Merrill Lynch system builds efficiency, employee morale One large financial services firm has decided it was worthwhile to add a human touch to the beeping mazes of interactive voice response (IVR) systems its customers must go through to get their questions answered.
Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. recently started using advanced speech recognition technology as a way to automate the process of answering simple customer questions. This frees up teleservices reps to handle more complex matters and develop customer relationships.
“We’re investing in speech recognition and targeting services that lend themselves to the technology,” says Mike Adornetto, director of enterprise technology and operating systems at Merrill Lynch.
The company receives 50 million inbound calls annually involving all types of telephone transactions at customer interaction centers in Denver; Jacksonville, FL; and Somerset, NJ. It acquired the speech recognition technology from Nuance Communications, based in Menlo Park, CA.
The Merrill Lynch Benefits and Investment Solutions Group is one of the first divisions to deploy speech recognition. It allows 2.4 million beneficiaries of retirement plans to obtain account information and initiate transactions verbally instead of pressing buttons.
Through spoken commands, inbound callers can obtain information about their current balances, make investment decisions such as reallocating portfolio assets, and review fund performance. Customers can also still choose to speak with one of the company’s 1,200 customer service representatives.
A single-tiered menu structure provides inbound callers access to any of the IVR system’s functions at any point during the call, avoiding the frustration of having to navigate through several menus before reaching the function they need.
An extensive IVR matrix is used to prescreen calls for all product groups. An incoming call can literally be routed a thousand different ways depending upon the 800 number the caller dialed, product category, etc.
The addition of speech recognition allows Merrill Lynch to simplify IVR menu choices. It eliminates the need to manually enter investment codes, since customers can now identify a specific investment fund by simply saying its name.
Customers with account numbers containing both letters and numbers were unable to use the IVR system before Merrill Lynch began using speech recognition capabilities, recalls Adornetto. The company expects speech recognition will increase the percentage of calls processed by the IVR system. Between 85% and 90% of inbound calls are currently automated, says Judy Nelson, first vice president of client services.
When reps do speak with customers, they have access to IVR queries and other customer account information to give more specialized information and make offers tailored for that customer.
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