What is the single interface common to all telephony? Speech, obviously! No matter what telephone system from what manufacturer, what cell phone or PDA/Smart Device you have in your pocket with one to a zillion features, it all boils down to talking. A number of new technologies have come out over the past number of years that have focused on leveraging speech to increase efficiency, and in today’s tough economic environment, anything that makes us more productive is an improvement.

Some of these include the Nuance Employee Enhancement Suite, a speech-based attendant that allows users to find who they are looking for by speaking their name (no more dialing off an auto-attendant and not spelling the name correctly!) and Avaya’s one-X Speech that works in tandem with all of Avaya’s messaging platforms (Intuity, Octel and the newest Modular Messaging) allowing you to access Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes. You can use speech commands to access email, contacts, appointments and make calls hands free. In today’s environment, where many states are enacting hands free laws around use of a cell phone in your car, this feature is a welcome chance to make more productive use of our ever-increasing windshield time.

Finally, on the other side of the equation, the most recent entry into the speech space is a joint effort from Avaya, Mutare and Spinvox, which will take the first 30 seconds of a voice mail left for you on your Avaya voice mail and convert it to text, so you can see it on your PDA or in your email without having to access your voicemail.

No matter what direction we go with technology, the spoken and written word will always be intertwined and someone will always develop a technology to make our lives easier and doing business more productive. To learn more, give us a call or send us an email. We’re flexible. We’ll get back to you one way or the other.