7 Surprising Things ASR Call Center Technology Does Well

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology has gotten a lot better in the past few years — and much less expensive. Even the free speech-to-text tools can produce fairly accurate transcriptions of phone calls.

You might think call centers, which have massive amounts of voice data, would be major adopters of ASR — and you would be right. Using ASR in call centers is nothing new, but recent advances in AI, machine learning, and natural language processing have increased its business value.

Here are seven surprising and innovative ways call centers are already using ASR to improve efficiency and better serve their customers.

Compliance is a major concern for call centers, especially those dealing with sensitive information such as patient data or credit card numbers. There are strict regulations in place to protect customer privacy and ensure data security. ASR technology can make it easier to ensure compliance within these sensitive environments.

ASR enables real-time transcriptions of conversations between agents and customers. Text logs are much easier to navigate than audio recordings, which can be time-consuming to review. Text logs enable quick searches for specific keywords, making it easier to monitor compliance.

For example, in a healthcare call center, a supervisor can verify whether an agent handled patient information according to HIPAA guidelines with a quick search through the transcribed logs.

Similarly, in a financial services call center, if there’s a dispute about a customer’s credit card transaction or a concern about proper disclosure of terms, the transcribed conversations can be reviewed quickly to resolve the issue.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems guide customers through menu options using voice commands or touch-tone keypad selections. On their own, these systems are limited to recognizing specific, programmed voice commands or keypad inputs, often leading to a rigid and sometimes frustrating user experience.

The integration of ASR technology revolutionizes this aspect of customer interaction. By incorporating ASR and natural language processing (NLP), IVR systems can start to understand and respond to verbal human requests.

Known as conversational IVR, these systems allow a much greater degree of flexibility for customers, who can now verbalize their requests rather than listen to phone menu options. This more natural, conversational interaction significantly improves the traditional IVR experience, making it more intuitive and user-friendly.

By converting spoken language into text in real-time, ASR creates opportunities for those who are deaf or hard of hearing to engage in conversations more easily and effectively. This feature is particularly valuable in call centers, where clear communication is the core of their business.

For instance, a customer who is hard of hearing and needs to communicate with a call center agent can benefit from real-time captions provided by ASR technology. These captions allow the customer to read what the agent is saying as they’re speaking, ensuring they can fully understand and participate in the conversation.

This not only improves the customer’s experience but also fosters inclusivity and ensures that call centers can provide high-quality service to all customers, regardless of their hearing abilities.

ASR technology can boost Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) functionality, making systems more efficient and improving communication.

Voicemail transcription is a fairly familiar example. ASR converts voicemails to text, enabling users to quickly understand messages without listening to audio, which is often too time consuming for busy work environments. A sales rep can review any messages with a quick scan rather than having to listen through and take notes.

In a contact center, where agents may be on additional channels beyond VoIP, they can use ASR to craft emails or respond to chats.

Human error in manual data entry is unavoidable, yet such errors can have serious consequences — from overcharging a customer to sending a delivery to the wrong address. ASR can help.

When customers provide information verbally, ASR can transcribe this data directly into the system. For example, when a customer calls to update their address, ASR technology will automatically transcribe and update this information in their profile.

Once they enable talk-to-text using ASR, there are lots of places where call centers can use data entry software for automation to streamline processes, minimize errors, and let agents focus on helping customers.

ASR technology enables agents to provide a much more personalized call center experience for every customer. With real-time transcriptions of customer conversations, agents can reference specific details later in the call for more effective communication.

There is also opportunity for post-call quality monitoring, where you can dig for trends, issues, and opportunities. Having searchable call transcripts instead of audio files will make data collection and analysis much easier.

Let’s take a closer look at how this tech allows call center agents to better serve callers.

ASR technology enhances training and quality assurance in call centers by providing easily searchable, text-based transcripts of customer interactions. Unlike traditional recorded calls, which can be time-consuming to listen through, these transcripts allow supervisors to quickly locate specific parts of a conversation using keywords or phrases.

Being able to easily review text logs and pinpoint exact moments or issues within a call makes ASR transcripts a more practical and effective tool for identifying areas of improvement in agent performance, refining communication techniques, and deepening product knowledge.

Here are a few more ways ASR can improve training and quality assurance.

Apple Leak Reveals New iPhone 17 Pro Technology

New leaks for Apple’s iPhone 17 family have highlighted a surprise new model and the potential use of new technology to improve the smartphone’s battery.

A man seen using his phone next to iPhone 16 at the Apple store in Mumbai. (Photo by Ashish ... [+] Vaishnav/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The details come from Apple leaker Maijin Bu, reporting that the full iPhone 17 range will feature a new glue holding the batteries in place. While many will be disappointed in the continued use of glue, new technology means it will be far easier to release and replace these batteries without any excessive damage.

