NAB buys VeCommerce speech recognition system from Telstra

Using a natural language speech recognition application from VeCommerce, NAB customers will be routed to more than 150 destinations within the bank "simply by stating their request", the bank said.

Telstra led the sale and implementation of VeConnect as part of the bank's new customer service initiative, which has culminated in the launch of a single customer service and support phone number.

Telstra managed the coordination and deployment of the solution that integrates into NAB's existing telephony infrastructure and utilises VeCommerce's Australian Financial Services Statistical Language Model, the bank said.

The carrier will also provide first level support for the solution, it said.

"Customer service excellence is crucial to us at NAB and it is imperative that the introduction of this new technology improves our ability to meet the high customer service standards we have set for ourselves," said Ann-Marie Chamberlain, general manager of direct and retail financial services at NAB.