It’s not the technology and it’s not the designers, it’s the short-sighted, financially strapped vendors deploying systems that are responsible for the current negative atmosphere toward IVR in the public. Yes, technology used to be a problem, especially since expectations of HAL had to be overcome from the start. Yes, some designers have historically made poor decisions that have later been outed by countless usability studies and user surveys. However, today, technology from tts to speech rec and beyond is truly living up to its potential and even costs for deploying it has been dramatically reduced. In addition, designers have recognized the errors of their ways and are coming together to discuss their findings and publish recommendations based on them. Noone is out there today willingly and willfully deploying systems with 10 year old technology and design. However, 10 year old systems do remain out there because companies don’t have the funds or vision to replace or upgrade, instead choosing only to make the problem worse by adding pieces here and there that only add to the inconsistent, difficult to maneuver interfaces. Maybe every company can’t afford to completely revamp existing systems or buy the best of the best for every piece when starting anew, but it all exists now whereas before it wasn’t even an option. More can also be done with less these days. A truly great design will get around a lot of the older technology problems if you can’t put your money there and great technology can improve user satisfaction even when the design is still lackluster. Unfortunately, upgrading the ever expanding number of systems out there will take time and in the meantime, speech scientists are the public’s chosen whipping boys. For now.
-Simonie
