Posted: 05 July 2006
New voice-recognition system for UCD
University College Dublin has installed one of the largest voice recognition call-answering systems in Europe. The new system puts callers directly through to UCD staff simply by speaking the name of the person into the phone. It becomes available to callers when operators cannot answer in person, helping the university to operate a ‘24-hour University’ where staff and students can communicate via telephone out of normal hours.
John McCabe, Managing Director of Damovo Ireland (left) Taigh Corcoran, UCD Head of Physical Plant, UCD Buildings and Services, and Cxema
Pico, Systems Manager, UCD Buildings and Services test the
new Direct
24 voice-recognition system
The system called "Direct 24" was supplied by the communications provider Damovo. It is based on software from Nuance and runs on two standard servers connected directly to UCD’s Nortel PBX. Damovo has committed to delivering an accurate call-completion rate of 95 per cent. To do this, it had to work closely with UCD to make sure that the software could recognise the names of all people included in the system’s directory.
“We have a broad multicultural community in UCD with people from many countries and with names from many different languages,” said Cxema Pico, Systems Manager for UCD Buildings and Services. “The directory had to be customised to recognise all relevant names, including those with Irish or other international names.”
The directory has a capacity for 10,000 names, allowing for several variations of a persons name to be stored. For example their full name or their academic title and surname. It is also integrated with other directory services, which ensures that Direct 24 is updated whenever other systems change. This reduces the need for double entry of names, making management simpler and easier.
In the future, Direct 24 will be able to provide callers with voice-activated access to static information such as building opening hours and other campus information.
UCD evaluated several systems before selecting Damovo. ‘They offered very competitive pricing and the level and flexibility of support they promised was excellent,’ said Pico.
Damovo is a leading supplier of technology to contact centres for many years. It operates in 10 countries worldwide and has experience of delivering voice-recognition call-answering systems to large Irish companies.