Global investment in voice technologies in 2001 so far is up by 33% on total spend in 2000 and is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 43% between 2000-2006, according to a new report from Datamonitor.
The report, "The Voice Business Value Chain", predicts that global investment in business applications of speech recognition technology across networks (voice business) will grow from $650 million today to $5.6 billion in 2006. This growth will be spurred by increased knowledge of and familiarity with the capabilities of speech recognition technology and the quick and huge rewards that enterprises stand to gain from their investment, says the market analyst firm.
Early adopters of speech recognition technology have been largely in the banking, brokerage, travel and tourism and telecoms sectors. Research shows these sectors still represent the most attractive opportunities for voice business vendors.
The study also reveals that Europe (31%) and North America (61%) currently dominate voice business as a result of their stronger economies, higher technology spend and more developed customer service/call center markets. However, Asia Pacific’s share of revenues will more than treble from just 5% today to 16% in 2006. This growth will be seen initially in Australia and New Zealand; countries that can take advantage of the English-language technologies developed for the US markets.
Dan Hawkins, voice business program manager at Datamonitor, comments: "Speech recognition allows businesses to take advantage of the ubiquity of the telephone, the automation advantages of the Internet and the increasing penetration of mobile devices, thus enabling them to improve customer service, generate new revenue and reduce costs."