Siri-Like Search for Enterprise Applications Could Save U.S. Companies more than $800M a Day, Plus Improve Revenue/Profitability and Customer Experience/Satisfaction

BURLINGTON, Mass., June 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- EasyAsk, the leader in natural language technology, today released a new research report "Improving Performance in the Workplace with Voice-Enabled Natural Language Solutions" on how workers are accessing information today and how performance in the workplace can be improved with Siri-like solutions for the enterprise.  This research suggests savings and business benefits to be considerable – organizations in the U.S. could realize more than $800 million daily savings in wage costs alone.  Additionally, roughly half of respondents believe a voice-enabled natural language platform would make it easier to perform their job, add value to their company's revenue and/or profitability and improve customer experiences and/or satisfaction.

While workers are optimistic about their ability to answer business questions from existing systems and applications, and typically know which application to ask specific questions, they often rely on colleagues instead.  The average worker spends a considerable amount of time everyday in multiple systems or applications, uses multiple devices and spends a good amount of time away from their desks.

Organizations need to consider improving the way people access and interact with applications across computing devices.  A universal, intuitive interface for interacting with computers and applications would enable workers to find information and answers more easily, especially when away from their desks or under time constraints. 

Key Findings Include:

• In the U.S. workforce with more than 73 million computer-using workers, this research suggests that organizations could save more than $800 million in wage costs every day
• Roughly half of respondents believe a voice-enabled natural language platform would make it easier to perform their job (49 percent), add value to their company's revenue and/or profitability (47 percent) and improve customer experience and/or satisfaction (55 percent)
• Of those that were familiar with Apple's Siri, 54 percent agreed that a Siri-like tool on a mobile device, tablet, laptop and/or desktop that connected to business systems and applications would make it easier to do their jobs
• Nearly 40 percent anticipated saving 31 minutes to more than 2 hours each day, with 63 percent anticipating saving some amount of time each day with voice-enabled natural language technology
• 58 percent access three or more systems to do their jobs and more than half spend between 31 minutes to more than 2 hours a day in systems or applications looking for answers or reports
• 42 percent sometimes have business questions that cannot be answered by their existing applications
• 53 percent have to wait up to half-a-day to more than 10 business days for others to build reports for them
• Nearly three-quarters of the time a worker has a new business question they cannot answer, they interrupt their colleagues to ask questions
• Today, only 7 percent of workers go to business applications alone, even though 57 percent know what application to ask for answers and 65 percent believe they have the necessary technical skills to find the answers
• More than half of respondents have two to six devices, including laptops, desktops, mobile phones and tablets
• 85 percent spend some amount of their time away from a desk

EasyAsk initiated its business user research in the first half of 2012.  The independent research company Market Tools executed the survey, collecting 420 qualified responses within the U.S. across a wide range of roles, industries and organizational size.  The focus of the research was to look at how workers access information currently to perform their jobs, and how that could be improved if a voice-enabled natural language computing interface was introduced.  Market Tools uses validation and quality-assured sample to ensure a random sample of respondents.  The margin for error for the entire survey is +/- 4.8 percent at a 95 percent confidence level.  To download the full report, go to http://bit.ly/KXIDbX.

To learn about EasyAsk's Siri-like solution, Quiri, for the enterprise, go to http://www.easyask.com/products/quiri/.  EasyAsk Quiri is the world's first mobile application that takes the Siri paradigm to corporate applications.  Quiri offers Siri-like speech recognition and natural language that answers timely business questions in real-time. Users just tap the microphone, ask their question, and Quiri finds the answer.

About EasyAsk

EasyAsk is radically changing the speed and ease of how people find information through the company's ground-breaking natural language search software. EasyAsk software products go far beyond traditional search, allowing users to simply ask questions in plain English and receive highly tuned results on demand. The EasyAsk eCommerce Edition uses this unique technology to deliver industry-leading website search, navigation and merchandising solutions that boosts online revenue through increased conversion rates, better customer experience and agile merchandising. EasyAsk Quiri & Business Edition revolutionize enterprise decision-making, moving beyond traditional business intelligence solutions with easy, low-cost deployment and a unique natural language interface that extends access to information anywhere in the organization.

Based in Burlington, Massachusetts, EasyAsk has long been a leader in natural language information analysis and delivery software. Customers such as Coldwater Creek, Lands End, Lillian Vernon, Aramark, TruValue, Siemens, Hartford Hospital, Ceridian, JoAnn Fabrics and Harbor Freight Tools rely on the EasyAsk software products to run their business and e-commerce operations daily. For more information, please visit www.easyask.com.

Media Contact:
Jon Stotts
EasyAsk
646-961-3497
[email protected]

SOURCE EasyAsk

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