As a provider of analytics, we get to see objective data that shows what works and what doesn’t – and we get to see the differences across companies that explain why some are more successful than others.  For example, we recently compiled data on IVR effectiveness in one industry and saw huge variations.  We typically measure IVR effectiveness in terms of self-service, identification success, and routing accuracy.  The data revealed that the best company self-served 43% of callers, the average 19%, and the worst only 8%.

What could possibly explain such huge differences?  They all had the same call types.  And, we can be certain that each used “best practices” to build the best IVR they could.  Did the top company spend the most money and use the latest speech technology?  Is there something wrong with the metric – the way we are measuring self-service?  Are the IVRs wildly different in their VUI design?  Something else?

There is indeed another explanation.  And, that is the difference in how each company describes their goals and strategies.  Some companies are very technology centric.  They tend to look for the silver bullet in the newest new thing.  They frequently have a speech strategy, a speech group, and even speech KPIs.

Other companies are more business or customer centric.  And, instead of a speech strategy, they have a strategy to increase self-service, a strategy to route callers to the right center, and a strategy to off-load simple tasks from their agents.  Rather than a platform, speech for these companies is a tool – it’s but one choice from the bag of tools they can use to achieve their business goals.

While it may be tempting to dismiss the difference as merely semantic, how your strategies are articulated can have a significant impact on your organization’s behavior.  If you have a “speech initiative”, your organization (and your partners) may focus on how to do as much as possible using speech – even if it’s not the best choice for a particular prompt or dialog step.  For example, numeric data entry and 2nd chance prompts are nearly always more successful in touchtone – yet your team may stick with your speech strategy and simply prompt and re-prompt in speech.

Of course, speech is a powerful tool with a terrific ROI when used correctly.  It’s the only way to automate some transactions (e.g. address changes) and to collect data “hands-free” and safely while driving.  It’s also valuable to give your callers a choice and let them interact they way they want – given their environment or preference.  And natural language call routing can be very effective in the right situations.

The point is not to throw out speech, but to put it clearly in service of your customers and your business.  Speech technology itself is still a moving target, with new innovations in both the technology and its application appearing every year.  If your strategies are expressed in terms of accurate call routing, more automation (full and partial self-service), and delivering great caller experiences, then your teams will continuously assess the state of speech and other technologies – and deploy them the instant they pass the test of furthering your business goals.

If on the other hand, you pursue speech for technology’s sake, then you may find yourself with a new speech IVR, and a higher annual budget to maintain it, but without enough improvement in routing or self-service to pay for it.

So, what explains the huge differences in the data?  Did the company with 43% self-service have the largest budget for their new IVR?  In fact, they didn’t – and only used speech selectively.  And, there is indeed something wrong with the metric.  We’ve found self-service as a percent of inbound callers to be a poor way to compare IVR performance across companies because it ignores differences in each company’s call mix.  Also, for all the so-called “best practices” in our industry, VUI designs still vary significantly depending on who you select to do your design.

Yet, the key to navigating all these dynamics is pretty simple.  Step One:  Express your goals and strategies in terms of your customers and your business – not in terms of any one technology.  And Step Two:  Get some analytics that help you measure your progress and enable your teams to drill thru the data to truly understand what your callers do and why they do it.

Click here to watch a recording of the webcast A Side-by-Side Comparison of IVR Self-Service Effectiveness