Voice-XML* to take centre stage in China’s growing IVR market
By Our Corporate Bureau | 17 Aug 2006
Mumbai: Research by independent market analyst Datamonitor reveals the number of annual Voice-XML-based IVR (interactive voice response) shipments in China will rise dramatically from a mere 7,000 by the end of 2006 to over 66,000 by 2010, overtaking traditional touchtone IVR systems as the dominant platform in the country. As Voice-XML gains traction over the next four years, China will become the largest market for Voice-XML platforms in all of APAC (Asia Pacific).
IVR enables callers to conduct phone-based transactions or to be routed to the right department or agent through touchtone or speech input. The technology helps companies reduce overhead costs, improve customer service and even increase revenue generation through up-sell and cross-sell campaigns.
The next generation IVR platform technology is based on Voice-XML, an industry open-standard. Voice-XML brings the power of the Web to telephony applications. Developers can build and extend IVR applications leveraging the same web infrastructure assets, significantly reducing the cost of construction and delivery of new capabilities for the traditional phone customer.
In a speech on Tuesday, 22 August, at G-Force China 2006, Beijing, Daniel Hong, senior voice business analyst with Datamonitor, will provide an overview of China's IVR market, highlight key emerging trends and shed light on the advantages and disadvantages of Voice-XML and proprietary IVR systems in contact center environments.
According to Datamonitor, over 80 per cent of IVR implementations in China today are traditional touchtone IVR systems based on proprietary languages. Maintenance, upgrades and data integration can therefore be expensive and complex, causing vendor lock-in and placing companies in technology silos. Some companies have developed and deployed their own proprietary IVR systems in-house but many of these companies face problems when it comes to scalability and flexibility.
The limitations of traditional IVR systems are finally being exploited in the North American and European markets and this is making inroads into China. Therefore, a growing number of Chinese businesses are investing in Voice-XML platforms not only to prevent vendor lock-in but also, to provide more sophisticated levels of caller interaction: such as self-service, enhanced routing, and speech recognition.
