Speech portal automates help desk

EXCELSIS, together with USU, develops a speech portal to automate help desk.

Stuttgart/Moeglingen, 9.3.2005. The Stuttgart based EXCELSIS Group and USU, located in Moeglingen, launched an innovative speech portal which automates help desk processes.

The speech portal "Insonic Helpdesk for Valuemation" is based on the Insonic Speech Solutions Platform and builds upon USU's Valuemation Incident/Problem/Change Manager.

Users can reset their password using an automated process via the "Password Reset" module. This process uses the caller's voice as a unique identifying characteristic for personal identification. The password reset request, being the most common help desk request, thereby becomes fully automated allowing the help desk staff to concentrate on more time consuming requests.

The "Pre-Qualification" and "Trouble Ticket" modules pre-qualify user requests sent to the help desk and generate respective pre-designed trouble tickets in the Valuemation system. The caller is transferred to the respective help desk representative upon automated qualification of the request. Callers can leave a voice message outlining their request, should a call transfer not be possible. The message is stored within the generated trouble ticket. In this way, the process can be traced at a service relevant level.

With the help of the "Self Care" module, callers can solve their problems independently. The necessary information for this is conveyed in the speech controlled dialogues. A help desk representative can be called upon at any time, if necessary.

The Insonic Speech Solutions Platform is based on open standards, which provides a standardised environment for the development of multilingual speech applications. It combines speech technologies, like speech recognition, caller verification and text to speech. The platform is hardware independent and supports telephony systems like IVR, telephony cards and voice over IP.

The Valuemation Incident/Problem/Change Manager allows IT organisations to rapidly define and implement best practice support processes. The Valuemation Customizer's allow these best practice processes to be adjusted to suit specific requirements. By being integrated into the Valuemation Suite, the user helpdesk has access to all necessary technical, business and organisational information. Rapid response times and efficient solutions to problems ensure the solution has a rapid return of investment.

"Both EXCELSIS's and USU's approaches complement each other perfectly. Insonic Help Desk and Valuemation are both based on open standards and implement best practices in their respective subject areas", this according to Christian Sauter, CEO of EXCELSIS. Bernd Wagner, Executive Vice President IT Management of USU: "The self service approaches as well as the best practice processes of our products will be made available through a further channel and ensure further optimisation of help desk processes".

About EXCELSIS

EXCELSIS is one of the leading solution providers for internet transaction platforms and speech portals. Such solutions are deployed for example, in banks in the brokerage area, in insurance in the area of customer service, in mobile phone companies in the sales area and in high-tech companies in the area of high security communication systems. With the "Insonic Speech Solutions Platform" and "Plasma" software development frameworks, EXCELSIS serves its customers by developing and running innovative solutions to reduce costs and extend services. Computer applications can be developed much more effectively with the framework and the software created requires considerably less maintenance than conventionally developed solutions. In this, the company adheres open standards like J2EE and VoiceXML and develops solutions for the leading platforms of its partners, BEA, IBM, Nuance, Avaya, Aspect, as well as for open source platforms, to name but a few.

Solutions, developed by EXCELSIS are deployed in more than 100 institutions worldwide. Customers of EXCELSIS include SAP, HVB, LBBW, Debitel, GE Capital Bank, Telecash, UBS, Orange, EnBW, Cablecom and United Overseas Insurance in Singapore. EXCELSIS was founded in 1998. Over 100 software developers and Consultants are currently working on customer projects.

EXCELSIS has offices in Stuttgart, Berlin, Luxembourg, Singapore, Sydney, Bern and Zurich. The turnover in 2004 was approx. 8.5 million euro with an EBIT of almost 1.5 million euro. The company which is privately owned has been profitable since its foundation and is based in Stuttgart.

About USU

As a software and solutions provider, USU has been providing value added IT products and custom application solutions. In the business area of IT Management solutions, USU products and services bring the entire managerial, strategic and technical knowledge of IT together, all on one platform. Thereby, companies can precisely determine, depict and control the business value of their IT. In the area of Business Solutions, USU as a solutions provider combines IT know-how and professional competence to provide customised systems. Established knowledge management products together with proprietary procedure models and the experience gained from large projects complement the wide range of solutions and products. USU has established close ties to several market leaders in all areas of business, through long standing customer relationships, USU is part of the USU software group.

www.usu.de

Contact

EXCELSIS Business Technology AG
Christian Sauter – CEO
Wilhelmsplatz 8
70182 Stuttgart – Germany

Phone  +49 711 6 20 30 0 
christian.sauter@excelsisnet.com

Daniela Burger – Head of Marketing
Wilhelmsplatz 8
70182 Stuttgart – Germany

Phone  +49 711 6 20 30 113 
daniela.burger@excelsisnet.com

USU
Bernd Wagner - Executive Vice President
Spitalhof
71696 Moeglingen – Germany

Phone  +49 7141 48 67 252 
b.wagner@usu.de

Dr. Thomas Gerick - Public Relations
Spitalhof
71696 Moeglingen – Germany

Phone  +49 7141 48 67 440 
t.gerick@usu.de