Even with a potential FFIEC mandate for phone-based multifactor authentication on the horizon and the insidious cost of fraud continuing to rise, the question remains: Are voice biometrics ready for mass adoption? All directional indicators point to “Yes,” as does a growing roster of implementers and prospects. Speaker verification solutions have the potential to raise customer satisfaction while conforming to the strictures of “strong” authentication. A multitude of solutions providers are emerging to support two-factor authentication for telephone banking that remains cost-effective by leveraging existing CRM, Web services and security infrastructures.
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Microsoft Buys Tellme Networks, Becomes SEMS Prototype
With its acquisition of Tellme Networks, Microsoft enters the realm of speech-enabled mobile search (SEMS) in a very big way. Heated competition among search leaders (Google and Yahoo!) and speech processing partnerships (Nuance and IBM) should accelerate now, with mobile subscribers benefiting from stepped up innovation. But uncertainty remains in the role of wireless carriers and the structure of targeted advertising sales.
A New Day for Enhanced DA: Nuance Preps to Take on Tellme
Nuance’s purchase of BeVocal signals that a race is on to build the optimal platform for automated handling of speech-enabled search, especially from mobile subscribers. The $8 billion+ market for automated directory assistance will be the first battleground. Today, Tellme is the market leader, but Nuance and partners are positioning themselves to gain market share while focusing on the longer term opportunities for speech-enabled mobile search (SEMS).
Assessing the Speech-Enabled, Mobile Landscape
Embedded speech made quite a splash at last week’s 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Nuance, IBM, VoiceSignal and Tellme Networks have rallied sufficient participation among wireless carriers, device makers and content providers to get a significant percentage of the general public using spoken commands to message, search and take command of their mobile resources.
View from RSA 2007: Voice Biometrics Have Much to Prove
Attending this year’s RSA Conference gave us the chance to gauge the security community’s perception and acceptance of voice biometrics. Bottom line: Security officers and solution vendors remain skeptical of speaker verification as a strong authentication solution. It’s up to the vendor community to connect-the-dots for security advocates by making it clear that biometrics figure into security solutions and, where phones are concerned, voice biometrics fit the bill.
CAT Foundations 2007: Making Speech Matter
In an era of tepid IT spending growth (a modest 5%-7% for 2007, according to most estimates), speech-enabled self-service and associated application software and services is growing in excess of 20%. Much of the growth is a reflection of top management’s heavy involvement in technology purchases. Executives now find that a higher return on investment (ROI) and lower total cost of ownership (TCO) result from effectively deploying self-service resources that leverage IP-telephony and Web services investments, extending speech processing access over traditional telephones and mobile devices.
SAP Shows NetWeaver Voice at Genesys Event
At the recent Genesys Analyst Conference, SAP offered a preview of a solution integrating NetWeaver Voice runtime resources with the Genesys Voice Portal (GVP). The use case on display involved the automated dispatch of a utility company’s field technician based on an emergency situation. To complete the task, GVP performed under the command of NetWeaver Voice’s “voice dialogue runtime,†which is built on VoiceObjects technology. NetWeaver Voice has been available to developers for a number of months but will be formally introduced at SAP’s SAPPHIRE gathering in Atlanta in April.
CAT 2007: Simplifying Search, Service Delivery and Customer Care
In 2007, IT spending will grow very modestly. Yet spending on Conversational Access Technologies (CAT) – automated speech, real-time communications and service-oriented architectures – will continue to follow a growth rate in the high ‘teens or low twenties. You may think that the need to accommodate photos, music and video would crowd out automated speech as an important modality, but the opposite is true, as discussed in this advisory.
1-800-YELLOWPAGES: AT&T’s Entree into Free DA
AT&T’s free DA trials in Oklahoma City, Bakersfield (CA) and Columbus (OH) signal that the company is ready to cannibalize its own service. It is leveraging the capabilities of its automated platform – featuring technologies from VoltDelta, Envox, Nuance and Apptera – to automate DA queries as well as the purchase, placement and provisioning of a variety of audio advertising.
Sprinting Toward Mobile Services: Nuance Buys MobileVoiceControl
The acquisition of MobileVoiceControl, Inc. brings Nuance a downloadable product that runs on Palm’s Treo, RIM’s Blackberry and some Windows Mobile devices. More importantly, with MVC, Nuance now has a billing and retail relationship with Sprint/Nextel and a strategic content and advertising partner with Gannett (publisher of USA Today). All serve as real-world proof points for the Nuance Mobile concept.