AVST Augments Enterprise Communications Application with Industry's First Personalized "Acknowledge" Feature
Patent Pending Feature Enhances Call Answering and Management Services in a Mobile Environment
Foothill Ranch, Calif., May 5, 2004 – Applied Voice & Speech Technologies Inc. (AVST) today announced that it has enhanced its speech-enabled enterprise communications application (ECA) with a significant new feature that offers call recipients a convenient way to quickly acknowledge callers even when they are not immediately available to take the call. This unique patent-pending feature, called Acknowledge, addresses the growing requirement for improved communications and accessibility for mobile professionals.
A leading provider of ECAs for converged voice and data environments, AVST has integrated the Acknowledge feature into its unified communications platform, CallXpress®, via its speech-enabled call management module, Seneca™, to improve business processes and communications. The feature allows mobile users to speak the word 'acknowledge' into their phones, and record a brief personalized message telling callers why they cannot accept a call and when they will call back.
"Every day, professionals receive important phone calls while sitting in business meetings," said Tom Minifie, AVST's Vice President of Product Management. "Instead of ignoring these calls or sending them directly to voicemail, Acknowledge gives mobile workers the opportunity to immediately respond even though they are unavailable. It's another example of our commitment to delivering superior call management features for today’s workforce through the continued development of our speech recognition technology."
The Acknowledge feature saves both the caller and recipient’s time by allowing the recipient to:
- Avoid interrupting meetings, activities and projects to engage in two-way phone conversations
- Immediately convey important information to callers prior to sending them to voice mail
- Prevent playing phone tag by letting callers know when they will be available to talk
- Provide quick information or provide an alternate resource to contact when not immediately available
There are no other solutions on the market today that allow call recipients to record personalized messages to acknowledge incoming calls. Comparable features allow recipients to choose from pre-selected greetings, but do not provide message personalization. Minifie added, "AVST developed the Acknowledge feature with personalization capabilities to enable users to easily adapt to different situations and respond appropriately on a caller by caller basis."
The patent that AVST has filed for the Acknowledge feature is the seventh technology patent filed by the company. The move to patent this feature, and other technology innovations developed by the world-class engineering department of AVST, demonstrates the company's aggressive goal to protect its intellectual property.
The Acknowledge feature is available now and has been integrated into the latest version of Seneca, the CallXpress speech-enabled call management module.
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Media Contacts:
Kerry Fedro/Jennifer Tolkachev
Lages & Associates
949.453.8080
kerry@lages.com / jennifer@lages.com
About AVST
The typical enterprise communications infrastructure is made up of a collection of technologies from multiple vendors, acquired over time and never intended to work together. To maximize user and business productivity, while leveraging existing IT investments, interoperability is a must.
AVST delivers the industry's most interoperable Unified Communications (UC) platform that brings best-of-breed voice, mobility and business process solutions to the enterprise. Unlike virtually every other UC vendor, AVST does not constrain customers with a single vendor lock-in approach. In fact, it's the very opposite. By connecting new and existing technologies, AVST frees organizations from the constraints of a closed, single-source UC solution, unlocking the full potential of their communications infrastructure.
With over 15 million users worldwide and three decades of innovation excellence, AVST is unifying communications®.
Headquartered in Orange County, California, AVST maintains facilities in Seattle, Washington, Victoria B.C., Canada and the United Kingdom and has remote sales offices throughout the United States. AVST's UC solutions are sold and supported worldwide by an extensive network of resellers and OEM partners. To learn more about AVST, our products and partners, please visit www.avst.com or you can follow us at Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.
View a 1 minute movie about AVST:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSqx3YQ-PNQ
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