S1 Corporation and its subsidiary Edify Corporation today introduced S1 Enterprise Voice (powered by Edify). The product is part of the recent release of S1 Enterprise 3.0 - the financial services industry's first truly integrated multi-channel solution that addresses the entire front-office of banks and insurers. With nine major applications - including voice, branch, call center and Internet solutions - on a common platform, S1 Enterprise 3.0 uniquely helps institutions lower operating costs, increase revenue opportunities, and improve customer service and retention by integrating and communicating customer information, transactions, and behaviors across channels.
With Edify's proven voice and speech applications integrated on the S1 Enterprise Platform, global financial institutions can rapidly deploy leading voice capabilities and optimize the benefits of multi-channel integration.
According to Gwenn Bezard, senior analyst at Celent Communications, a leading research firm focused on information technology in the global financial services industry, 20 percent of all bank transactions in 2004 take place by phone. Therefore, it is important that institutions include the voice channel in their multi-channel integration plans. By doing so, they can more consistently deliver customer service across all channels while improving operational effectiveness and increasing revenues through advanced automation and personalization.
"Today's financial institutions are dealing with a savvier customer base," said Daniel Hong, voice business analyst at Datamonitor. "Customers want the flexibility to obtain information and conduct transactions from any location at any time. The combination of S1's integrated, multi-channel platform and Edify's high-performance speech solutions enables customers to conduct complex transactions with ease over the phone while driving cost savings, increased productivity and top-line revenue for global financial institutions."
With S1 Enterprise Voice (powered by Edify), S1 customers can now benefit from:
-- Scalability - With voice and speech deployments from four ports to more than 8,000 ports, financial institutions receive the most flexible and reliable solution for building and deploying highly scalable enterprise voice self-service applications.
-- Robust voice and speech functionality - With leading-edge technologies like speech recognition, speaker verification, and text-to-speech, Edify's proven technology completely automates transactions formerly requiring live agent assistance.
-- Increased operational efficiency - Financial institutions can service large volumes of customer inquiries through automation, offering customers more timely resolution and freeing up live agents for more complex duties, all while driving down overall costs.
-- Enhanced security authentication - Voice solutions using speaker verification offer greater security for authenticating users than personal identification numbers.
-- Application compatibility - Support for VoIP and standards such as VoiceXML and SALT eliminates concern over application functionality and compatibility issues allowing institutions to maintain their Edify and/or standards VoiceXML applications on any infrastructure - VoIP or standard public switched telephone network (PSTN).
"Deploying advanced voice applications is a key part of a multi-channel integration strategy focused on taking exceptional customer service to the next level," said Jaime Ellertson, CEO of S1. "With Edify's market-leading voice and speech technology integrated on the S1 Enterprise Platform, we are providing financial institutions with the most robust voice technology available while helping to advance their multi-channel vision and deliver a real, measurable return on investment."
"By working closely with S1 to deliver comprehensive offerings to their customer base, Edify is strengthening its presence in the financial services industry," said Mitch Mandich, president and CEO of Edify. "S1 has provided proven, market-leading solutions to financial institutions for many years. Now, with voice technologies featured in the industry's first true multi-channel solution - S1 Enterprise 3.0 - these institutions have a complete solution for optimizing customer interactions while reducing costs."
