uniphore- providing speech based mobility solutions
DESCRIPTION
Uniphore enables an affordable, voice-based mBanking system. Customers can call the system and authenticate their identity through Voice Biometrics. Then, using Speech Recognition, the system engages the user in an interactive conversation to process the requested transaction. For more please visit at www.uniphore.comTRANSCRIPT
Uniphore- Providing Speech Based Mobility Solutions
Ravi Saraogi and Umesh Sachdev launched their first startup,Singularis Technologies six
years ago. They thought they’d figured out the largest gap in the rapidly growing telecom
industry: lost phones! But future had something else in store. In an effort to create a Fortune
500 company out of a few lines of code, they met many stakeholders, analysts and gurus in the
telecom industry to get their guidance. One such person was Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala of
IIT Madras, a famed board member of many illustrious corporates in the country. He offered to
mentor them personally, if they agreed to move to his Business Incubator at IIT Madras, which
was supporting and building startups with rural relevance. This was Ravi and Umesh’s
introduction to IIT-M’s RTBI (Rural Technology and Business Incubator) where they saw the
opportunity to use their understanding and passion of mobile technologies to solve a larger
problem: access to content and services for the vast semi-literate and illiterate Indian
population.
After many months of field research, Uniphore’s founders concluded that people would like the
use their mobile phone in the same way that people today use the internet – as a medium for
accessing information and services conveniently, and in a way that is personalized to their
queries. Also, people must be able to access such information in their own local languages. The
only way that such information could be delivered to all people across the socioeconomic
period is through voice.
With these conclusions, the founders embarked on an exciting journey to create Mobile VAS
products using vernacular Speech Recognition and Voice Biometrics. It took them 12 months
of prototyping in the lab, a tie-up with the global leader in speech technologies, guidance and
validation from multiple academicians, seed level funding from an institutional investor, and
hands-on mentoring by serial entrepreneurs, to create what has now become Uniphore
Software Systems. Launched in 2008, Uniphore creates applications that enable enterprises to
expand their customer base to remote areas and enhance their service delivery by offering
secure, personalized information and transactions to customers in their local languages on any
low-end mobile phone.
We interviewed the co-founders to see how Uniphore progressed in the last 4 years. Here’s
what they had to say:
Uniphore primarily focuses on banking and agriculture, but you’re
also building competency in healthcare, education and retail. Tell me
about the role of speech in each of these verticals. In case of Banking, Uniphore enables an affordable, voice-based mBanking system. Customers
can call the system and authenticate their identity through Voice Biometrics. Then, using
Speech Recognition, the system engages the user in an interactive conversation to process the
requested transaction. Using our technology, financial companies and m-commerce providers
can provide their services in local language options, and integrate them with follow-up systems
through voice and SMS alerts.
With Agriculture, we work with contract farming companies, agriculture extension service
providers and input businesses. Combining IVR with SMS and GRPS technologies, we enable
agriculture business to deliver customized information to farmers through pre-scheduled voice
and SMS announcements. Furthermore, farmers can instantly access information related to the
business at all times through multilingual speech recognition system.
With Retail and FMCG, we give manufacturers the capability to capture and deliver real-time
information about retail processes. Customized GPRS and SMS applications enable businesses
to share voice and text content amongst the various parts of their distribution chain.
In Education, we enable Governments and education companies to use the mobile phone as an
effective medium for teaching and training. In Healthcare, our speech-based technologies
enable Governments and healthcare companies to provide efficient, accessible and
personalized healthcare services across the country through applications.
What kind of potential do you see with speech based-mobile systems?
We think that speech-based mobile applications complete the enterprise mobility revolution
occurring in India today. Using only GPRS or SMS often excludes people with low-end phones,
as well as those with literacy and language constraints. But a voice application works on any
mobile phone, letting companies connect with customers and conduct business 24 X 7, online
or offline, and in any language. Hence, adding voice toother mobility tools lets
businessescapitalize on the all the capabilities of the mobile phone, and guarantees that there
will be no limitation to their mobility.
From all the projects that you’ve undertaken in various fields, which
one has helped you to evolve the most? Our work with Basix Sub-K in financial inclusion has been amongst the most rewarding solutions
we have developed, but also the most challenging. The software requirements for banking
solutions are very robust, and voice biometrics and speech recognition must be available in
many languages and dialects so that the solution can be deployed pan-India. Beyond that, the
challenge lies in the number or parties with whom we have to collaborate for the solution to be
totally successful. In addition to working with Sub-K, we have to work with the banks to
integrate our application with their core banking systems. We need to engage the telecom
companies, to make sure we can provide last mile reach. Finally, we have to work with the
banking agents in the village, to help train them on the technology. Only when all these players
were aligned and satisfied could we launch the solution effectively.
How does Uniphore make money? We know that not every business can afford the hardware and software involved in voice-based
mobility solutions. So to make our offerings more customer friendly, Uniphore offers a pay as
you go, transaction-linked pricing – and most of our solutions are hosted on the cloud.
A tremendous amount of effort has gone in to build Unipore’s core competencies to deliver high-class solutions. But your solutions are
innovative and very new to the average Indian consumer. So how do you market Uniphore? This week, we just launched our new brand identity with the release of our new logo and
website. Through our progress and achievements over the last few years, we have learned that
successful mobility comes from solutions that capitalize on all the capabilities of the mobile
phone – speech, SMS, and GRPS. These mobile applications enable businesses to securely
connect with customers and conduct business across geographies, 24×7, and in any language.
What are the challenges that you face?
Because speech technology is relatively new, sometimes we face challenges in end user
adoption, particularly in very low-tech populations. For this reason, we have recently been
sharply focused on developing strategies to enable swift adoption of technology amongst end
users. This involves deploying staff to the field to train our business partners and end users on
how to use technology for optimal results as well as enhancing the design of the solutions and
call-flow, given inputs in the field. We’re learning every day, and moving towards a seamless
deployment of our solutions.
Source:http://yourstory.com/2012/04/uniphore-providing-speech-based-mobility-
solutions/