Transcript VoiceXML Solutions & Tools

VoiceXML Solutions & Tools
A Vendor Perspective for NMS Developers
Kristen Axline, Director of Business Development, Edify
David Asher, Director of Product Marketing, NMS
Agenda
 VoiceXML Overview — Edify
 Customer benefits
 Developer benefits
 Industry benefits
 A smooth transition to VoiceXML — NMS
 VoiceXML Tools and Applications — Edify
Slide 2
Why VoiceXML Matters
 Voice has always been an extension of the
enterprise application and data infrastructure
 Voice self-service replicates information and transaction
functionality from environments such as Siebel and SAP
 Proprietary technology is an obstacle to evolution
 Restricts knowledge base (tools, training and technique
don’t cross vendor lines)
 Thwarts “best-in-class” multi-vendor approach to solutions
 Development standards promote evolution
 Nurtures breadth and depth in skills that are reusable and
transferable
 Supports robust “mix-and-match” solutions with most
precise fit-to-purpose
Y O U S P E A K.
W E D E L I V E R.
Slide 3
Customer Benefits of VoiceXML
The Enterprise Voice Portal
VoIP
PSTN
 Application quantity and
quality
3rd
Edify or
Party
VoiceXML Browser
 Less platform dependence,
less repeat engineering =
more time for net-new
 Applications can be
evergreen and mature over
time (vs. forklift end-of-life)
VoiceXML
3rd Party Tools
(eg Audium, Fluency,
ScanSoft, TuVox,
VoiceObjects)
Edify
Voice Application
Server
App Modeler &
Runtime
Edify Commercial Applications &
Components
(e.g., Edify Voice Banking, Edify
Product Support, Edify Call
Routing, Edify Entity Locator)
Y O U S P E A K.
W E D E L I V E R.
 Vendor choice
3rd Party Applications
(eg Apptera, Datria,
ScanSoft)
 Quality and fit (+ price &
relationship) drive decision
 Proprietary lock-ins or
lock-outs become
irrelevant
 Self-sufficiency & ondemand service creation
Edify Custom Speech Applications
& Components
(e.g .,ABN Amro, BMW, DHL, GE,
Sears, SONY, Ticketmaster)
Slide 4
 Customers can acquire and
leverage voice skills
 Understanding encourages
Developer Benefits of Voice XML
Reusable Skills & Applications
Any VoiceXML tool
and application
Third Party Tools
(Audium, Tuvox,
Voice Objects, etc.)
TELEPHONY INTERFACE
(VoiceXML Browser)
VoiceXML
Edify
Voice Studio and
Voice Application Server
Any VoiceXML browser from
Edify, Genesys, InterVoice,
Voice Genie or Others
Third Party Applications
(Apptera, Flexpaks
OSDMs or SpeechPaks,
Edify’s
Packaged Applications
(Edify Voice Banking)
 One skill set drives all VOICE APPLICATIONS — regardless of browser, app or tool vendor
 We need more and better voice applications to meet mainstream demand and strong growth
 Convergence is an opportunity to demonstrate your unique value and domain expertise —
voice apps aren’t web apps . . . And telephony skills still matter
Y O U S P E A K.
W E D E L I V E R.
Slide 5
Industry Benefits of VoiceXML
Leverage Data & Web to Build Voice Channel
 The voice channel has the potential to transform business the way that the web did
 Voice remains the most natural human interface — and the most preferred
 Massive enterprise network infrastructure exists — and voice can leverage it fully
Web & Voice: Naturally Aligned and Complimentary
Web Elements
Voice Elements
Thin Client GUI
Extends Reach of IS
Network Delivery
Applications
Business Logic
Backend Integration
Development Standards
Thin Client VUI
Extends Reach of IS
Network Delivery
Applications
Business Logic
Backend Integration
Development Standards
Extend information systems to include both voice and the web to improve
productivity, lower costs and increase user and customer satisfaction.
Y O U S P E A K.
W E D E L I V E R.
Slide 6
Getting To VoiceXML
A Smooth Transition from
Where You Are Today
www.nmscommunications.com
Slide 7
A Big Step?
