Does Metaphor provide dictation solutions? Answer: No.

Q: How does a speech application really work?

A: A call comes in through an ACD switch to a voice gateway where a caller's speech is converted to text by an automated speech recognition engine. Then a speech application processes the text in the context of a dialog to determine what to do and say next back to the caller. The speech application needs to manage the caller interface, the data interface and if needed, transfer a call to a live agent.

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Q: How much service quality would I give up if I bought your low cost solution?

A: None. Metaphor uses the best speech recognition from industry leaders and uses almost all human recorded voices for very pleasant responses. We also have industry verterans to design the voice user interfaces in our packaged applications so that the caller experience is top quality.

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Q: Why is developing dialogs with Metaphor so much faster than any other software that helps write Voice XML code or Speech Web Controls?

A: Metaphor Conversation Manager implements the dialog from dialog forms embedded in standard C# code. This combines the ease of creating a turn of conversation by entering a form with the richness of C# resources, methods and interfaces. Flow control is a snap with C# conditional statements and function calls.

As an example, the dialog in one of our packaged speech IVR applications dynamically generated 2,133 Voice XML statements from only 73 lines of Metaphor Script, 32 dialog variables and 17 parameters. Metaphor Conversation Manager generated the database and Web interfaces in the packaged application with C#. This shows why dialog development with Metaphor is so much faster and easier to maintain than writing straight Voice XML or using Speech Web Controls.

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Q: I thought speech technology today can recognize speaker-independent, continuous speech. Why do we need natural language technology and dialog management?

A: Speech recognition technology used for speaker-independent, continuous speech today provides what the user said, while natural language technology provides what the user meant. Dialog management converts the user's meaning to deciding how to interact with the user.

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Q: Why are Metaphor's solutions better than existing touch tone solutions?

A: Layers upon layers of touch tone menus can become very tedious for customers to navigate through. Many times, they just get frustrated and either hang up or desperately search for the menu that allows them to dial "0" for operator. Frustrated customers can create an unpleasant perception of customer service for the company.

Speech industry surveys show that a large majority of people prefer the pleasant and fast navigation of automated speech response to touch-tone. With one statement by the user, he or she can jump to a place that may have taken minutes of pressing touch-tone buttons and listening through layers of menus.

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Q: Are Metaphor's solutions hosted at a data center or operate at the enterprise site?

A: Either.

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Q: Are Metaphor's solutions compatible with industry standards like Voice XML and SALT?

A: Yes for both. Metaphor generates dynamic Voice XML and SALT code through its voice gateway interfaces drivers.

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