The award winning , powerful IVR Toolkit Pronexus VBVoice is now rated as Avaya Compliant, as per recent press release by the Ontario based company, Pronexus. “Utilities OnCall, a VBVoice IVR application built by Vocantas, was successfully compliance tested with Avaya Aura® Communication Manager 6.0.1 and Avaya Aura® Session Manager 6.1 by Avaya’s DevConnect Technical Team and officially accepted as compliant.”

Pronexus VBVoice is now Avaya Compliant

With this compliant certification by Avaya, VBVoice customers can be sure of their applications built using VBVoice toolkit would work in Avaya environment, the press release says.

Here is the complete Release :-
Pronexus VBVoice Now Rated “Avaya Compliant”
IVR toolkit VBVoice now a powerful solution for developers working inside Avaya environment

OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 2, 2012 – Pronexus, the developer of the leading Interactive Voice Response (IVR) toolkit Pronexus VBVoice™, announced today that they are compliant with telephony solutions from Avaya, a global leader in business communications. With the Avaya certification, Pronexus customers can be sure their VBVoice applications that use HMP drivers and SIP protocol are going to work inside the Avaya environment.

Pronexus flagship product, VBVoice IVR software enables developing feature-rich inbound and outbound IVR solutions. Utilities OnCall, a VBVoice IVR application built by Vocantas, was successfully compliance tested with Avaya Aura® Communication Manager 6.0.1 and Avaya Aura® Session Manager 6.1 by Avaya’s DevConnect Technical Team and officially accepted as compliant.

The Avaya DevConnect program promotes the development, compliance-testing and co-marketing of innovative third-party products that are compatible with standards-based Avaya solutions. Member organizations have expertise in a broad range of technologies – including IP telephony, contact centers and mobility applications – helping companies extend the value of multivendor networks and transform voice into an intelligent business application that delivers true value to the bottom line.

“We are very pleased to have our award-winning IVR software, VBVoice, compliance tested by Avaya and to announce that VBVoice now integrates seamlessly with all Avaya products,” said Valentin Doroga, Chief Architect of Pronexus. “As more developers turn to VBVoice to build their IVR applications, it has become more important than ever to integrate with large players like Avaya to ensure our users have access to the most cutting edge technologies.”

About Avaya
Avaya is a global provider of business collaboration and communications solutions, providing unified communications, contact centers, data solutions and related services to companies of all sizes around the world. For more information please visit www.avaya.com. For more information on the Avaya DevConnect program, visit www.avaya.com/devconnect.

About Pronexus

Since 1994, Pronexus has delivered proven voice applications and IVR development tools that developers rely on to help them integrate voice with business systems, including unified communications, customer relationship management and field service automation systems. http://www.pronexus.com.

The completely free, windows based IVR Toolkit VBVoice by Pronexus has released 7.1 with support for 64 bit operating systems which will allow IVR developers to take advantage of features in 64bit OS like Windows 7.

Pronexus Lunches VBVoice with enhanced capability

In a country like, where “missed call” has become mass mobilization tool, information exchange tool, this new feature where caller can hear voice in a “missed call”, one can expect few more great innovations!

Here is the complete press release :

New IVR Responds to Industry Need for 64 Bit Support and adds New Early Media Feature and Easy Installer

OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 13, 2011 – Pronexus, the developer of the leading Interactive Voice Response (IVR) toolkit Pronexus VBVoice™, announced today the launch of VBVoice 7.1, the newest release of their no charge, award-winning IVR software.

“We are fully committed to supporting the latest technology in the IVR and telephony industry,” said Gary Hannah, President and CEO of Pronexus. “We’re excited for new and current VBVoice developers to try all that VBVoice 7.1 has to offer. We truly appreciate our long term partners who provided us guidance in adding an express installer, 64-bit support and a new major capability, Early Media. This release is our most advanced yet. It’s that great two-way feedback with our valued customers that has made Pronexus a leader in the IVR market for 17 plus years!”

