You've got the coolest speech-enabled app in the market. You believe in your ROI model, you've got business buy-off, and you are laying out your development and deployment plan. As a IT manager/technologist it may be easy to overlook one critical action on your part. Prepare your users. Let them know what changes are coming, when you expect to roll out your new application and what it might be like.

I've heard from several customers that the change from an old IVR system to a speech-enabled IVR can confuse customers. While users like the new interface and find it easier to use dropping the new solution on them, especially if you've only done limited tuning, can result in some interesting user responses. While speech-enabled interfaces are easier to use there is a learning curve for the user. One day, they are listening and hitting touch tones (they know the system). The next day they are expected to speak their response and possibly all the menu architecture/responses have changed. Let them know or risk upsetting your users as they start learning the new system. Your project success, no matter how fantastic your application, hinges on users' success using your application.

Set users' expectations up front. When you release your application they will greet it with open ears and happy hearts. And you’ll get the recognition for a fantastic solution and deployment.

Cheers!
Chris

PS. I'm getting used to the blog format; I'll work on getting more frequent posts out there...