Global investment in voice technologies in 2001 is already up by 33 percent, compared to the total investment made in 2000, according to a report by Datamonitor

Global investment in voice technologies in 2001 is already up by 33 percent, compared to the total investment made in 2000, according to a report by Datamonitor, which also predicted the voice business will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 43 percent from 2000 to 2006. Speech recognition technology has come under criticism because it is perceived as yet another new technology that is difficult to implement, costly and unreliable. But Datamonitor found it has already proved its worth by boosting bottom lines, reducing costs, improving service and generating new revenues. Telcos, in particular, should see voice business as an opportunity not to be missed, according to Datamonitor, but they have so far been slow to market. Voice-enabled services can help telcos overcome the problems caused by diminishing traffic revenues and increased customer churn. Wireless carriers can use voice-enabled services to get many of the benefits promised by 3G networks, without the associated cost and time delay. Datamonitor's report predicts that global investment in business applications of speech recognition technology across networks will grow from $650 million today to $5.6 billion in 2006. This growth will be spurred by increased knowledge of and familiarity with the capabilities of speech recognition technology and the quick and huge rewards that enterprises stand to gain from their investment.