With the limitations of the touch-tone pad eliminated, the range of automated interaction over the phone can expand tremendously. The telephone can begin to be perceived as an assistant. This could change the market dynamics for telephone service providers, providing the opportunity for new revenue sources and creating a barrier to customers' changing service providers based purely on price. Opportunities and competitive challenges are emerging. They will have opportunities to save money by automating processes that require service representatives or selling more products over the phone.
Employees can be more productive with better tools to handle their communications.
With speech recognition products, the information on Internet sites can become accessible by phone, opening it to anyone with access to a telephone. Despite its tremendous success, the telephone is far from having reached its potential.