Just puled this off the "wire" it seems that a GMGC competitor is upstaging us before our advertising could get off the ground? Is this something to be worried about?
JC
Webley Systems Introduces Unified Communications Product With Unusual
Marketing Campaign
DEERFIELD, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 15, 1998--Webley Systems,
Inc.,one of the first companies to offer truly unified messaging through the
integration of computers, the Internet and telephony driven by natural
speech recognition, is launching a marketing campaign to introduce its
fully-featuredmarket-ready unified communications package.
Webley, funded by Patricof & Co. Ventures, Inc. of New York and Palo
Alto, CA, aims to meet the needs and problems of high-volume telephone users
with a superior product in the form of a "virtual communications assistant."
Its user-friendly qualities include speech recognition, personal website
control options, and access to one's own e-mail service over the phone.
A multi-faceted marketing campaign is to start September 14 with print
advertising, followed later that week by innovative direct mailings and
visits by the company icon in the form of an English butler named "Webley."
"Webley Systems has achieved the essence of unified messaging," says George
D. Phipps,principal at Patricof.
"When we saw what Webley could do we knew that the company was
unmatched in its utility. Since its founding two years ago, Webley Systems
has been a classic "best-kept secret." Patricof is funding Webley because we
believe it's going to revolutionize telephony by using the Internet.
"We also have confidence in Webley because its service is
stress-tested.The system has been up and running for a year and the platform
upon which it operates currently processes millions of calling minutes a
month. We don't think other unified messaging companies can say these
things. We expect that both communications service providers and consumers
are going to be veryimpressed with Webley's offering," says Phipps.
The market for unified messaging is anticipated to be $5 billion
annually by 2002.
Hal Poel, senior vice president of marketing for Webley, says, "Our
objective is to define the unified messaging market and to quickly become
and remain the leader."
Subscribers are assigned a personal 800 number and a secure personal
website, making them accessible anywhere. Subscriber calls are answered by
"Webley," who sounds like an English butler and identifies himself as the
personal assistant for the person receiving the call.
"Webley" puts the caller on hold and locates the subscriber who can
accept the call or instruct "Webley" to take a message. The subscriber can
choose from any form of notification - pager, e-mail, fax, and voice mail -
to receive a message. The user can control the system to obtain messages in
whatever format is preferred.
"Webley" can also place calls, receive faxes (which are saved in the
system and viewed later by way of Internet), or read e-mail messages over
the phone.
Another feature available only from Webley is the capacity through
Webley's own web page or by phone to teleconference with as many as 32
parties.
The Webley marketing effort will launch with a print ad campaign set to
break in selected trade journals. "The campaign reflects Webley's confidence
in its product and its brand icon, Webley the Butler," Poel says.
Actors portraying "Webley" and dressed in the attire of a butler will,
at the end of the week of September 14, personally deliver a sample of the
product to key prospects and thought leaders in selected offices around the
country.
"It's designed to be a real taste-test," says Poel. "They will be
plugged in, getting a live, first-hand experience, not just a "simulated"
version of a system. We know that anyone who uses Webley will immediately
appreciate its value."
Coinciding with the visits from the "Webleys" there will be delivery of
a 24-inch high cardboard replica of a traditional English phone booth
equipped with a 20-second light-activated voice chip and brochures with
product information. In addition, there will be direct mail campaign aimed
at a much larger industry audience.
"Our goal," says Poel, is "to introduce this innovative new technology
by demonstrating its competitive advantage to our target market - service
providers, agents, resellers and distributors. Indeed, we are already in
discussion with several major service providers whose executives are 'test-
driving' Webley." James Whiteley, chairman and CEO of Webley Systems, says,
"Webley's vision is to offer an affordable service that will make a person's
communications life simple and easy. More than that, people today want more
control of their lives. Webley's unified communications product will give
them that control." Whiteley says the Webley virtual assistant is an "ideal
time-and work-saver for professionals who find themselves strapped to mobile
phones, beepers, and laptops and whose business cards are so cluttered with
numbers and addresses their names and titles are barely noticeable."
But this is much more than a unified messaging system, says Whiteley.
"Webley empowers its users, enabling them to actually take control of the
information with which they are bombarded. This is a total package - unified
communications."
Webley uses a call-waiting feature which whispers the name of the
person on hold. Webley is also a fax mailbox, permitting users to receive
and forward faxes, send messages to e-mail or forward them to any fax
machine in the world.
And, says Whitely, "Webley is integrated with our customers' existing
POP 3 e-mail service. Customers can even listen to their e-mail messages
when they are not near their computers (by using Webley's text-to-voice
feature) and they can reply to e-mail by dictating a voice mail response
over the Internet." The Webley system is composed of a UNIX cluster of
servers including database servers, voice servers and Web servers. The voice
and Web servers share the database servers.
Whiteley says, "For stability and safety we have redundant clusters of
servers. These are connected by a SONET self-healing network, so if one
facility goes down the other can handle the traffic." Webley is in the
process of deploying more nodes to serve new customers.
Customer support will also be a vital element of Webley's efforts.
Susan Kelley, Webley's senior vice president for sales and distribution,
says, "Our account and support team is committed not just to getting the
word out about Webley but to supervising a speedy implementation of the
service with our partners."
Visit Webley @webley.com. |