VBVoice now allows you to harness the power of 64-bit systems for your Interactive Voices Response applications and take advantage of the latest Windows operating platform. VBVoice 7.1 creates a stable environment for developers who want to run complex and demanding VBVoice applications. 64-bit operating systems enable production of larger processing projects with improved performance.

“We develop IVR applications for many different companies, so being able to have multiple VBVoice applications on one computer simultaneously is essential. With VBVoice’s new 64-bit system support I am able to run numerous IVR applications on one machine with zero slowdown,” said Kurosh Sahraie of Central Touch.

VBVoice 7.1 includes a new express installer that allows VBVoice users to set up the software faster and easier. It has never been this simple to setup a new VBVoice development or production system. Our new silent installer option is great for those required to deploy on IVR servers hosted at customer sites. The ability to hide VBVoice Start Menu options means your IVR application stands out as the final product.

With Early Media, the caller will not be charged until the call is accepted and connected. It allows you to provide interaction between your IVR and an inbound caller before actually connecting the call.

“The express installer adds a new level of simplicity to getting your voice applications up and running. It took only a couple of minutes to install and setup the software, then I was able to start developing our voice messaging application,” said John Pope, President of CenturiSoft.”

Also new in the release is an enhanced VBVoice feature called SIP Early Media, which allows the caller to hear the IVR before the voice call is actually connected. Early Media allows you to provide interaction between your IVR and an inbound caller before actually connecting the call. Now, the caller will not be charged until the call is accepted and connected. This feature proves useful in scenarios where callers are billed for connected calls to your IVR, for example, you require a message be delivered to the caller prior to the connection for information, legal and billing purposes.

“Early Media is a great new VBVoice feature that is perfect for my IVR applications that require per-call billing. With Early Media, I can tell a caller that reaches my IVR that they will be charged before the charges begin. This gives my clients ample time to have payment out, and eliminates the potential for misunderstandings,” said Stefano Favaro, Application Developer at Edistar, a long-standing Pronexus customer.

VBVoice integrates with Microsoft® Visual Studio leveraging familiar programming skills and industry-standard programming languages. It combines an easy-to-use visual call flow environment with fully programmable controls and options like speech recognition and text-to-speech.

VBVoice comes with everything a developer needs to kick start their IVR project, including the award-winning VBVoice IVR toolkit, 2 free VBVoice runtimes for testing, 10 days of free technical support from Pronexus’ IVR experts and a free online training demo. VBVoice is available to download at no charge at www.pronexus.com.

About Pronexus:

Since 1994, Pronexus has delivered proven voice applications and IVR development tools that developers rely on to help them integrate voice with business systems, including unified communications, customer relationship management and field service automation systems. http://www.pronexus.com.

Videos:

Pronexus Vice President of Sales announcing the release of VBVoice 7.1
Chief Architect, Valentin Doroga, talking about the latest release of IVR toolkit, VBVoice 7.1
Pronexus Support Manager, Sean White, discussing the latest release of the award winning IVR toolkit VBVoice

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is being used in many fields, and it has also been used in social sectors too. One such example was surveying Mid Day meal scheme in India’s populous state Uttar Pradesh. Apart from this, there have also been usage of IVR in mass awareness campaign about various government schemes, services.

IVR in Grivance Redressal by NGOs

These services were normally alert type service where outbound IVR is used which dials out phone numbers and plays a recorded message. Centre for People’s Forestry, an NGO ( Non Government Organisation), based in Secundrabad, Andhra Pradesh in India has started an inbound IVR where tribal people in central India living in forest areas can lodge a complaint or message by calling the IVR number!

This is a simple inbound IVR which they are hosting with Niche Tech Services Private Limited, an established IVR hosting service provider in India.

Here, any one can dial the IVR number which prompts in four languages, Odiya, Telegu, Hindi and English. And this IVR is mainly aimed at Telegu and Odiya speaking tribes in central India. These tribes have been living in this forested central areas for centuries before these forests became ‘reserved forests’. Some time they face hardships and Centre for People’s Forestry has been working to address their grievances. In order to get news about their grievances, CPF has set up this inbound IVR.

