Hey Swisscom Custom Voice Assistant Launch Journey with Riccardo Lopetrone and Misha Zivkovic – Voicebot Podcast 154
Voice at Swisscom began in 2015 with a voice interactive TV remote. The voice assistant Hey Swisscom emerged five years later in November 2019. Misha Zivkovic and Riccardo Lopetrone learned a lot in both versions of their voice-enabled products and they share the details behind the voice assistant in this week’s extended discussion. Topics include their tech stack, objectives, processes, adoption rates, and more.
Do you think you could design and build a custom assistant in 9 months? Swisscom just did. It didn’t hurt that the organization had several years of experience with voice technologies. They also enlisted an experienced partner in VUI Agency to assist with design. But, Zivkovic reveals they didn’t take the easy path and select a single white label voice assistant tech stack. Instead, they used multiple components combined with in-house built solutions to roll out what they see as a robust and highly flexible foundation for evolving the assistant over time.
Misha Zivkovic is Program Manager for voice at Swisscom and has been with the company for nearly 14 years. Over the past 20 years, he has worked with a number of emerging technologies ranging from network virtualization to new models of application development and voice. Zivkovic earned a master’s degree in electronics engineering and holds several certifications including CCNA, CCNP, and MCSE. Prior to Swisscom, Zivkovic served as head of IT services at World Television and had a similar role at Unit.net.
Riccardo Lopetrone is Senior Product Manager for Voice, a role he began in 2015. He also has overseen TV & Entertainment products during his seven years at Swisscom. Earlier in his career, Lopetrone was product manager for digital TV at UPC Cablecom and is a certified Usability Engineer. He began looking to focus his work around voice after first using Siri in the iPhone 4s and is convinced that we will experience a multi-assistant digital future. Of course, one of those will be Hey Swisscom.
Show Notes – Swisscom Interview with Riccardo Lopetrone and Misha Zivkovic
- Learn more about Swisscom online and on Twitter: Swisscom @Swisscom
- Read about Swisscom’s voice assistant on Voicebot: Swisscom’s Voice Assistant Fuels Smart TV Market Growth
- Learn more about Hey Swisscom and the new set-top box: Swisscom TV Voice Assistant
- Reach out to Lopetrone and Zivkovic on LinkedIn: Riccardo Lopetrone Misha (Mihajlo) Zivkovic
You can listen to the podcast interview above, on Google or Apple Podcasts or most of the leading podcast players.
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