Fixpert

I guess this is an Interaction Design thing. Have you ever called a company, let’s say…Orbitz…to have a customer service issue sorted out? And once you hit their phone’s menu system, you are prompted to say a number of choices outloud? I can see the value of this in certain situations, but I think no matter what, you should always be offered the option to press a number instead of saying your choices outloud.

Here are the problems with the outloud voice system:

• They often don’t work very well. Stating something clearly is often misunderstood by the system.
• The caller has to be in a quiet environment. Surrounding noises increase the chances that your selection will be misunderstood
• If you’re trying to make the call somewhere public, like work, saying bits of personal info outloud can compromise your privacy.
• It’s slow. With all the “I’m sorry, I didn’t understand…” error messages and slow pronounciations of words, it takes longer than pressing a button.

And the advantages of the voice operated menu system:

• They think it’s safer if you’re on the phone while driving to be able to operate this system hands-free. Guess what? Even operating a phone hands-free is totally dangerous and studies have shown even with hands-free sets, drivers using cell phones are more dangerous than drunk drivers.
• I don’t think rotary phones are around any more, last time I saw one was 1985, but if you still own one, I guess you’re in luck.

What do you guys think about these systems? Am I missing anything as far as advantages / disadvantages?