Business services specialist Complex-IT has launched the first outsourced speechmail service to corporate South Africa following its appointment of Data Pro as a reseller of its Vocalis SpeechMail product. Data Pro has made the service available to its 500-strong client base, and expects the service to boost its growth into the emerging corporate market.
"A voice-based e-mail retrieval option is the first step towards providing the business market with a unified messaging service," says Data Pro MD Douglas Reed. "We are introducing the concept to our clients in the form of easy-to-use services that don`t require major retraining or technology investment. With Vocalis SpeechMail, all they need is a cellphone or regular land-line phone to access their e-mails on the move."
Reed says that a dedicated help desk has been trained to support the service, but he pointed out that the system is as easy to use as filling in an online web form and making a phone call. "The technology is familiar to the user, and uncomplicated."
Data Pro has also provided an on-line registration and set-up facility on its website to enable users to activate the service at their convenience. "Users have their own profile where they can enter their cell phone number to automatically identify themselves to the system and receive and reply to messages in their preferred format," explains Complex-IT executive director Mike Renzon. Currently the system can convert .txt attachments to voice and read .wav voice files, but the next release of SpeechMail will support Word documents.
Users access the service via an 082 number, which identifies the user profile and routes the requests to the relevant ISP or mail server from where their e-mail is retrieved.
"Data Pro has chosen the Vocalis SpeechMail solution as the most elegant solution in introducing unified messaging to their client base in an easy-to-use, cost effective manner, which requires neither implementation nor integration " says Renzon. "A highly effective unified service has been introduced with no disruption to existing services, and in a format which is familiar to users. The benefits are enormous. Workforces are becoming more mobile and mobile options for Internet and e-mail access will soon be non-negotiable."
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