Active Voice opens South African office & Siltek remains local distributor

Active Voice Corporation, a world leader in PC-based voice processing systems and Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) solutions, has opened a new office in Johannesburg, servicing both South Africa and the sub- Saharan region. Siltek Telecoms retains its master distribution agreement for the region and will be adopting a non-direct distribution model for the Active Voice product range. In a bid to improve delivery times, Siltek Telecoms will also manufacture Active Voice products locally, as of next month.

"Active Voice is continuing to increase its commitment to international voice messaging markets by expanding its sales and service network throughout Africa," says Tim Ellis, managing director of Active Voice`s subsidiary in the UK.

The new office, will be headed up by Thys Hattingh, who will focus on improving Active Voice sales and service capabilities in South Africa as well as expanding the business throughout the sub-Saharan region. Ellis points out that Thys has worked for Siltek, the Active Voice distributor in South Africa, for the past two years and is familiar with the Active Voice product range as well as the local voice messaging market.

"South Africa has been an excellent market for Active Voice for many years," says Douglass Anderson, Active Voice vice president of sales. "The African market is poised for a tremendous growth in communications technology. As the obsolete telecommunications infrastructures is replaced by leading-edge technology, there will be a great demand for Active Voice`s advanced cost-effective messaging solutions."

Siltek Telecoms remains the Active Voice distributor, shifting its direct distribution practice from selling to end users and dealers to a complete indirect distribution model, substantiating Siltek`s ethos as a group, explains Michael Aitken, Managing Director of Siltek Telecoms. "We will be selling via accredited dealers only and we are currently establishing local facilities for accreditation. We will also be manufacturing the products locally, to reduce delivery lead times from 6-8 weeks to 48 hours."

"There is a growing acceptance locally of CTI solutions," Aitken comments. "The CTI market has emerged as a result of the convergence of two essential business tools namely the telephone and the PC. CTI applications provide solutions that function to enhance individual and workgroup productivity, reduce business operating costs and time taken to disseminate information, as well as dramatically improve customer service."

Aitken continues, "Smaller companies demand the same sophisticated system benefits and functionality, usually afforded to larger companies and, as a consequence, are seeking out integrated product solutions, like those offered by Active Voice."

At the high end, an increasing number of larger organisations are requiring a means to integrate their email, voice and fax communications. "Solutions like Active Voice`s latest version of its Windows NT-based communications server - Unity 2.0, gives users the ability to access and manage their e-mail, voice mail, and fax messages from a desktop PC, through a touch tone telephone, or over the Internet," Aitken adds.

Founded in 1983, the Seattle-based Active Voice has offices around the world. With more than 62,000 systems installed in virtually every kind of business in over 60 countries, Active Voice develops technology that helps businesses communicate better.