Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Tellme Shows The Power Of IVR

In this increasingly mobile world, IVR or Interactive Voice Response is a technology that will be getting more and more interest and effort. Tellme Networks is a company that clearly is one of the beneficiaries of that movement. If you haven't been aware of this company, just check their website to see what they do:

'Tellme helps you find the businesses you need every day. Powering nearly 40% of the US directory assistance (411) calls, Tellme lets you simply say the city, state and business and hear your results. Try it now on 1-800-555-TELL and say “Business Search”.

As an indicator of the importance of the Tellme mission, Microsoft has announced that it will acquire Tellme Networks for an undisclosed fee. Microsoft's release points to the importance they place on this technology.

'Microsoft and Tellme share a vision around the potential of speech as a way to enable access to information, locate other people and enhance business processes, any time and from any device. Combining Tellme's talented people and expertise in high-volume voice services with Microsoft's platform, resources and worldwide customer reach will inspire new and innovative solutions.'

Microsoft points to some of the interesting application areas:

'Potential areas of development resulting from the deal will range from hosted voice-enabled customer service solutions that complement Microsoft's existing unified communications offerings to voice user interfaces in existing Microsoft products to search services on mobile phones that integrate with Live Search for mobile offerings.'

The exciting aspect of this news item is that it will clearly put much more promotional clout behind the IVR revolution. As more callers expect to have their calls handled well, this creates an exciting potential for variants of IVR that can give a more satisfying caller experience. Crimsonet's Interactive Voice Response (IVR) will be a strong contender in this search for excellence.