German insurer using Spitch speech recognition

Following a successful pilot phase, the Munich-based Konzern Versicherungskammer is now officially using the speech recognition system created by Spitch AG from Zurich. The system, which understands full sentences spoken naturally, comes into play when policyholders report claims via the telephone hotline, putting them through to the appropriate insurance department.

Staff there will then see text such as “My cat spilled tomato juice on my white sofa” or “someone drove into the back of me” and know what the call is about. Spitch uses only proprietary software, combining natural language processing, artificial intelligence and machine learning. Some functions are currently still being added to the system of the Konzern Versicherungskammer, as was reported in a press release from the two companies. However, it is already achieving a recognition rate of 80 percent.

According to department head Miriam Ring, there were issues with the previous system of number selection where callers should specify their reason via the keypad. In fact, 40 percent of callers “selected either nothing or the wrong number”. This meant “they were not put through to the right department”, which resulted in “customer annoyance, unnecessary work disruption for respective department staff and unproductive costs for the insurer”.

“We are delighted to support one of the top insurance companies in Germany,” said Spitch project manager Bernd Martin. “Both the project process and the result have been an excellent reference for us.”