Gold Systems Aligns with Avaya, Nuance to Provide Standards-Based, Voice-Driven Solutions for Enterprise-Level Customer Contact Centers
BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 10, 2001--Gold Systems, Inc.: Nuance SpeechObjects, Gold Systems' Vonetix Integration onto the Avaya CONVERSANT IVR System Speeds Deployment of Voice Applications
Gold Systems, Inc., an independent provider of easy-to-use voice and Wireless Web solutions for Global 2000 companies, announced today it is aligning with Avaya, Inc. (NYSE:AV) and Nuance (Nasdaq:NUAN) to help Global 2000 companies improve customer service levels with voice-driven applications.
Gold Systems worked with Avaya and Nuance to integrate its Vonetix(TM) technology with Nuance's SpeechObjects(TM) onto Avaya's Version 8 CONVERSANT(R) System for Interactive Voice Response (IVR). The product is scheduled to ship in March 2001.
Avaya customers who implement the network-based integrated solution can enhance customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives and benefit from shorter time-to-market and reduced deployment costs in their speech recognition implementations.
Gold Systems' Java-based Vonetix software product provides a single infrastructure for integrating speech recognition and Wireless Web technologies with an enterprise's existing customer communication interfaces. Standard on the Avaya CONVERSANT Version 8.0 platform, Vonetix is voice and wireless interface middleware that connects databases, enterprise software packages, speech recognition engines and wireless mobile-commerce interfaces. Vonetix helps eliminate the need for companies to develop separate back-end interfaces to applications and databases in the deployment of automated telephone access.
CONVERSANT customers can take advantage of the pre-built and pre-tested, Java-based SpeechObjects components, which enable code reuse to significantly reduce deployment times for Natural Language Speech Recognition applications.
"Like Avaya and Nuance, we're committed to helping companies communicate more easily and effectively with their customers," said Terry Gold, CEO of Gold Systems. "This integrated solution allows us to bring the power of voice applications to more companies and their customers -- faster and more economically than ever before."
"Avaya embraces open standards architecture, and we selected Gold Systems to integrate SpeechObjects with Vonetix to provide a complete solution for our CONVERSANT customers," said Denis Aull, Avaya general manager, CRM Solutions. "This is excellent news for our customers, who can now more rapidly and cost-effectively deploy voice applications to better serve their customers."
"This integration provides Avaya customers with a standard voice interface and pre-packaged SpeechObjects components that can dramatically reduce time-to-market for their voice-driven applications, all on the robust Avaya CONVERSANT IVR platform," said Steve Ehrlich, vice president of marketing, Nuance. "Developers now have more control and greater opportunities for building V-Commerce and Voice Web applications."
Potential customers include companies in the banking and finance, retail/e-commerce, utilities, insurance and healthcare industries -- any organization focused on enhancing customer service while reducing call-processing costs.
For example, a customer calls into a CONVERSANT system at a retail clothing company to place an order. Using natural language phrases, the customer simply speaks requests into the phone, such as, "I'd like to order a pair of trousers," and "I want to pay by credit card," and responds to queries on size, color, style, etc. SpeechObjects understands the caller's requests and passes this information via Vonetix to the CONVERSANT application for further processing. The Vonetix XML/HTML/XHTML interface then accesses the necessary product information and initiates the transaction through the company's Web-based product catalog.
According to Gartner's Dataquest, voice will be the primary vehicle for mobile e-commerce (m-commerce) applications. This is further supported by International Data Corp.'s assertion that 70 percent of wireless subscribers will use their handsets to access the Internet by 2002.
A study by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that one in five mobile users in the United States stops using m-commerce after a few attempts. However, the majority of users believe that m-commerce will be a major factor in their daily lives in a few years, the study found. To help overcome some of the obstacles slowing the adoption of m-commerce and other wireless applications, Gold Systems is working on a patent-pending product that combines the power of speech recognition with the Wireless Web.