 VoiceXML can be a totally new experience
 New products, new markets
 Or — an extension to your existing application
 Add new functionality, faster
 Make fast changes to deployed applications
 Allow for customer and third-party extensions
 Transition to new rapid development tools
 Offer open standards to your customers
 Incorporate multimedia (video + audio)
www.nmscommunications.com
Slide 8
Sample Code — Dialog Design
Source: Speech Objects, VoiceXML
White Paper
Nuance Communications, 2000
www.nmscommunications.com
Slide 9
Sample Code — VoiceXML Script
VoiceXML
Version
VoiceXML
Field Name
Play
Prompt
Grammar to
Load, and Type
Load Next
VoiceXML
Document
Source: Speech Objects, VoiceXML
White Paper
Nuance Communications, 2000
www.nmscommunications.com
Slide 10
Your Application Today…
Application (today)
API
NCC (ISDN)
Natural Access + Fusion
PCI
PST
N
T1/E1
www.nmscommunications.com
NMS CG Board
Slide 11
Your Application + VoiceXML
Vision VoiceXML
Server
RTP
VoiceXML
Application
+
VoiceXML
SIP
API
NCC (SIP)
NCC (ISDN)
Natural Access + Fusion
PCI
PST
N
T1/E1
www.nmscommunications.com
NMS CG Board
Slide 12
Natural Call Control + VoiceXML
Sample Call Flow, Simplified
Application
Natural Access + NCC
nccAnswerCall (ISDN)
VoiceXML Server
ISDN Call
Traditional Application Processing
Decision: Switch to VoiceXML
SIP INVITE
nccPlaceCall (SIP)
Build Fusion GW Channel
RTP Connection
New VoiceXML Application Processing
SIP BYE
NCC: CALL DISCONNECTED (SIP)
Tear Down Fusion Channel
Traditional Application Processing
NCC: CALL DISCONNECTED (ISDN)
www.nmscommunications.com
ISDN Call Hangup
Slide 13
Getting Started
 www.nmscommunications.com
 Software downloads — free evaluation software
 SIP gateway sample code
 www.voxbuilder.com
 Public service — tutorials, free and paid hosting for your
first VoiceXMLprogram
www.nmscommunications.com
Slide 14
VoiceXML isn’t Perfect Yet,
But You Should Still be On-Board
 Early days yet — 2.0 is current standard
 More examples every day, but still not enough to form a clear
picture of best practices
 Standard is defined but immature (2GL will mature to 4GL)
 Backend integration is not addressed
 Voice applications are an extension of backend application and
data, NOT the telephony infrastructure
 Hand-written Java connectors are typically not reusable — which
is contrary to a principal value of VoiceXML
 Like web, often part but not all of the code base
 E.g., more C++ than Java on the web even today
 Markup language is only a piece of the whole — content and work
is still on the development side, whether it’s web or voice
Y O U S P E A K.
W E D E L I V E R.
Slide 15
Enterprise Voice Applications
Design, Development & Deployment
VOICE SERVICES
CHALLENGES
DEPLOY, MODIFY AND EXTEND
 Separate data, process & flow so each
can flexibly evolve
VOICE USER INTERFACE DESIGN
APPLICATION FLOW AND
FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE
CREATE DATA AND PROCESS OBJECTS
BUSINESS LOGIC AND PROCESS
INTEGRATION
DATA TRANSFORMATION SERVICES FOR
USE OF DATA IN APPLICATION
CONNECT TO DATA SOURCES AND
GATHER DATA
 Single collaborative environment for
designers, developers & administrators
with a “view” for each role to enable
 Balance of “quality and speed”
supported by tools that promote
reuse and structure
 Consistent reusable access to
applications and data infrastructure
 Data transformation for usability across
application structure
 Heterogeneous technology silos with key
data across IT infrastructure
What to Look for in a Tool
 Web affinity that doesn’t come at the expense of voice quality
 vi, jsp, asp and notepad are great for static “Hello World”, but no
substitute for real voice application design technology
 VoiceXML is marginally addressed in web tools today — but stay
tuned because this is the evolution this decade
 Reusability across platforms and projects
 Cross-platform access is a fundamental value of VoiceXML —
without it, it’s just a nicer way to stay proprietary
 Cross-project is the only way to build a rich library of functional
components
 Best practices
 Built on the experience of actually doing the job, not interest in
tools as ends themselves
Y O U S P E A K.
