By Mike Koller, InternetWeek
February 9, 2001
Making interaction with a Web browser possible by using telephone
voice prompts has strong appeal when a keyboard and computer
screen just won't do.
Services providers whose clients don't use computers can
still enable interaction with benefits information and other
content at a Web site by using technology translates text
to speech.
VoiceXML is seen by some companies, such as Speechworks and
Nuance, as the dominant technology for enabling navigation
of a Web site using voice, but its critics say it is costly
and labor intensive to maintain.
VocalPoint Technologies Inc., announced this week it is offering
alternatives to voiceXML with VoiceBrowser and VoiceASP --
tools that allow users to surf the Web using voice commands
over any telephone connection by translating HTML text to
speech.
VoiceBrowser and VoiceASP use the document tree, a visual
element of the HTML browser, to create a navigational tree
that responds to voice. Users access it by dialing into the
number given by the company, listening to a menu of options,
speaking a password and PIN, then walking through a prescribed
list of actions.
They can support the companies' existing Web infrastructure
in using the voice service, eliminating the need to develop
and maintain separate applications, said Kurt Losert, CEO
of VocalPoint.
The technologies can support a base of 26.5 million wireline
and 39 million wireless subscribers. The VocalPoint architecture
enables integration with existing platforms and legacy interactive
voice response (IVR) apps.
EasyBenefits.com, which uses a Web-based application to host
information on worker benefits, didn't want to devote extra
IT resources to managing voiceXML, said Joseph Stone, president
and CEO of EasyBenefits.
"Benefit enrollment changes very quickly and you have
to reprogram time and time again, and to have to charge for
that becomes prohibitive to client," said Stone.
Brevard Public School district in Melbourne, Fla., which
uses Web-based enrollment for its 8,000 employees, will implement
EasyBenefits by the end of the month (February) to distribute
worker benefits information.
"It's good for those members of our population who aren't
terribly skilled at keyboarding to have the option,"
said Bonnie Mozingo, director of compensation and benefits
for the school board of Brevard County.
One analyst said the VocalPoint technology swims against
the tide despite its ease of use, because the industry is
drawn to voiceXML.
"It might make the benefits greater if a company has
few employees (and) lots of customers, because using voice
would improve usability," said, Ken Hyers, an analyst
with Wireless Strategies. "But XML is well established
and seems to be the voice standard the industry is consolidating
around."
Not necessarily, said Mark Plakias, an analyst with the Kelsey
Group. VoiceXML use is probably in the 'low thousands' in
terms of developers who are proficient in it, and it calls
for expensive programmers, he said.
"We see voiceXML as being important for very large enterprises
that have mission-critical speech applications, but even that's
a couple years off," Plakias said. "For others,
a VocalPoint type tool that lets me go directly from HTML
to speech is pretty attractive."
Nuance and Speechworks are developing a voice browser too,
Plakias said. "The question is do I want to use VocalPoint
for my speech content management and use Nuance for speech
recognition, or is it just easier to buy it all from Nuance?"
Plakias said. "But if I buy into the Nuance package,
I won't go far before I realize I have to find voiceXML programmers."
Copyright 1998 CMP Media Inc.
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