"Many Internet-related transactions don't work well on Web-enabled phones due to the limitations of the telephone keypad," explains Gold. "It's a tedious interface for inputting information, navigating menus or scrolling to select items, particularly in a mobile environment when hands-free use is often critical. With our solution, which coordinates voice and wireless applications, you can have the best of both worlds. Let's say you need driving directions. Just speak your request and the directions can be captured on your smart-phone screen for later viewing. Or if you need to make a bank transaction, you speak your request and have the confirmation number sent to your phone for record-keeping purposes."
According to BCG, revenues generated by m-commerce for business-to-business transactions will total about $100 billion by 2003.
About Nuance
Nuance develops, markets and supports a voice interface software platform that makes the information and services of enterprises, telecommunications networks and the Internet accessible from any telephone. Every day, millions of people interact with Nuance systems at blue-chip companies like American Airlines, Charles Schwab, The Home Shopping Network, Lloyds TSB, Sears and United Parcel Service. Nuance is also driving the creation of the Voice Web and delivering software for V-Commerce(TM) (voice-enabled e-commerce) services and applications. Nuance is headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., with global sales offices and partners supporting solutions in multiple languages around the world. For more information about Nuance, visit www.nuance.com or call 1-888/NUANCE-8.
About Avaya
Avaya, headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., USA, is a leading provider of communications systems for enterprises, including businesses, government agencies and other organizations. Avaya offers converged voice and data, customer relationship management, messaging, voice multi-service networking and structured cabling products and services. Avaya is a worldwide leader in sales of messaging and structured cabling systems and a U.S. leader in sales of enterprise voice communications and call center systems. Avaya intends to use its leadership positions in enterprise communications systems and software, its broad portfolio of products and services, and strategic alliances with other technology and consulting services leaders to offer its customers comprehensive eBusiness solutions. For more information about Avaya, visit its Web site at avaya.com.
About Avaya's CONVERSANT(R) System for Interactive Voice Response (IVR) - V8.0:
CONVERSANT System V8.0 is a sophisticated, highly robust and reliable platform for building winning call-routing and self-service applications. These applications can be easily integrated with Web site and back-office systems for a true end-to-end solution. The CONVERSANT platform provides the flexibility and power that today's contact centers demand, enabling companies to deliver a more responsive and personalized customer service experience.
About Gold Systems, Inc.
Gold Systems, Inc. makes it easier for Global 2000 companies to empower their customers with instant access to information and transactions by combining the power of speech recognition with the Wireless Web. Using standards-based technology for speech recognition and Wireless Web interfaces, its primary product, Vonetix(TM), simplifies business-to-customer communications and data access while leveraging existing infrastructures. Gold Systems counts 11 of the Fortune 20 as clients and was named to the 1998 Inc. 500 and Deloitte
Touche Fast 500 lists of fast-growth, privately held companies. Information about Boulder, Colo.-based Gold Systems can be found at www.goldsys.com or by calling 303/447-2774.
About Vonetix
Gold Systems' flagship product, Vonetix, makes it substantially easier for Global 2000 companies to empower their customers with instant access to information and transactions when they need it, where they need it. Vonetix simplifies business-to-customer communications and data access, allowing companies to manage real-time customer interactions with greater efficiency and at a lower cost.
Editor's Note: To learn more about the Gold Systems' Vonetix/Nuance SpeechObjects integration on the Avaya CONVERSANT, stop by Booth No. 170 at the Call Center & CRM Solutions 2001 industry conference in Dallas, TX, on January 23-24.
Trademarks: Vonetix is a trademark of Gold Systems, Inc. CONVERSANT is a registered trademark of Lucent Technologies, Inc. and Avaya Communication. SpeechObjects is a trademark of Nuance Communications, Inc. All other company and product names are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
CONTACT:
Gold Systems, Inc.
Julia Freund, 303/447-2774
jfreund@goldsys.com
or
Metzger Associates (for Gold Systems)
Linda Lidov, 303/786-7000
linda@metzger.com
or
Avaya Inc.
Mary Thiele, 908/953-6152
mthiele@avaya.com
or
Nuance
Matt Keowen, 650/847-7836
mkeowen@nuance.com
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