BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - January 9, 2008) - The number one strategic action within the next
year for Best-in-Class companies is the implementation of a speech
self-service solution, according the latest benchmark report titled "Speech
Self-Service - Say 'Yes' to Reduce Costs and Improve Customer Satisfaction"
by Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company (
NYSE:
HHS). This is in contrast to the
previous year when surveying customers and monitoring agents and calls
ranked higher.
Best-in-Class companies are clearly prepared for this strategic shift, with
63% seeing an increase in their 2008 fiscal year budgets, compared to only
47% for Industry Average companies and 36% of Laggard companies. Aberdeen's
research indicates that this is a result of the top pressures that
Best-in-Class face, namely competition (38%) and increasing operational
costs (37%). However, even budget increases don't guarantee mitigation of
challenges to implementing a self-service solution such as speech,
according to Aberdeen. Limited resources and deployment complexity are just
two of many challenges that Best-in-Class firms must overcome to realize
the advantages of a speech self-service solution -- advantages that can
include lower costs and improved customer satisfaction.
Furthermore, it is important to realize that even among Best-in-Class firms
(27%), speech self-service is still in its nascent stage of adoption. Part
of this is because not all firms, whether Best-in-Class or not, have yet to
implement key speech self-service technologies that allow for
implementation and optimization of a speech self-service solution. Such
technologies include: call recording, VoIP, CTI and speech recognition.
"Ultimately, implementing a speech self-service will be a requirement for
any company with a contact center. The continued differentiation between
Best-in-Class and all other firms will be derived from other technologies
such as natural language understanding, which enhances the usage of speech
self-service and, as a result, improves customer satisfaction," says Alan
W. Hubbard, Senior Vice President, Customer Service and Support.
A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the
following underwriters: Aspect Software, Nuance Communications and Voxeo
Corporation. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4520.
About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company
Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market
intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more
than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely
positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating
demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment
analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets,
corporations turn to Aberdeen™ for insights that drive decisions.
As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in
context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's
analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of
Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement -
Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role
Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit
Aberdeen
http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more
about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to
http://www.harte-hanks.com.
© 2008 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
260 Franklin Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02110-3112
Telephone: (617) 723-7890
Fax: (617) 723-7897
www.aberdeen.com
Contact Information: Media Contact:
Alan W. Hubbard
Aberdeen Harte-Hanks
(617) 854-5301
alan.hubbard@aberdeen.com