Steps to use this IVR :-

1. Anyone will dial the IVR, he would be asked to choose his language.
2. Once the language is chosen, she is asked to speak her grievance and disconnect.
3. The recorded voice is then immediately emailed to concerned CPF ( Centre For Poeple’s Forestry) as well as an SMS alert is sent.
4. CPF personals can also visit website provided by Niche Tech Services (P) Ltd to listen to this message online as well as other call logs.

CPF personal then can call up the phone number who recorded the message, verify the complaint and take up the issue with state authorities for remedial actions!

Advantage of this IVR is lodging a complaint in his/her own voice by just making a call. Lodging a complaint by phone from distance is easy and less intimidating, specially for illiterate tribes.

CPF now gets any complaints instantly and serve people better with timely intervention. This may increase faith in them by poor tribal people.

This kind of simple complaint lodging inbound IVR could also be used by CVC ( Central Vigilance Commission) India, Women Police Stations, Help Centres, Trauma centres etc. to help victims.

Interactions Corporation announced results of a study on consumer perceptions of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Systems on 23rd June 2011. Interactions Corporation commissioned Liel Leibovitz, New York University Assistant Professor of Communications, who conducted the study on consumer satisfaction on IVR.

The consumer research was completed in two parts. In the first part, 408 respondents completed an 11-question survey about general attitudes towards IVRs and other service options. In the second part, an additional 21 respondents were interviewed in person and in depth to provide greater insight regarding these customer service options.

“The study concluded that there is continued overwhelming dissatisfaction with Interactive Voice Response Systems, despite the increased investment in, and recent growth of, the IVR industry. Consumers still view them as difficult to use and less desirable than any other service option.

According to consumers, a key shortcoming of IVR systems is that they are difficult to use. On an ease-of-use scale, IVR systems scored lower than any of the other service options and was the only option perceived as difficult to use. In addition, IVR was the least preferred service option with only 15% of consumers choosing IVR as their preferred option. ” Press Release by Interactions, Inc

So, according to the study, they main shortcoming in any IVR system is, it is difficult to use! So, in order to make IVR easier to use by callers, one has to make the IVR very, very simple!

Over the years, I have seen that majority of the IVR systems uses one number to call and then it tries to solve multiple problems, offer multiple services or tries to do multiple tasks. This result in lengthy and boring menus or instructions!

So, the solutions for making IVR very easy to use for callers may be using “One Phone Number One Task IVR” policy! In this policy, an IVR would provide only one service. For example, in a mobile service provider, 1110 will provide prepaid balance of the caller, 1111 will lodge a complaint of the caller for X reason, 1112 will lodge a complaint of the caller for Y reason etc.

Now this will require the IVR user to remember many numbers for his services required! So he can either remember IVR numbers for corresponding services or he may choose to listen to menus!

So, I think the complaint of IVR being difficult to use will keep coming and IVR service providers will have to continuously monitor call abandon and keep trying to make it easier for callers to use!

The most important and straightforward form of communication available to us is the spoken word. So why is it that in our everyday lives we have to mess around with keys and keypads to be able to communicate with a device? In fact, the key to direct dialog between man and machine without recourse to other aids is language.

The voice compass is the compendium for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and looks at the domain of voice, i. e speech applications on the telephone in full detail. Nowadays, every businessman, entrepreneur, manager or decision maker needs to be informed about the possibilities regarding voice applications. The voice compass gives a compact account thereof.

Have a look into this compendium which Detlev did with more than 17 years working in IVR business.

A preview is available at:

http://voice-compass.com/english/main/read/voice-compass-international-0809.html

I6NET Solutions and Technologies, an R&D company based in Madrid, Spain has recently released their latest version of popular VXML Browser VXI* VoixwXML Browser. This browser works on Asterisk on Linux Operating System. Asterisk is open source Telephony software development tool, now widely used to develop IVR and Voice Applications.

VXI* is native integration between the Asterisk Open Source Telephony engine and VoiceXML, one of the most advanced voice and video application’s standard language. VXI* is an advanced complementary software for Asterisk-based IVR systems. Adding VXI* to any Asterisk server enables access to the large VoiceXML applications world. You will get great advantages in opening your favourite PBX to the new evolution of IVVR (Interactive Voice & Video Response) and web enabled applications. More details, one may visit here.

