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dominic cameron chief technology officer - lastminute not only, but also...

dominic cameron chief technology officer - lastminute.com not only, but also... project director - voice channels to share with you a Christmas Story to talk around a few things learned in our first ‘dip’ to stimulate discussion about things I worry about. Why When What How Who

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dominic cameron chief technology officer - lastminute not only, but also...

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  1. dominic cameron chief technology officer - lastminute.com not only, but also... project director - voice channels • to share with you a Christmas Story • to talk around a few things learned in our first ‘dip’ • to stimulate discussion about things I worry about...

  2. Why • When • What • How • Who • Learning from building • Learning from running • Future challenges

  3. why we built it ? • it’s a major new channel - that’s obvious now • any phone, any place, any granny • in mid-2000 the industry seemed to come-of-age • especially relevant to mobile, but also iDTV • lastminute.com model great for the VoiceWeb

  4. why we built it ? • need to build skills and learn processes • need to learn by doing, especially for prioritisation • better partnerships with mobile players • generates excitement inside and outside company

  5. why a Christmas gifts service ? • we had already committed to a printed catalogue • aim was to reach a new audience offline • distribution in newspapers and street handouts • opportunity to explore IVR and voice-reco

  6. why a Christmas gifts service ? so, a well-suited trial project: • limited product vocabulary (50 products) • full control over product names • project forced us to deal with all the issues • we would need to create all the key building blocks

  7. what did the customer hear ? • 100% voice automated shopping service • Welcome ! please say the name of the product you want to buy. • 50 products, and descriptions with special audio FX • A complete shopping experience:

  8. what did the customer hear ? • speech-shopping basket • credit card and debit card interface • category and product browsing interface • full postal addressing module • personal greeting message to attach to gift • context-sensitive help, terms and conditions etc • confirmation by SMS, invoice by email and post

  9. what we built • Nortel/Periphonics platform linked to Lucent switch • Nuance ASR • L&H TTS • Postcode reco module from BT Labs (Syncordia) • Web-based transcription interface using PeriWeb • XML interfaces to back-end processes • ASP/SQL platform for breakout, inventory admin, fraud control, credit card charging,email and SMS • N.I.C.E. automated call recording and ACD link

  10. who built it • 12 weeks from green-light to go-live • a team of 40 people involved at different times • 2 full-time lastminute.com staff, 15 ad hoc • turnkey: Nortel (1 project manager, 2 developers) • BT Syncordia developers (VXML > PeriPro port) • ASP/MS-SQL developers • CCIR for WoZ and SUI review and refinement • Matinee Productions for studio, special effect • James Giangola from Nuance

  11. what we learned while building it • it is not like building websites • multi-disciplinary staffing was critical • with a great team the core tasks are done fine • the problems appear at the junctions • test, test, test - and not just on your colleagues... • documentation is a very tough issue • it’s even more critical than in large web projects • We have 4 different documentation strategies in this room • Creative teams won’t work with hardcore technical documentation • Engaging systems will not be designed and live without creatives • do the WoZ beforehand and not during... if poss !

  12. what we learned from running it • it works • it’s a highly engaging channel • phone numbers and credit cards are a done deal • postcode handling is ‘production ready’ • you get very, very close to the customer • track, record and listen in • customers put up with many steps if well designed • higher conversion, more items per basket • many ways of applying ASR/IVR in our business

  13. future challenges (1) • personalisation - silver bullet ? • ‘my account’ - obstacle or driver ? • VXML - ready for advanced, mission critical systems? • when will a VXML ASP industry emerge in Europe ? • tools are far from ready for rapid, iterative dev • must integrate logic, objects, vocabulary, wav, grammars • using natural language with low call frequency • regulatory issues in transactional voice systems

  14. future challenges (2) • name detection: surnames are my holy grail... • I don’t know my ABC ! • standardisation of vocabularies ? • Who will offer outsourced maintenance of names pronunciation? • Place names, peoples’ names, company names, product names • melting-pot vocabularies

  15. future challenges (3) • on the VoiceWeb it is 1984: remember Prestel ? • we want callers: that means inter-voicesite traffic • HTML wasn’t important because it recognised mouse-clicks • the VoiceWeb will only come when there’s a voice network • VXML needs evolution and extensions (SpeechLinks ?) • interconnected voice-sites (VoIP architectures) • multi-part calls and layered call-flows

  16. thank you ! Dominic Cameron dominicc@lastminute.com

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