The VoiceXML Paradigm Shift
Interactive voice response (IVR) systems have been around for decades, but their development and accessibility in the market have changed dramatically.
Historically, IVR system software was proprietary, along with the service. Many individual vendors developed their own proprietary software, tailored it to client needs and installed and maintained the systems. For enterprise organizations, it was expensive. For small companies, it was prohibitively so.
It was also inflexible. If companies wanted to make a change to their software, they needed the experts at their vendors to do it for them-at whatever the cost-because no one besides the vendors knew the programming languages. If companies wanted to switch vendors, they couldn't take their systems with them.
Recognizing the need for market uniformity and more accessible IVR systems, industry leaders joined in a consortium-the VoiceXML Forum-to bring about a change. Some of the biggest players in the industry including AT&T, IBM, Lucent and Motorola pooled their deep industry knowledge and billions of dollars into research and development.
VoiceXML's introduction in 2000 transformed the IVR market. It was an open-standard markup language like HTML that any programmer could learn and any company could use to develop an IVR application.
Just like HTML described web pages for a web browser to read and display on a PC monitor, VoiceXML described audio messages for a voice browser to relay to a phone. A voice browser translated incoming voice audio to text and commands via speech recognition software and provided outgoing recorded messages and text-to-speech messages. HTML used a web browser with display, keyboard and mouse; VoiceXML used a voice browser with audio input, audio output and keypad input.
Because it so closely resembled HTML, companies could use the existing skillsets of their programmers who already knew HTML. Because it was web-based, they could use their existing web infrastructures. It was an organic transition. And a common programming language meant that companies could now take their systems with them when they switched vendors.
Shortly after releasing its new programming language, the Voice XML Forum passed over its control to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the main standards organization for the web.
Today, W3C publishes standards for ethical use and quality while periodically releasing new versions of VoiceXML. The VoiceXML Forum now focuses on promoting VoiceXML while also running certification programs to ensure platform reliability.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Charlie_Edwin_Smith
Historically, IVR system software was proprietary, along with the service. Many individual vendors developed their own proprietary software, tailored it to client needs and installed and maintained the systems. For enterprise organizations, it was expensive. For small companies, it was prohibitively so.
It was also inflexible. If companies wanted to make a change to their software, they needed the experts at their vendors to do it for them-at whatever the cost-because no one besides the vendors knew the programming languages. If companies wanted to switch vendors, they couldn't take their systems with them.
Recognizing the need for market uniformity and more accessible IVR systems, industry leaders joined in a consortium-the VoiceXML Forum-to bring about a change. Some of the biggest players in the industry including AT&T, IBM, Lucent and Motorola pooled their deep industry knowledge and billions of dollars into research and development.
VoiceXML's introduction in 2000 transformed the IVR market. It was an open-standard markup language like HTML that any programmer could learn and any company could use to develop an IVR application.
Just like HTML described web pages for a web browser to read and display on a PC monitor, VoiceXML described audio messages for a voice browser to relay to a phone. A voice browser translated incoming voice audio to text and commands via speech recognition software and provided outgoing recorded messages and text-to-speech messages. HTML used a web browser with display, keyboard and mouse; VoiceXML used a voice browser with audio input, audio output and keypad input.
Because it so closely resembled HTML, companies could use the existing skillsets of their programmers who already knew HTML. Because it was web-based, they could use their existing web infrastructures. It was an organic transition. And a common programming language meant that companies could now take their systems with them when they switched vendors.
Shortly after releasing its new programming language, the Voice XML Forum passed over its control to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the main standards organization for the web.
Today, W3C publishes standards for ethical use and quality while periodically releasing new versions of VoiceXML. The VoiceXML Forum now focuses on promoting VoiceXML while also running certification programs to ensure platform reliability.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Charlie_Edwin_Smith
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