The release post of this version of VXI* Browser says :-

There’s very important improvements and new specific ASR features in this new release, that will provide you the best IVR experience for your voice and video telephony projects. VXI* 5.2 is suitable for production platforms running with all lastest Asterisk 1.4, 1.6 and now 1.8 kernels! (all Asterisk’s packages are available for download too).

Few of the enhanced features are :-

# mod: Correction in the fonction wait/silence (wait for openvxi).
# add: Add the parameter dialnumbersonly to filter called numbers.
# mod: Change the open sequence for better reactivity.
# mod: Increase the number of accounts to 200.
# add: File descriptors counters (with show top).
# add: Average statistiques (duration, response and CAPS).
# mod: Replace the nanohttp library by the libcurl.
# add: Extra parameters in the transfer (after mark ‘,’) for to the Dial command.
# add: Command line parameters -U and -G to change the OpenVXI linux user/group.
# mod: Correction for uniMRCP to stop the speech/ASR engine.
# mod: Correction for disable bargein with the speech/ASR.
# add: Increase the Asterisk compatibility (disable the using the channel context).
# mod: Ignore the ASR result if a DTMF interaction occured.
# add: Support the attribut repeat for SRGS/XML DTMF grammars.
# add: Options to pass all the SRGS/XML grammars to the ASR engine (voice and DTMF).
# add: Support for Asterisk 1.8.

For complete details : Visit I6Net Website.

Pronexus today announced that their award winning powerful IVR development kit is now available for free along with their announcement of new version VBVoice 7.0 with more features! Whats more, developers will even get two channels free license to be deployed anywhere!

VBVoice 7.0 released and now its free for developers

I think, this revolutionary move is specially aimed at emerging market like India which is very price sensitive. India also has large number of C#, VB.NET developers and with VBVoice being free, India may finally see many IVR developers. Finally, IVR development may go mainstream!

I still remember my conversation with few engineering students a year ago, who asked me how to start IVR development. I advised them that in order to develop IVR Software, one has to be a C++ programmer and also know CTI hardware. I was confronted with few pairs of blank, pleading eyes! They all said, they knew only C3 or VB.NET! They never did any real programming or coding using C++, though many of them read C++ in their Data Structure subject.

Now I can tell anyone, just download VBVoice, use its component/Controls just like a BUTTON in your C# or VB.NET form! And dont worry about those ringing, call pick up, dial tone, engage tone disconnect tone! VBVoice control will take care of them, you concentrate on making your IVR user interface ( IVR Call Flow) more and more user friendly! Also do not forget to use the power of .NET technology provided by Microsoft!

Here is the complete press release from Pronexus :

Pronexus, the developer of the leading Interactive Voice Response (IVR) toolkit Pronexus VBVoice™, announced today a revolutionary move to eliminate barriers to IVR development.

“We are lowering the total cost of IVR development by offering our award-winning IVR toolkit VBVoice free of charge. You can start developing an IVR application without upfront costs. The two runtime licenses included allow you to test and even deploy your application,” said Gary T. Hannah, CEO of Pronexus.

Steve Brown, Pronexus VP of Sales commented: “This change enables Pronexus to rapidly expand its market share especially in emerging geographies like Latin America and Asia. With VBVoice, any small company can afford a quality IVR solution and capitalize on benefits like improved customer service and streamlined internal processes which have an impact on the bottom line. This move also lowers the barrier for mid-sized and large companies to explore what IVR technology can do for their business.”

For complete Press Release Visit this link : Pronexus Eliminates Barriers to Development by Making IVR Toolkit Free, Launches VBVoice 7

Recently, I came across a news of phasing out of government managed call center in Indian city, Jaipur, aimed at providing single-window facilities for civic issues like sanitation, water supply and road repair etc. The reason for phasing out of the call center is due to less number of calls and huge burden of cost for running the call center! Quite logical!