Running an electrical current through the glue will cause adhesion to lessen, allowing the battery to be removed without the previous use of heat guns, prybars, and brute force. It’s a one-time effect, so any new battery will need a fresh strip of glue to fix it in place.

Apple has already debuted this technology in this year’s iPhone 16, but it has only been used on this model. No doubt Apple will be reading the feedback from Genius Bar repairs over the next few months to discover if there are any other issues before a full rollout in 2025 across the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and Phone 17 Pro Max.

Bu also states that the glue will feature in the fourth member of the iPhone 17 family and a new addition to the family all that. The oversized iPhone Plus has reached the end of the line and will be replaced by the presumptively titled iPhone 17 Air. This will lean into fashion and aim to be the lightest and thinnest premium smartphone on the market.

Moving to a thinner design means reducing any excess material inside the device, which includes any clips, fixtures, or mounting brackets and screws. Glueing in the batteries is a time-honoured technique used by electronics manufacturers for decades.

Given the continued pressure to make smartphones easily repairable (both though the emotional arguments of “doing the right thing” and legislative requirements such as those introduced by the European Union), using a glue that can be easily released benefits both the impossibly thin market and the reduce/reuse/recycle market.

Before then, there’s the small matter of an update to the iPhone SE. It will be interesting to see if the SE follows the old way or the new way of fixing it in place.

Now read more on Apple’s plans for the iPhone SE...

Embracing technology – with expert help – can pay dividends

Meanwhile, a Tech Research Asia survey, Understanding the AI Opportunity, reveals 66 per cent of companies have engaged third-party technology partners to help them with their AI initiatives.

Fifty per cent of small-to-medium businesses are looking for partners who will help them with AI, particularly when it comes to AI digital strategy and change management.

ANZ is one organisation already helping its largest customers in these areas by providing technological solutions to help meet evolving needs.

Head of innovation and industry for transaction banking Hari Janakiraman says the bank also involves customers in its innovations.

“When we co-create with our customers, they not only get a look under the hood at how we do things but they get the chance to be part of projects that impact their industries more broadly,” he says.

ANZ’s Institutional Transaction Banking business established an innovation and industry team three years ago to research, identify and respond to global trends and technologies that are disrupting payments and cash management as well as trade and supply chain sectors.

Janakiraman’s team hosts customer immersion sessions, enabling them to be involved in research and development on financial services trends.

Artificial intelligence is a particular focus and this year ANZ established its AI Centre for Experimentation, encouraging all staff to consider how AI can deliver better outcomes for customers.

“There is a real need for us to ensure what we are doing is the best quality and delivering the best for our customers,” Janakiraman says. “We need to think about how we keep doing that, particularly when the world is moving very fast and there is a lot of disruption.”

Janakiraman’s team also canvasses its customers to determine what they need help with and involves them in devising, developing and trialling its innovations to ensure the best outcomes.

He says a part of that is also realising customers are at different stages of their technology journey.

“Some customers are first adopters of new innovations and are using more advanced technologies, while others will access it once the technology has been developed for use at a broader scale,” he says.

Select customers will pilot new products or initiatives to ensure they are ready to be commercialised.

For example, the innovation team has already been considering the federal government’s proposed Payday Superannuation legislation, which will require employers to align the payment of employee superannuation contributions with the payment of salary and wages.

“We started workshopping with our customers, in terms of how that product will operate, and we ended up being able to successfully demonstrate how this new technology can help the entire superannuation ecosystem,” he says.

“We enable our customers to not just identify a problem but also be involved in providing and creating a solution.”

ANZ also involves employees from across its divisions and product areas to be involved in innovation, hosting forums for them to express their technology ideas or share common customer problems.

These programs are sponsored by senior executives within ANZ.

“They act as an innovation accelerator for our people because they can come and pitch ideas for endorsement and funding,” Janakiraman says.

“The open and accessible nature allows people to speak out on trends and call out ideas that they believe ANZ should be responding to.

“We know that innovation doesn’t just happen in one part of the bank, so we invite staff from across ANZ to volunteer as contributors in ‘virtual squads’.

“It’s win-win because staff get the opportunity to work hands-on with technology or interact with colleagues they wouldn’t otherwise have exposure to in their day-to-day work, while the industry and innovation team is able to leverage specialised skills and experience from other parts of ANZ.

“If the innovation is successful, our customers will benefit from it.”

Indeed, the CPA Australia report also reveals profitability benefits for businesses that increase their investment in new technologies.

Almost eight in 10 of businesses using AI reported increased profitability compared to 34 per cent that did not in the last financial year.

“It’s crucial for Australian businesses to embrace technologies that are appropriate for them as quickly as possible to ensure they keep pace in a tough business environment,” says Gavan Ord.

“Embracing technologies – and finding out what they can and can’t do for your business – is crucial. AI won’t work for every business, but it could prove revolutionary for some.”