Speech Analytics Success Series Part One: Governance

Having implemented and executed Speech Analytics programs for the past 12 years, I have had the privilege of being able to learn best practices from companies and colleagues. I have also seen companies struggle to get their program off the ground even after a year of having gone live. There are also companies who leave it sitting on the shelf not knowing its strength. Through my experience and in speaking with colleagues I have come up with a recipe with seven simple ingredients for a successful program that I’m going to share over the coming weeks.

The first, and in my opinion, the most important ingredient for success is a robust governance model based on both corporate and information governance models. Corporate Governance is having a mechanism in place that allows for decision making while Information governance is a mechanism for the two-way flow of information amongst Stakeholders. Both are required in your model because Speech is insight and as such it should drive action.

So, what does this look like in practicality? Every Speech program has multiple Stakeholders. It needs a Sponsor and Steering committee who can make decisions around prioritizations for focus. There are stakeholders who will use the output from the Speech program to drive change and others who will be impacted by change initiatives driven by Speech Analytics. And of course, Speech Analysts who are responsible for conducting analysis and providing insight.

These roles need to be supported by processes that allow for the flow of information between them. This means robust intake and feedback processes supported by regular reporting of trends and findings. Since Speech is a change agent the relations between the various parties responsible for change are crucial. Business Insight gathered from Speech should always come before Continuous Improvement. There needs to be strong relationships between the Speech team and the Continuous Improvement team so that Speech Insight is used to initiate change rather than justify a non-data-based decision.

So, start with Governance and you will be on your way to a successful program. Next time I am going to talk about Ownership.

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