VoiceXML unites the power of the Internet with the ubiquity of the telephone, making it possible for businesses to replace legacy, proprietary IVR platforms with a unified architecture for delivering automated self-service from any device. Without exception, every major voice and call center technology company has embraced VoiceXML, and tens of thousands of developers have already begun building and deploying VoiceXML applications. In this book, experts Chetan Sharma and Jeff Kunins explore this powerful technology and offer you a clear understanding of VoiceXML, its history, and its business uses.

Providing insights that will help your company improve customer service quality and reduce costs, this informative reference manual introduces you to VoiceXML and serves as a practical programming resource for professional VoiceXML developers. You’ll learn how to create a VoiceXML development environment, and receive tutorials on topics such as VoiceXML 2.0 vendor-independent grammars and deployment options for successful voice applications. Two appendices contain the source code for field service case studies and various VoiceXML tips and tricks. Along the way, you’ll discover:

• VoiceXML programming and security
• Comparison of network-based and premise-based deployment options
• The voice application life cycle
• Designing effective Voice User Interface (VUI)
• A case study of building an application
• Dynamic VoiceXML: Generating voice applications from server-side data
• Various elements to consider while implementing your voice strategy
• Challenges and innovations of the future

The CD-ROM contains code from the book, as well as toolkits and white papers from leading vendors such as Motorola, IBM, and Nuance.