Automated Voice Systems And VoiceXML
Posted on 28. Feb, 2011
Have you ever considered how an automated telephone system, like the ones at your bank, work? There are many pieces and components to this system. There is the telephony system that connects to and from the phone company. There is the voice browser, an application programmed in VoiceXML and developed using some form of VXML development tool, which interacts with the caller. There is the computer server that receives the information from the voice browser, enabling data transfer between the system and other computers in the network.
The telephony system is no different from any regular office system. It has the ability to hold many inbound callers at the same time and transfer them between departments. When a user is being transferred from an automated system, the telephony system receives that command and performs the transfer.
The voice browser is the main application that the caller interacts with when he or she calls into the system. It provides audible options and instructions in the form of either prerecorded audio files or synthesized speech. Each set of options either presents more options or transfers to another line within the telephony system. Many voice browsers utilize the World Wide Web Consortium standard of VoiceXML, a markup language that looks similar to HTML and performs similar functions as XML. Through VoiceXML, a developer can program the individual menus and choices available to users, as well as the speech that is played back to them. It can also act as an audible database form, collecting data from users and storing that information into fields for further use.
The computer server receives raw data that VoiceXML collects and uses it to run requests or process information. This is usually seen when data is being cross-referenced. For example, if the VoiceXML application presents you with an audible form with a field to “enter an account number,” that information is passed to the computer server, which contacts other databases in the network. Using that account number, the other systems cross-reference with the banking databases to find all of the information related to it: balances, dates, transactions. That information is then fed back to the server and handed back to the VoiceXML application, which then reads it off to the caller.
Each of these systems work together to create a streamlined system in which callers can get quick access to information. Each one can be developed independently to serve customers’ needs.