For many of us, holiday cookie exchanges are a staple of the season at our workplace. Everyone brings in his or her favorite cookie, be it gingerbread or shortbread, and everyone swaps. In this way, coworkers get to share their favorite cookies with each other, and people are introduced to and get to sample different varieties of cookies that they hadn’t tasted before. This can be a very fun office tradition, and can alleviate much of the stress of holiday baking for many. However, those of us who are not master chefs may have some trouble finding the perfect cookie recipe and baking cookies to perfection. An Interactive Voice Response system could offer users a quick and easy solution. Users could call in and specify the kind of cookies they wanted to make or the ingredients they wanted to work with. The interactive voice response system would interface with online databases, allowing users to specify their preferences, and then returning results based on said specifications. The phone could read all directions, so users could use the system either via blue tooth or speaker, allowing them to keep their hands free while baking. The system would be equipped with automatic speech recognition, so if users were having a hard time keeping pace with the IVR system reading the recipe, they could simply stop or pause the directions until they had caught up. The system could interface with local grocers and allow users to access information about where ingredients could be purchased, and additionally inform them of deals on food items. This would be a an all-encompassing system that would greatly aid users in concocting their holiday treats, and everyone would be well on their way to having an oven full of nicely-browning cookies!
