The ability to predict the return on investment for speech applications requires an assessment of current operations. Call center managers usually know many of their "stats" by heart, and most of their time is spent trying to preserve and improve upon these statistics of call center performance. For the last decade or more, most call centers have been under pressure to reduce operating costs, both in absolute, and in relative terms. Absolute, meaning many call centers have had to literally reduce overall operating costs. Relative, requiring that costs per unit, usually per call, have needed to be reduced as well. Too often these cuts have been executed by somewhat Draconian means, slashing personnel and forcing customers into unsatisfactory "IVR hell". Customers must navigate IVR applications of seemingly endless prompts, inputs with pushbuttons on their telephone, only to find that they cannot accomplish what they wanted to after all the effort, and are not offered the chance to speak with a live agent.
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