[Kictanet] Regulating Accent

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You can now regulate accent.  Read article beloe from the Associated Press.


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IBM develops program for call centers

By RAJESH MAHAPATRA, AP Business Writer

Tue Nov 7, 4:37 PM ET

Even as Indian call centers have thrived in the past decade, helping U.S.
companies cut costs and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs here, they
have faced a seemingly insurmountable problem: Most Indian employees speak
heavily accented English.

Now IBM Corp.'s India Research Lab says it has a way to help operators fix
the harsh consonants, local idioms and occasionally different grammar of
Indian English, often a source of frustration of those who call in search
of tech support and other information.

IBM, which operates large call center facilities here, has developed a
Web-based training technology that can help improve language skills of
operators.

Although the technology was initially developed for its call center
employees in India, it has broad applicability for individuals as well as
in schools and businesses, said Ashish Verma, who led efforts to develop
the tool at the India Research Lab in New Delhi.

The program evaluates grammar, pronunciation, comprehension and other
spoken-language skills, and provides detailed scores for each category. It
uses specially adapted speech-recognition software to score the
pronunciation of passages and the stressing of syllables for individual
words.

The technology also consists of voice-enabled grammar evaluation tests,
which identify areas for improvement by highlighting shortcomings and
providing examples of correct pronunciation and grammar.

"Most of the existing solutions are available offline, where you listen to
model speakers and mimic their accents," Verma said. "In our case, we are
analyzing speech."

But many call center companies in India said the new technology could
prove to be a supplement rather than a substitute to existing training
programs.

"Online solutions and software can act as an aid in training an
individual. However, it is critical that this is supported by classroom
training," said Pradeep Narayanan, chief delivery officer at 24/7
Customer, a leading Indian outsourcing company.

Narayanan said his company already uses software to help employees to
improve fluency and clarity of speech as well as undertake
self-evaluations of their language skills.

"Such tools can be amalgamated as new modules into existing training
programs. They can never be a standalone solution," said Asutosh Malik,
vice president training at EXL Services, a New York-based outsourcing
company that employs more than 7,000 people at call centers in India.

EXL encourages its employees to speak English in an accent-neutral style
and uses a mixture of tools that include e-learning, accent samples and
records of conversations with clients. But the emphasis is "on learning
through practice," Malik said.

Scores of Western firms routinely transfer back-office work to India,
where wages are low and skilled workers are plentiful.

When the outsourcing boom got underway in the late 1990s, companies tried
to ease Western fears of jobs moving offshore by training workers to use
American and British accents. Many of them often used fake western names.

However, with resentment in the West waning, most companies are now
discouraging their employees from faking accents or names. Instead, they
are being asked to speak clearly and avoid accents.

IBM's solution could help these efforts, but it isn't clear if the company
would commercialize the new technology.

EXL's Malik said IBM's tool could find a good market in India.

The need to develop the new technology was driven, in part, by IBM's own
plans to expand and hire more people in India.

Over the next three years, it plans to invest $6 billion in India, making
it a hub for its outsourcing business. It plans to hire more employees for
all of its businesses, including Daksh eServices, an Indian call center
company that employs more than 25,000 people and was acquired by IBM in
2004.

"English has become the common language of the business world, so the
ability to communicate effectively in English can dictate success or
failure in integrating into the global business environment," said Dan
Dias, director of India Research Lab.





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