Despite the increasing number of digital channels, consumers crave human touch in communication. This is precisely what’s driving the growing demand for speech analytics solutions. 49% of respondents in a survey of 500 contact center firms with revenue of over USD 50 million had already deployed speech analytics solutions. Enterprises and companies of all sizes appreciate Speech Analytics solutions as calls coming into the contact center do not always follow a linear path. Depending on the nature of the issue and the caller, it can change directions, resulting in an unorganized audio track where neither the intent of the caller nor the proffered solution is clear.
With customer experience forming the lynchpin of competitive differentiation, making sense of this unstructured data and deriving actionable insights is a strategic objective of companies today.
Why are enterprises so eager to deploy Speech Analytics?
Speech Analytics is no longer restricted to the conventional contact center objectives of providing customer support but extends to improving operational efficiencies, customer experience, and sales. Real-time speech analysis is already being utilized to identify irate customer calls, enabling quality assurance and preventing escalations. According to an Executive Survey on Speech Analytics by Opus Research, the main drivers of speech analytics include rapid detection of customer frustration (55%), and customer intent and resolution (52%). This is followed by support for workforce optimization strategies (50%), reducing operating costs (48%), and identifying the root cause of failures (48%). Providing executives with timely reporting facilitates insightful decision making and proactive step against market threats and opportunities.
Companies of varying sizes and industry verticals across the globe including telecom, healthcare, retail and pharma are investing in this application. A surprisingly high percentage of companies expect to spend more on speech analytics over the next 1-3 years, especially in North America. The regulatory environment is also an incentive for contact centers to equip themselves with data required to ensure compliance. It is worth noting that government authorities also use speech analytics to sift through a large number of conversations to identify security threats.
The growing awareness about the benefits of speech analytics, including positive ROI, KPI tracking of various departments, and identification of new sales opportunities, is driving innovative solutions. According to the Opus Research report, 83% of survey respondents achieved their ROI within 12 months. Vendors are increasingly delivering functionality that can be fully embedded in or integrated with existing applications in an organization, allowing flexible and less disruptive implementations. Remodeled solution architecture is facilitating cloud deployments and pay-as-you-use services.
The road to the future: Taking the power of Speech Analytics to new heights
For speech analytics solutions to be successful, it is not only important to identify the issues but also deliver actionable insights and action plans. Real-time issue identification will increasingly be supported by real-time guidance. By combining speech analytics with emerging technologies such as big data and advanced analytics, evolving solutions offer predictive and prescriptive insights for enhanced personalization and customer experience. Root cause analyses will become a built-in feature, increasing contact center effectiveness through implementation of corrective processes.
With its potential to deliver quantifiable strategic and tactical benefits to both enterprises and customers, it is no longer a question of ‘if’ enterprises will adopt speech analytics. A more pertinent question is how soon are they likely to implement the solution to earn the rewards of improved performance in areas such as operations, sales, and customer experience.
For more details on Speech Analytics adoption, download the Opus Research Speech Analytics survey report commissioned by Uniphore.