Many companies are using advanced technologies to increase efficiencies and cut costs in their operations to remain profitable and competitive. Companies are taking advantage of hands-free system control, which lets employees access data and entry to warehouses or industrial units by using their voices. The military seeks to develop or use technologies and systems that increase accuracy, safety and reliability and that solve problems in controlling complex defense systems. Using speech leaves hands and eyes free so a person can perform multiple tasks. Also, speech recognition allows the development of fewer and smaller devices that can provide more functions.
Military personnel can deal with less equipment, which requires less training to use.
These are just some of the vertical markets that speech is making more cost-efficient and customer responsive. As the technology grows, look for speech to make inroads into other markets as well. Anna Karampahtsis is an analyst covering the wireless industry. In addition to writing quarterly reports covering the fixed and mobile wireless markets, Karampahtsis is also responsible for Allied Business Intelligences speech recognition department.