Isn’t speech self-service technology supposed to be improving? Why are the numbers of customers satisfied by it going down? Why do 40 percent of customers avoid using speech systems “whenever possible?”

 

Dimension Data, a vendor of IT products and services, has announced "disturbing feedback" regarding today’s speech-based customer service systems – in addition to the 40 percent who avoid speech systems like the plague, more than 2,000 respondents, 42 percent of the total, said they use the Internet instead of the phone, and only 25 percent of consumers reported they would be happy to use a speech-based customer service option again.

 

The vendor drew its findings from its 2009 Alignment Index for Speech Self-Service report, conducted in conjunction with Cisco and Microsoft (News - Alert) subsidiary Tellme Networks. 
 

There is “a disconnect between why companies install speech self-service, and the way consumers perceive and value them,” study officials say. “Nearly half of the organizations surveyed said they also had a genuine desire to improve the service they provide to their customers, but only 15 percent of consumers believe improving service to be the real goal.” Frankly this reporter's surprised that many consumers believe it.

 

“While speech and other forms of self-service are great for an organization’s bottom line, they need to align with consumer needs,” notes Martin Dove, Dimension Data’s global managing director, Customer Interactive Solutions. “Organizations should heavily consider consumer preferences and deploy solutions that provide choice, speed and accuracy.”

 

When using automated systems, one-third of U.S. consumers polled are most frustrated when a human agent requests they repeat themselves after they’ve already provided information to the automated system. This reporter is as well, since it shows the company doesn't care that you waste your time.

 

More than 20 percent of U.S. consumers reported that they are most annoyed when the system doesn’t recognize what they’ve said. And 16 percent are irritated when they can’t skip directly to what they’d like to do. 

Looking to the future, more than half of consumers age 16 to 34 use the Internet as their first port of call when it comes to customer service. Overall 40 percent of consumers prefer to use traditional touch tone services rather than systems which require them to verbally answer a series of questions.

Earlier this month TMC’s Jyothi Shanbhag reported that Cooper University Hospital, a provider of health services, medical education and clinical research in southern New Jersey and the Delaware Valley, deployed Dimension Data’s IP telephony, a wireless site survey tool.

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