Avaya Updates Self-Service Software

Wireless News August 27, 2007

Wireless News 08-27-2007 Avaya Updates Self-Service Software

At SpeechTEK, Avaya debuted new versions of its self-service software.

The company said the enhancements make it easier and more cost- effective to improve customer service with speech automation, and provide a foundation for using self-service to create faster, more productive business processes.

The new products, showcased at SpeechTEK 2007 in New York City, include Avaya Voice Portal 4.0, the company’s flagship self-service software, and Interactive Response 3.0, a self-service platform. Also unveiled was the new version of Avaya Dialog Designer 4.0, a tool for developing next-generation speech self-service applications. go to site adp self service

Self-service applications give businesses an automated approach to customer service, enabling customers to have greater control over interactions. By speech-enabling self-service, people can use spoken commands via phone to relay information to automated systems and complete transactions. Avaya Voice Portal uses Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Web service technologies to let businesses integrate speech self-service into customer service and business processes.

The new version of Avaya Voice Portal features expanded support for the latest Internet standards, including CCXML, programmable Web Services and VoiceXML 2.1. This creates an open, multi-vendor environment that speeds and simplifies the integration of speech self-service, while reducing its cost of deployment. Avaya Voice Portal and Dialog Designer also feature new Web Services offering a faster, more cost-effective way to use speech in outbound calling applications. ‘Outcall’ capabilities are important to businesses such as law firms or hospitals, which can use Avaya’s solution to more efficiently integrate speech into an existing appointment scheduling application, and have it automatically call clients to ask them to confirm appointments using speech.

Avaya Voice Portal also delivers scalability enhancements with a four-fold increase in the amount of simultaneous self-service transactions that can be supported per system. This reduces total cost of ownership for operating self-service, and helps companies more efficiently manage self-service applications across an entire global enterprise. Also, direct integration to SIP trunk lines helps businesses further lower network costs while providing a foundation for SIP presence in multi-media applications, such as video-based self-service. site adp self service

Avaya Voice Portal has been designed to work with Communications Enabled Business Processes (CEBP) — processes that automate the human collaboration required to conduct business. Voice Portal’s enhancements will simplify the integration of speech self-service within CEBP, helping to improve the automation of processes such as supply chains. For instance, Voice Portal can help notify purchasing agents when supplies run low, and ask them to answer automated questions or provide a status using speech.

“The value of speech in self-service is growing as it proves to be an important asset in the delivery of stellar customer service,” said Kris Weitz Rammer, Chief Information Officer. “Any time you can give a customer a human voice and a choice of options, you are adding value. We think Avaya Voice Portal will help us do this in the most advantageous and efficient way.”

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