W E D E L I V E R.
Slide 17
Contact Center
 Last bastion of metered usage based on huge sunk costs
 Saving seconds means lower costs to operate the call center
and higher caller satisfaction through better service
 VoiceXML goes hand-in-hand with speech
 Save seconds by updating touchtone applications with
speech to flatten menus and save time
 Add call routing to save more time and improve caller
satisfaction even further
Y O U S P E A K.
W E D E L I V E R.
Slide 18
Self-Service HR
 Already a significant market for Edify, standards-based
applications and hosting options will make it easier for
companies of any size to adopt this technology
 Not just healthcare and retirement accounts — password reset, a
mundane but chronic problem, can be automated within this
solution
 SBC . . .
 Voice transactions are immune to viruses and phishing — and
readily available technology such as speaker verification can
make eavesdropping unproductive
 Employees at every skill level have telephone access — and
employers who limit on-the-job internet access can still enjoy
the productivity and cost-savings benefits of a self-serve
system
Y O U S P E A K.
W E D E L I V E R.
Slide 19
Guys in Trucks with Cell Phones
 Field service continues even in the automated world we live in
 Complex back-end applications built on Oracle, SAP and
other enterprise technologies drive the logic of field service . . .
But training costs for the field staff are prohibitive (and so are
the client devices needed to use these applications), so
transcription of paper persists
 Voice applications make it easy for field service reps to use
cheap cell phones with cheap plans to communicate directly
with complex backend systems to obtain and file tickets
without costly training or middle-man transcription
Y O U S P E A K.
W E D E L I V E R.
Slide 20
A Little About Edify
 A leading (NMS=based ☺) speech solution since 1992
 Only independent Gartner Top Right supplier
 2,000+ deployments worldwide
 Open standards on proven technology
 high RE-USE




 comprehensive
Robust platform (VXML 2.0 certified)
Tools (design & development),
Packaged applications
Design and development skills
 For details see www.edify.com
Y O U S P E A K.
W E D E L I V E R.
Slide 21
Edify Voice Studio
Enterprise Speech Applications Development
VOICE SERVICES CAPABILITIES
“The release of Voice Studio has
just made speech application
DEPLOY, MODIFY AND EXTEND
development faster, and more
efficient. Through collaboration,
VOICE USER INTERFACE DESIGN
code reuse, and easy
modifications, Voice Studio
APPLICATION FLOW AND
FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE
CREATE DATA AND PROCESS OBJECTS
BUSINESS LOGIC AND PROCESS
INTEGRATION
DATA TRANSFORMATION SERVICES
FOR USE OF DATA INAPPLICATION
INTEGRATE TO DATA SOURCES AND
GATHER DATA
allows companies to build high
quality, high value voice and
speech self service applications
that callers will love – and that
can be quickly modified to
respond to changing needs now
and in the future.”
Mitch Mandich,
President and CEO of Edify
Edify Voice Studio Architecture
 Reuse and change management
 Build objects once, re-use many
times, and modify and extend
quickly and easily
 Evergreen, high-quality, highvalue voice self-service
applications
 Application and data integration
 Integrates seamlessly with any
application and data source
 Backward chaining
 Speed through collaboration
 Developers, designers, project
managers and administrators
work together from the outset
 Simultaneous execution means
faster time to solution
Y O U S P E A K.
W E D E L I V E R.
Slide 23
Edify Voice Studio
Special NMS Developer Offer
 A hosted site for developer partners will be introduced in midDecember
 No software or hardware to purchase and install
 Great way to get hands-on experience with VoiceXML, Salt and Edify
 Web-based training — a requirement to obtain access to the site
— will be available in mid-November
 A special offer for developers who attend this session is free
access to the training and a 90-day subscription to the hosted
site
 Please register by visiting :
http://www.edify.com/marketing/nms_devcon_tool_hosting_offer
_registration.cfm
Y O U S P E A K.
W E D E L I V E R.
Slide 24
Questions?
Contact Info:
[email protected]
[email protected]