VocaLink (United Kingdom)

Organisations which receive incoming telephone calls from customers are faced with a common set of problems. What is the best (fastest, cheapest, friendliest) way to identify what a customer wants and satisfy their requirement? What is the best way to manage variations in call volume? What is the best way to address the customer-led demand for increased quality and variety of telephone services in an increasingly competitive and cost-sensitive market? How can the process of creating new telephone services best be speeded up? The Language Engineering REWARD project addresses the needs of organisations (i) to create automatic teleservices using robust spoken language dialogue technology and (ii) to automate the process of creating such services. The project brings together five user organisations (from the PTO, Business Travel, Market Research, Telemarketing and Maintenance sectors) and two technology supplier organisations, along with a larger User Interest Group drawn from a variety of different European nations, and representing a wide range of languages and vertical market sectors.