First Deployment of Packaged Speech Application in Spanish Allows Bank of
America and Fleet Callers to Quickly Search for Nearest Locations
NEW YORK, SPEECHTEK 2004, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Apptera(TM), the
pioneer in configurable packaged speech applications, today announced that
Bank of America has deployed the company's voice-automated, Spanish-based
branch and ATM locator application. Apptera Locator for Spanish was deployed
as an extension to the service Bank of America rolled out to its
English-speaking customers earlier this year. This deployment represents the
industry's first packaged speech application in Spanish. Additionally, the
locator system provides location information for all Fleet banking centers and
ATMs, and was deployed within months of the Bank of America merger with
FleetBoston.
Bank of America operates the nation's largest proprietary ATM network and
the voice system helps customers precisely search by street address or
cross-street for the nearest or most convenient location. Bank of America saw
the opportunity to streamline one of its most routine service transactions and
voice-automate all ATM and banking center location requests in both English
and Spanish -- ensuring customers have convenient access to banking facilities
when traveling or at home. The speech system replaces a touchtone application
which did not provide a Spanish language capability.
"At Bank of America, we are committed to delivering exceptional service to
our customers," said Connie James, vice president of VRU Design and
Integration in the Customer Service & Support group. "Apptera's packaged
locator application was the most cost-effective way to uniquely serve our
callers' needs for location requests and is closely aligned with our ongoing
customer care initiatives -- enabling us to offer a new dimension of voice
services that helps us deliver higher standards across all customer
platforms."
Apptera Locator for Spanish enables access to the nearest or most
convenient banking center or ATM by precisely determining a caller's
geographic proximity to them. The application allows callers to easily
navigate through a list of locations identified via a zip code or phone number
using intuitive commands such as 'siguiente,' 'anterior,' or 'repetir.'
Apptera Locator for Spanish and English are two of a number of packaged
applications in Apptera's comprehensive Financial Services Suite introduced
earlier this year. Each application is designed to help organizations provide
higher quality and more efficient customer service than touchtone systems for
just a fraction of the cost of agent-handled calls. With Apptera Locator, or
any of the Financial Services Suite application, enterprises can deploy speech
within months and enjoy compelling cost savings over the life of their system.
"Bank of America's strategy to innovate early on with speech speaks
volumes to its commitment to progressive, personalized customer care," said
Rick DeGolia, Apptera Chairman. "We are delighted to help Bank of America
extend sophisticated voice services quickly and affordably to its
callers -- reaching thousands more banking customers who prefer the
convenience of real-time, personalized voice information delivery."
About Apptera
Apptera's suite of highly configurable, packaged speech applications
enrich the caller experience and greatly reduce time-to-market of voice
self-service solutions. Apptera significantly lowers the traditional
deployment cost and maintenance complexities associated with custom speech
offerings, enabling enterprises to deploy speech at one third the time and
cost. The company's VoiceXML-based applications are platform-independent and
ship with an intuitive, browser-based studio for easily adapting applications
to specific business requirements. All applications are pre-tuned, ready to
deploy out of the box, and can be easily modified and managed in-house.
Founded in 2001, Apptera was recently named to Business 2.0's "Hot Startup"
List for 2004. Apptera is a privately held Silicon Valley-based company
funded by leading venture firms.
For additional information, Apptera can be reached at 650-635-0600 or
http://www.apptera.com.
SOURCE Apptera
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Related links:
http://www.apptera.com
CONTACT:
Jodi Guilbault of Apptera, +1-650-635-0617,
or jguilbault@apptera.com
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