This session presents two birds’ eye views of the pros and cons of entering new markets. Darla Tucker describes how self service automation has become a vehicle for achieving reduced cost while providing a solid ROI, and how cultural differences drive a need for differentiation among multiple language deployments. Julia Khitrova explores the challenges of first deployments in the new regional IVR market – Russia. Hear how to overcome the distrust in ASR performance, concerns about the expense of voice-enabled deployments, and how to overcome the peculiarities of synthesising and recognising a local language.