Jaipur: The much-hyped call centre, which was launched in August 2008 to provide singlewindow facilities for civic issues like sanitation, water supply and road repair etc, may be phased out soon. The centre seems to be economically unviable and a huge burden on the government. Moreover, the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) has to dish out Rs 2.5 lakh every month for a few hundred calls.
During a review meeting chaired by directorate of local bodies (DLB), director Jogaram said in the last one month it was found that running the call centre was an expensive affair. “As the coordinator of the centre, we found that we need to make the centre costeffective. Therefore, we have decided to reduce staff strength by June 1, 2010, besides some other corrective measures,” Jogaram said. Source : Times Of India.

While, any intelligent IVR ( interactive voice response) system should have been enough for providing information as well as registering any request from its citizen, government agencies went ahead with implementation of call center! Most probably, IVR companies in India are not promoting features and functions of IVR systems in India!

Providing information about various government agencies like JDA ( Jaipur Development Authority) about water supply, sanitary problems, road repair etc. are routine job and any IVR could have been used without having to make recurring expenses.

IVR can also be used easily to automate registering of any kind of complaints along with caller ID as well as recording voices. These recorded voices could be emailed as voice mail attachment along with complaint ID number to concerned officials automatically. Status of complaints could be changed by concerned official and the status could be provided by caller on IVR without the complainant having to visit the office as well as interacting any official. This will not only increase efficiency of government employees, but also save resources and recurring expenditures.

Though in other parts of India, some government agencies are using IVR, but it is yet to become mainstream. With ever increasing telephone and mobile users in India, features and functions of IVR technology should exploited to provide public utility services.

Apex Voice Communication has announced on the sideline of Mobile World Congress, support for Diameter protocol, successor to Radius protocol today in Barcelona, Spain. Supported in the OmniVox3D SIP Application Server and accessed through its OmniView(R) Service Creation Environment, the new Diameter Command Icon enables online charging, including Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) functionalities.

OmniVox3D now supports Diameter Protocol

Omnivox3D is flagship product from Apex Voice Communications which is Service Delivery Platforms (SDPs) and Application Servers for voice and video enhanced services.

“With support for Diameter in OmniVox3D, network operators around the world can now easily implement all types of online charging,” said Elhum Vahdat, executive vice president of APEX Voice Communications. “Additionally, the new Diameter Command has extensive support for vendor-specific attributes, which we know differs among the various back-end charging and billing systems.”, says the press release.

Here is the press release from Apex Voice Communication :-

APEX VOICE COMMUNICATIONS ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR THE DIAMETER PROTOCOL

– AAA Now a Standard Component of OmniVox3D(R) SIP Application Server –

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2010, BARCELONA, SPAIN, February 15, 2010 –
APEX Voice Communications (www.apexvoice.com), a global provider of Service Delivery Platforms (SDPs) and Application Servers for voice and video enhanced services, today announced support for the Diameter Protocol. Supported in the OmniVox3D SIP Application Server and accessed through its OmniView(R) Service Creation Environment, the new Diameter Command Icon enables online charging, including Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) functionalities. Diameter is the successor to the RADIUS protocol for use in SIP/IMS networks.

The new Diameter Command in OmniVox3D enables online charging using the Diameter Credit Control Application. This Command can be embedded into call dialogs using OmniView, where application developers can create services that can be charged directly to subscribers’ accounts. The incremental nature of the Diameter online charging application permits subscribers’ accounts to be charged for several services simultaneously, enabling enhanced services (such as video/multimedia content, ringtones, etc.) to be charged by an application server while a switch or CSCF/proxy bills the account for the entire call.

“With support for Diameter in OmniVox3D, network operators around the world can now easily implement all types of online charging,” said Elhum Vahdat, executive vice president of APEX Voice Communications. “Additionally, the new Diameter Command has extensive support for vendor-specific attributes, which we know differs among the various back-end charging and billing systems.”

Diameter is the protocol chosen by 3GPP for use in SIP/IMS networks, and has become the protocol of choice for interfacing 4th-generation carrier network equipment to convergent billing systems. Many new subscriber charging and billing systems for network equipment (e.g. from Ericsson, Huawei) use the Diameter Credit Control Application (Ro) as described in RFC 4006 and in 3GPP TS 32.299. Offering better overall transport, proxying, session control and security for Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) functionalities,
the Diameter Protocol is an important integration point for carrier tracking of their customers’ usage and as the basis for monthly billing.

