The Hindu Business Line : IBM lab working on Spoken Web project

Hyderabad, June 8 If researchers at IBM India Research Labs (IRL) have their way, the innovative features they have developed for mobile phones will help people access services using speech interface.

Alongside, the software designed at IRL will help people with mobiles find plumbers, carpenters and, possibly, even doctors located nearby.

The Director of IBM IRL Director, Dr Guruduth Banavar, said the research work related to mobile phones seeks to empower people, who have no access to personal computers, with the means to surf the Web using speech.

The research work is part of the Mobile Web Initiative, which is being led from India and incubated in other IBM Labs, and includes the Spoken Web — voice-enabled mobile commerce.

The Spoken Web Project, piloted in India, aims to facilitate Web access with speech interface. It is the World Wide Web equivalent in a telecom network where people can browse voice sites. This bypasses the need for a PC and illiteracy.

Find a service

The Business Finder Technology developed at IRL helps locate and access the nearest service vendor — be it a plumber, electrician, carpenter or even a doctor — and retail outlets such as stores and fuel stations.

This technology combines geographical information service (GIS) applications and data analysis with mobile phone networks.

Dr Banavar explained that IBM’s focus is on helping the 250 million-plus mobile phone users in India, as also millions others in the region and elsewhere in the world, to harness the power of speech to access more services.

Another major project pertains to improving services delivery using new technologies and this would prove valuable, as outsourcing is poised for growth. The focus here is to do more with less people, he said.

Pilot runs on

According to Dr Banavar, Indian researchers are engaged in spoken-language interface projects that are driven by the fact that most phones used in India are low-end. Therefore, a speech-based interface would be ideally suited.

“We have built prototypes and a set of technologies, and are now running a few pilots with select groups,” he said.

Dr Banavar, who took over as Director recently, told Business Line, “IBM has taken to innovation in a collaborative manner, partnering and working with academia, Government and society. This will make research work relevant and also mutually beneficial.”

“The open nature of agreements facilitates easy access to people,” he said.

Decade-old in India

IBM IRL, which is part of eight globally dispersed research centres with over 3,000 people, is currently celebrating its 10 eventful years in India.

Dr Banavar said during April IBM IRL brought out 10 real-world innovations/breakthroughs.

These include work on improving customer satisfaction, improving spoken English, optimising mobile resources, improved healthcare, bridging digital divide, building robust enterprises, managing IT infrastructure and analytical tools for business decisions.

Other projects include modelling natural disasters and managing electronic shopping coupons.

Innovations in wireless and mobile phone applications and in bridging the digital divide with speech recognition technology in partnership with the likes of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-Dac) are among the host of new focus areas for IBM, he said.

Bank project

IBM and HDFC Bank have partnered for a project that helps improve customer service.

The IBM technology enables HDFC Bank to analyse incoming calls, emails and transcribed call logs.

The consumer data is correlated and through business intelligence consumer behaviour patterns are tracked automatically across 228 locations.

It helps provide HDFC call-centre agents with a more complete history of all customer activity, including previous transactions. It also enables the bank to enhance cross-selling opportunities and improve agent performance.

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