Customers and employees of American Airlines and United Airlines, for example, can get information or make reservations using speech recognition. United Parcel Service has a couple of speech-recognition applications. Another application quotes rates. Companies installing speech recognition often find that hang-ups and defaults to an operator are cut in half. Results like that stimulated MovieFone to test a nationwide 800 number that callers can dial to receive information about movie times and even buy advance tickets.
Callers simply say the name of the person or department they want and are connected.
Many companies use speech recognition for internal callers, avoiding the need for paper directories and making it much easier for traveling employees to reach co-workers. The Boston Globe has deployed a system from Parlance Corporation , and some hotels use a system from Philips for both employees and guests. Bell Atlantic has a system for government agencies using Nuance technology. The Locus Dialogue system can even handle it when someone whose native language is English mispronounces a French name. SpeechWorks' SpeechSite system emphasizes the fact that voice attendants can be expanded to be part of a customer relationship management solution.