VoiceXML Solutions & Tools A Vendor Perspective for NMS Developers Kristen Axline, Director of Business Development, Edify David Asher, Director of Product

VoiceXML Solutions & Tools

A Vendor Perspective for NMS Developers

Kristen Axline, Director of Business Development, Edify

David Asher, Director of Product Marketing, NMS

Slide 2

Agenda

VoiceXML Overview — Edify Customer benefits Developer benefits Industry benefits

A smooth transition to VoiceXML — NMS VoiceXML Tools and Applications — Edify

Slide 3

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 4

Customer Benefits of VoiceXMLThe Enterprise Voice Portal

Application quantity and quality

Less platform dependence, less repeat engineering = more time for net-new

Applications can be evergreen and mature over time (vs. forklift end-of-life)

Vendor choice Quality and fit (+ price &

relationship) drive decision Proprietary lock-ins or

lock-outs become irrelevant

Self-sufficiency & on-demand service creation

Customers can acquire and leverage voice skills

Understanding encourages


Edify or 3rd PartyVoiceXML Browser

Edify Commercial Applications & Components

(e.g., Edify Voice Banking, Edify Product Support, Edify Call

Routing, Edify Entity Locator)

Edify Custom Speech Applications & Components

(e.g .,ABN Amro, BMW, DHL, GE, Sears, SONY, Ticketmaster)

VoIP PSTN

VoiceXML

EdifyVoice Application

ServerApp Modeler &

Runtime

3rd Party Tools(eg Audium, Fluency,

ScanSoft, TuVox, VoiceObjects)

3rd Party Applications (eg Apptera, Datria,

ScanSoft)

Slide 5

Developer Benefits of Voice XMLReusable Skills & Applications

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


TELEPHONY INTERFACE(VoiceXML Browser)

VoiceXML

EdifyVoice Studio and

Voice Application Server

Third Party Applications (Apptera, Flexpaks

OSDMs or SpeechPaks,

Any VoiceXML browser from Edify, Genesys, InterVoice, Voice Genie or Others

Any VoiceXML tool and application

Third Party Tools(Audium, Tuvox,

Voice Objects, etc.)

Edify’s Packaged Applications(Edify Voice Banking)

Slide 6

Industry Benefits of VoiceXMLLeverage 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 Elements

Thin Client GUIExtends Reach of ISNetwork DeliveryApplicationsBusiness LogicBackend IntegrationDevelopment Standards

Voice Elements

Thin Client VUIExtends Reach of ISNetwork DeliveryApplicationsBusiness LogicBackend IntegrationDevelopment Standards

Web & Voice: Naturally Aligned and Complimentary

Extend information systems to include both voice and the web to improve productivity, lower costs and increase user and customer satisfaction.

Slide 7

Getting To VoiceXMLA Smooth Transition from

Where You Are Today

www.nmscommunications.com

Slide 8

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)


Slide 9

Sample Code — Dialog Design

Source: Speech Objects, VoiceXMLWhite PaperNuance Communications, 2000


Slide 10

Sample Code — VoiceXML ScriptVoiceXMLVersion

VoiceXMLField Name

PlayPrompt

Grammar toLoad, and Type

Load NextVoiceXMLDocument

Source: Speech Objects, VoiceXMLWhite PaperNuance Communications, 2000


Slide 11

Your Application Today…


PCI

Application (today)Application (today)

PSTN

PSTN

T1/E1

NMS CG Board

Natural Access + FusionNatural Access + Fusion

NCC (ISDN)NCC (ISDN)

API

Slide 12

Your Application + VoiceXML


PSTN

PSTN

T1/E1

NMS CG Board

Vision VoiceXML Server

Vision VoiceXML Server

Natural Access + FusionNatural Access + Fusion

NCC (ISDN)NCC (ISDN)NCC (SIP)NCC (SIP)

PCI

RTP SIP

Application+

VoiceXML

Application+

VoiceXML

API

VoiceXML

Slide 13

Natural Call Control + VoiceXMLSample Call Flow, Simplified


Application Natural Access + NCC VoiceXML Server

nccAnswerCall (ISDN) ISDN Call

Traditional Application Processing

Build Fusion GW Channel

nccPlaceCall (SIP)SIP INVITE

SIP BYE NCC: CALL DISCONNECTED (SIP)

Traditional Application Processing

ISDN Call Hangup NCC: CALL DISCONNECTED (ISDN)

Tear Down Fusion Channel

Decision: Switch to VoiceXML

RTP Connection

New VoiceXML Application Processing

Slide 14

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


Slide 15

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


Enterprise Voice Applications Design, Development & Deployment

VOICE SERVICES

DEPLOY, MODIFY AND EXTEND

VOICE USER INTERFACE DESIGN

APPLICATION FLOW ANDFUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE

CONNECT TO DATA SOURCES AND GATHER DATA

BUSINESS LOGIC AND PROCESS INTEGRATION

CREATE DATA AND PROCESS OBJECTS

DATA TRANSFORMATION SERVICES FOR USE OF DATA IN APPLICATION

CHALLENGES

Separate data, process & flow so each can flexibly evolve

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

Slide 17

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


Slide 18

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


Slide 19

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


Slide 20

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


Slide 21

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

Robust platform (VXML 2.0 certified) Tools (design & development), Packaged applications Design and development skills

comprehensive

For details see www.edify.com


Edify Voice Studio Enterprise Speech Applications Development

VOICE SERVICES CAPABILITIES

DEPLOY, MODIFY AND EXTEND

VOICE USER INTERFACE DESIGN

APPLICATION FLOW ANDFUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE

INTEGRATE TO DATA SOURCES AND GATHER DATA

BUSINESS LOGIC AND PROCESS INTEGRATION

CREATE DATA AND PROCESS OBJECTS

DATA TRANSFORMATION SERVICES FOR USE OF DATA INAPPLICATION

“The release of Voice Studio has

just made speech application

development faster, and more

efficient. Through collaboration,

code reuse, and easy

modifications, Voice Studio

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

Slide 23

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, high-value 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


Slide 24

Edify Voice Studio Special NMS Developer Offer A hosted site for developer partners will be introduced in mid-

December 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


Questions?

Contact Info:[email protected][email protected]

Documents

VoiceXML Solutions & Tools A Vendor Perspective for NMS Developers Kristen Axline, Director of Business Development, Edify David Asher, Director of Product