This report explores the evolution and transition from “traditional” wireless directory assistance (DA), where the revenue is supplied by consumers on a pay-per-use basis, to a “free,” potentially ad-supported model we’re calling speech-enabled mobile search (SEMS). In 2006, wireless carriers, device makers, mobile subscribers and advertisers combined to spend more than $4 billion on resources that used spoken words to extend the ability to search onto mobile devices. By 2010, that dollar value will exceed $7.5 billion.
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Voice Biometrics Conference Takes on Growth and Challenges
High-profile implementations, like VoicePay (in the U.K.) and Bell Canada’s Voice Identification Service, signal a new era for voice biometrics technologies. Success in the near term is pegged on high levels of convenience and security for customer-facing applications. Long-term success will be linked to establishing spoken passwords as a highly trusted way to leverage existing infrastructure for securing Web-, mobile- and phone-based commerce.
Analytics and Reporting for Phone-Based Self-Service
With the sharp public eye on customer satisfaction, businesses need better and faster ways to tune phone self-service resources. A new generation of monitoring and reporting systems supports closer links to business intelligence and analytics. Determining suitability of new solutions hinges on compatibility with existing performance management resources, flexibility for accommodating multiple constituencies within the enterprise and out-of-the box capabilities, in terms of providing pre-formatted reports.
Soft Launch for Google’s Free DA: 1-800-GOOG411
The soft launch of 1-800-GOOG411 signals that Google, Inc. will vie with Microsoft (with Tellme), AT&T (with Nuance and others) and Jingle Networks in defining how directory assistance will morph from caller-paid, limited-function, query-and-response to an advertiser-supported, search/find/transact model. By 2010, advertiser support of free DA could capture roughly $3 billion of the $9 billion spent by advertisers and end-users for speech-enabled mobile search. Yahoo! is yet to be heard from.
Voice Biometrics in 2007: Scaling Up for the Mass Market
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.
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.