Service writes the wrongs of voicemail

SpinVox forwards voice messages as text or email to PCs and mobiles to boost staff productivity

SpinVox has a different take on fixed-mobile convergence. It offers the ability to convert voicemail messages into text, a service that the firm is now packaging for the enterprise market as a productivity tool.

A voice-to-text service was introduced by SpinVox in 2005, as a way for individuals to get voicemail messages on their computer screen instead of having to listen to them, possibly several times over. With SpinVox Enterprise Voicemail, firms have access to similar capabilities. Launched at the Mobile World Congress in February, the service allows workers to have voicemail forwarded to their PC or smartphone as an email or text message.

SpinVox said its service increases personal productivity because users do not have to spend time retrieving messages as is often the case with voicemails. If a caller leaves some details, such as a contact email address, that information is right in front of a user’s eyes instead of them having to transcribe it manually.

“Enterprise Voicemail is part of an overall push involving unified communications,” said Phil Marnick, chief technology officer at SpinVox. He added that a lot of voice communication is now going wireless, and that SpinVox is working with suppliers of these systems to take voice messages and deliver them back to the user in a format that is easier to work with.

The firm has also just released its SpinVox for BlackBerry plug-in, for example, which lets BlackBerry users get voicemail messages converted to text and delivered as an email directly to their device. If a caller is in the user’s address book, the service lets them reply by email rather than calling back.

Beyond end-user productivity, SpinVox’s voice-to-text service enables other applications that would not have been possible before, according to the firm. For example, utility firms can have a hotline for customers to leave meter readings, which are then processed by computer.

“Voicemail as data can be manipulated much more easily,” said Marnick. “When you can build processes around [voice data], it becomes a more efficient vehicle for handling greater volumes of traffic.”

But speech recognition is notoriously tricky, and a word or phrase being mis-translated by SpinVox could destroy any of the advantages gained, requiring an operator to manually find and listen to the original message.

Marnick responded that SpinVox can recognise 500,000 words in English, and that users operating the software have reported a 97 per cent accuracy rate.

“The system is based on live learning and is constantly evolving to increase the speed and accuracy of conversion,” he said.

SpinVox sees its voice-to-text service fitting in closely with the unified communications services more familiar to businesses, such as voice over IP and mobile voice-and-messaging services, and said it is now building partnerships with other enterprise communications suppliers.

The cost of the Enterprise Voicemail service will vary according to customer requirements, but also depends on whether a firm operates it behind the firewall, or has it hosted by a service provider.

“A lot of companies want it behind the firewall, but it can be outsourced to a service provider for a ‘light touch’ solution, which means there is not so much infrastructure for the IT department to maintain,” said Marnick.