Comments on: SpeechUsability http://paul-blunden.com/2008/06/08/speechusability/ Thoughts about the future of customer experience Sat, 22 Nov 2008 02:12:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU hourly 1 By: John Hibel http://paul-blunden.com/2008/06/08/speechusability/#comment-27 John Hibel Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:02:21 +0000 http://blunden.wordpress.com/?p=66#comment-27 There are indeed a few small firms in the U.S. who focus on IVR usability. I wish there were more. I recently had dinner with a college roommate I hadn't seen in fifteen years. We shared a laugh because he was now an executive at a tobacco company and I was an executive at an IVR company. We couldn't decide whether it was worse to sell cancer sticks or to trap callers in inescapable IVR menus. Both could lead to a premature and potentially painful death. I had to explain that IVR technology isn't the problem- it is the proliferation of systems with poor usability design that creates those legendary customer experiences that turn into the butt of many jokes (I tried use tobacco lingo so he could understand.) In many cases this happens because usability is either ignored or tacked on the tail end of a development project when it's too late to make anything more than minor tweaks in response to user feedback. I strongly recommend engaging usability professionals and having them closely involved throughout the development process if you want to create an IVR user experience that puts the cancer sticks to shame! I apologize for being horribly late with this comment...but I just stumbled across your blog and enjoyed your posts, Paul. John Hibel (PSS) There are indeed a few small firms in the U.S. who focus on IVR usability. I wish there were more. I recently had dinner with a college roommate I hadn’t seen in fifteen years. We shared a laugh because he was now an executive at a tobacco company and I was an executive at an IVR company. We couldn’t decide whether it was worse to sell cancer sticks or to trap callers in inescapable IVR menus. Both could lead to a premature and potentially painful death. I had to explain that IVR technology isn’t the problem- it is the proliferation of systems with poor usability design that creates those legendary customer experiences that turn into the butt of many jokes (I tried use tobacco lingo so he could understand.) In many cases this happens because usability is either ignored or tacked on the tail end of a development project when it’s too late to make anything more than minor tweaks in response to user feedback. I strongly recommend engaging usability professionals and having them closely involved throughout the development process if you want to create an IVR user experience that puts the cancer sticks to shame!

I apologize for being horribly late with this comment…but I just stumbled across your blog and enjoyed your posts, Paul.

John Hibel (PSS)

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