Days numbered for call centre staff?

Computers brought in to man the phone lines...

Skipton Building Society is set to employ voice recognition technology to handle its cold calling phone operations - replacing the need to have human staff making their unsolicited calls. Skipton has paid £4.1m for a majority stake in Direct Life & Pension Services in order to gain access to the company's voice recognition technology. Direct Life had previously used the technology to sell products, such as life insurance, to customers who rang a central switchboard number and were then guided through the voice activated service, however, Skipton plans to extend the uses of the technology to enable it make cold calls - ringing customers without prior agreement to try and sell them products.