VoiceXML

“The computer of the future understands what we say, will talk to us, show us images and movies, and fit in a palm. The keyboard is not a natural extension of the human body. After all, we do not communicate naturally with a keyboard, but with our voice.” (Martin, 2000)

World Wide Web technologies have, “shifted the landscape for providers of traditional phone services to new set of customers accessing information and services through the Web.” (VoiceXML Forum 2002,1). The standard coding language, Voice eXensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) allows users to interact with the Internet or an intranet using a telephone or voice browser. By enabling speech interactivity, VoiceXML literally acts as “a translator that sits between the content on the Internet and the caller (us)…” (Castelluccio 2002).

The IDC reported that in 2000 over 1.6 billion telephones (both landline and wireless) were installed throughout the United States. By 2005, that number is expected to nearly double. Although traditional automated telephone services have been used by organizations for decades now, companies are looking towards new, improved, and less costly technology (Penumaka,6-7). With VMXL users are able to call into a “voice b

. . .

View the whole essay, without interruption

The voice browser, using speech recognition, recognizes the request and translates it into a travel service provider’s URL. While design interface issues may be problematic in procuring widespread acceptance of VoiceXML, industry organizations like The VoiceXML Forum have met many of these challenges with concrete strategies and additional features . Can improve morale and employee retention by saving customer service reps from answering basic, repetitive questions (Haley 2002)

Enterprise Enterprise business finder (finding the closest corporate office) and appointment systems (scheduling internal conference rooms, checking personal calendars)Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications such as order status (checking customer orders via voice) Increases employee productivityIncreases customer satisfaction

(Penumaka 2001)

Use of VoiceXML internally within organizations can also improve employee communication and corporate morale. According to Michael Castelluccio, editor of Strategic Finance, countries throughout the world were represented at the 2001 SpeechTek Expo. While “visual interfaces are parallel with multiple inputs being processed at a given time, voice interfaces are more serial” (Houlding 2001).

Today, deploying a telephone service is both costly and time-consuming. Email can be read over and the phone, outgoing mail can be recorded, and intranet-based company news can be listened to while eating breakfast.

The integral component of VoiceXML is the text-to-speech and speech-to-text processing engine that recognizes, interprets, and responds. rowser” by dialing a regular phone number from any wire line or wireless phone. The universal presence of the telephone, “enables almost anyone, anywhere to access web content and services. VoiceXML allows delivery of wide variety of capabilities for the traditional phone customer. In order for the voice application to fulfill its potential, voice input should heavily borrow from visual input on HTML browsers.

Furthermore, VoiceXML seems to have an international presence.

Consumers can also benefit from a standardized markup language. This voice browser allows the caller to surf the Web and interact with Internet and intranet applications hosted on any Web server.

Approximate Word count = 1196
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.