Organisations operating large contact centres met recently to discuss the benefits of improved customer satisfaction and lower cost per transaction that can be gained from deploying voice recognition self-service solutions. One of the key outcomes from the meeting was the formation of an industry “User Group” to promote the business benefits of using such voice enabled solutions.

The User Group was formed at the inaugural Voice Leadership Forum, held by leading voice recognition solutions provider, VeCommerce Limited (ASX:VCM). The two day event attracted 40 delegates from around Australia and New Zealand, representing a broad range of industries including Banking, Insurance, Telco, Government services and Retail.

With an agenda that focussed on the lessons from real world deployments, delegates were keen to hear presentations from AAPT, Suncorp, New Zealand’s Ministry of Social Development and Tabcorp who shared the experiences gained from deploying voice recognition systems, how the business cases were built, accepted and approved within their organisations and ultimately how their customers accepted or rejected this new form of self-service.

Paul Magee, VeCommerce Limited Managing Director, said, “It became clear that there was a strong demand from the delegates for the industry to better promote the benefits of voice recognition solutions. To that end, representatives from the Department of Work and Income (NZ), St. George Bank, StudyLink (NZ), Tabcorp and other leading organisations decided to form a ‘business focussed’ voice recognition User Group, with VeCommerce providing initial support.”

Leading the presentations at the Voice Leadership Forum was Peter Ryan, Datamonitor’s London based CRM analyst and author of a number of studies on the voice recognition market who has named the region as one of the most advanced voice business markets in the world.

"The inaugural Voice Leadership Forum in Sydney successfully brought together prospective customers and successful users from Australia and New Zealand,” said Ryan. “Real-life examples presented added to the conference's substance and gave an excellent idea of how voice self-service solutions can add value to business needs."

“The establishment of the User Group marks another important milestone in the growth of the Voice Recognition industry,” concluded Magee. “The recognition of the Australian and New Zealand industry as being a world leader is a testament to the acceptance of this new technology in satisfying both consumers and real business needs.”

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About VeCommerce – the future is hear® VeCommerce Limited (ASX:VCM), is a global leader in the provision of natural language speech recognition (NLSR), speaker verification and voice enabled self-service solutions

VeCommerce’s core focus is to provide tailored business solutions, using the latest in communications and speech technologies that allow organisations to provide their customers with friendly, easy to use and always available voice enabled self-service solutions.

VeCommerce clients around the world include: AAPT, Suncorp, Ladbrokes, ASX Perpetual, Pizza Hut, the NSW Motor Accidents Authority, Magna Entertainment Corporation, Westpac, Auckland Co-op Taxis, New Zealand’s Ministry of Social Development and Inland Revenue Department and TABs Australia wide.

More information can be found at www.vecommerce.com.

Media enquiries Paul Magee, Managing Director, VeCommerce Limited, tel: +61 2 9428 9555 email: paul.magee@vecommerce.com; or

Nick Flude, Marketing Manager, VeCommerce Limited, tel: +61 2 9428 9903 email: nick.flude@vecommerce.com.