Autonomy ships call centre brain saver

This phone call may be converted to text for quality control purposes

By Lucy Sherriff • Get more from this author

Posted in Software, 7th February 2001 16:00 GMT

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Autonomy has shipped its iVoice technology to its first customers.

The software means that computers can treat voice in the same way as text, or any other form of data. It was developed alongside speech recognition technology acquired from SoftSound last year.

The software is able to analyse text or voice, and identify and rank concepts within it. According to Autonomy, this means it can take over many dull, routine tasks that would usually be done manually.

For example, a spokeswoman for Autonomy told El Reg, if a call centre has an enquiry that has several strands to it; recorded messages, letters, video, etceteras, then the iVoice will enable the call centre's staff to collate all these strands as though they were all text.

Mike Lynch, the company founder, said in a statement that there should be no distinction made between speech and text. "They are both forms of unstructured information whose content must be managed," he said.

The company has designed the software to run on any application dependent upon unstructured information. Examples given include online publishing, ecommerce and knowledge management.

Initially, Autonomy has said it is shipping to German investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort, and General Motors. ®