The OmniVox3D SIP Application Server is the core component of the APEX Service Delivery Platform (APEX SDP[tm]), which is a mature, field-proven and future-proof platform that delivers immediate returns on the new generation of voice, video and data enhanced services. The APEX SDPs inherent design ensures the scalability, reliability and high-availability required by mobile and fixed-line Network Operators and VASPs, while its award-winning OmniVox3D and OmniView offer the flexibility for rapid deployment of service bundles across multiple networks – 3G, SIP/IMS, TDM/SS7, AIN/IN and converged. The APEX SDP and OmniVox3D together can process an almost unlimited number of applications, including converged Web 2.0 and Telecom services (mashups), Network IVR, Video IVR, Messaging, Real-Time Billing (Prepaid), Conference Calling and Automated Collect Calling.

About APEX Voice Communications
(www.apexvoice.com, sales@apexvoice.com, +1 818.379.8400)
APEX is a global provider of Service Delivery Platforms and SIP Application Servers to Network Operators, Value Added Service Providers (VASPs) and Value Added Resellers (VARs) for voice and video enhanced services. With over 15,000 installations across 95 countries since 1989, APEX continues to be a leader in delivering the latest solutions for mission-critical and revenue-generating services.

For more information contact:

Elhum Vahdat
APEX Voice Communications
+1 818.379.8400 x104
evahdat@apexvoice.com

——–
OmniVox3D is a registered trademark and APEX SDP is a trademark of APEX Voice Communications, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.

Voxeo, an well-known hosted IVR development tool provider, VoIP solution provider has acquired ClackPoint, the leading multimedia online collaboration platform.

Voxeo Acquires ClackPoint

Clackpoint is an interesting platform where many people can participate in a conference from variety of communication media, like IM ( Instant messaging, like GTalk, Yahoo Messanger, MSN etc.), website, traditional phone call. It has many options where participants can edit notepad in groups, chat in texts etc.

This platform is still in beta and under testing phase, but its features look very interesting as a unified communication system as it provides affordable conference facilities with all available communication media to everyone, right from friend circle to corporates.

Here is the press release from Voxeo :

Orlando, FL – January 20, 2010 — Today Voxeo Corporation, the leader in Unlocked Communications, announced it has acquired ClackPoint, the leading real-time multi-media collaboration platform. Over 100,000 people each month use ClackPoint’s online voice, video and text virtual conference rooms to connect and collaborate with colleagues, friends, and social networks. Attendees can access ClackPoint’s virtual conference rooms using any telephone, SIP VoIP device and service, Skype phone and IM clients, and ClackPoint’s own Flash-based phone and IM web client. Additionally, ClackPoint’s easy API enables developers and enterprises to add these capabilities to new and existing applications. ClackPoint also provides pre-built “widgets” that work with existing applications and platforms including Google Wave.

Ted Schadler, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, Inc., wrote in a recent report, “Web conferencing began life as a better way to conduct sales meetings and training sessions. But its future is much more interesting: to be a natural extension to the real-time collaboration scenarios that today start and stop with voice and instant messaging.”[1]

For complete press release, click here.

About Voxeo :
Voxeo unlocks communications. We loathe the locks that make voice, SMS, instant messaging, Twitter, web chat, and mobile web unified communication and self-service applications difficult to create, manage, analyze, optimize and afford. Every day we work to unlock the neglected value of these communications solutions with open standards, disruptive innovation and a passion for problem solving–fueled by a company-wide obsession with customer success. We do so for more than 100,000 developers, 45,000 companies and half of the Fortune 100 from our headquarters in Orlando, Beijing, Cologne, and London. Visit us or join our conversations on the web at www.voxeo.com, blogs.voxeo.com, or twitter.com/voxeo.

Voxeo Media Contact
Megan Maxwell
Voxeo Corporation
Phone: +1 (407) 455-5848
megan@voxeo.com