVR costs for businesses, which will allow them to invest in value-add applications that sit on top of the IVR. One example would be phone self-service solutions for personalization of the IVR system.

 

BI: The emergence of Web-based and open standards, which make it possible for businesses to economically, and in a simplified way, deploy and manage phone self-service applications that provide contextually relevant information to the customer via a self-service phone portal.

 

BI: Companies who are not willing to develop applications that would provide customers with a better experience through the phone self-service channel.

 

BI: Phone portals continue to be the primary customer touch point in a self-service solution.