Fatter Functionality For Speech Analytics

CallMiner has bulked up the reporting and analytics functionality of CallMiner Analytics Suite by making available a Web-based reporting and analysis tool, CallMiner Reportal. It allows users to create ad-hoc and automated reports from within TrendMiner, a Web-based trending and analysis application, and Tireless Supervisor, which automates call scoring and classification. Users can create and view reports in formats like Excel or PDF, and they can be delivered by email. Depending on scheduling preferences, report delivery can occur on a recurring basis, and the frequency can be changed when desired. Jeff Gallino, CEO of CallMiner, says that users "basically can say, 'I really like the results of this, make this a report, and ship it to my boss every hour or every day or every month,' and it gives them the sense that they can generate custom reports without having to learn a reporting tool. It sits at the center of the rest of the suite and all of the data that you can search for and report on that can be classified is all available in this tool." Additional functionality includes automating reporting based on user-defined queries, interactive reporting functionality that offers live call playback from data collected by the CallMiner player or the enterprise call recorder, and the report designer, which enables users to build and format results contained in any SQL database. CallMiner, in addition to producing applications for its customers, has an OEM agreement with Witness Systems that allows it to use CallMiner solutions, and it has distribution agreements with Mercom Systems and Voice Print International, both companies whose product offerings include call recording and monitoring solutions. According to Gallino, CallMiner focuses mostly on the competitors of its partners, including NICE Systems and Verint Systems. The ability to offer trending and analytics, and then report on that analysis, is what's separating the field from elements like generic search or word spotting, Gallino says. "To really offer analytics you have to be able to do analysis and the reporting of that analysis effort is really key. What you're seeing now is the leaders in the speech analytics field moving away from just 'Hey, this is an interesting word or phrase,' and starting to drive much more business value." Donna Fluss, principal of DMG Consulting, says that speech analytics remains an exciting technology because it allows organizations to structure the unstructured. "The value of speech analytics extends far beyond the contact center to sales, marketing, senior management, [and] operations. The name of the game is to take what happens in the contact center, structure these conversations, and then make it available to the rest of the enterprise so that it can be used on a timely basis." Speech analytics, she says, "is what [for] the next five years organizations are going to be dedicated to--really structuring and using what happens in contact centers." Related articles: NICE Buys Dictaphone's Recording Systems Business QM Is Poised For Growth Autonomy Plans to Acquire Etalk