I get a small thrill out of finding voice-oriented apps in these normally data centric startup events. That was the doubly the case with Parlor.fm, which launched its smartphone software earlier today at TechCrunch Disrupt.
After years of having been traumatized by partially cooked “unified communication” software from the legacy PBX makers, it’s reassuring for me to see a well-designed, perfectly intuitive app that uses voice as the foundation.Continue reading
I was about ready to launch into a new assignment for a client when some news concerning OnSIP, the cloud-based PBX service, attracted my wandering attention. The folks at Junction Networks have just introduced an OnSIP browser plugin for Firefox and Chrome that lets you perform a click-to-call. While this new feature is not technically very sexy, it is a big deal for the small businesses that are the likely customers of OnSIP’s virtual PBX.
Once upon a time, SMBs were practically indentured to their hardware vendors, who made them pay (and still do) for every little feature. This free click-to-call function from OnSIP is typically classified by enterprise PBX makers under a marketing-speak category called Unified Communications or Desktop Telephony. Having tried a few of these types of apps, I can attest that they were difficult to configure and even more painful to use.
I was able to install the OnSIP plugin on my MacBook Pro in under a minute, and then launched an X-Lite softphone to act as my virtual endpoint.
I achieved Unified Communications with little effort and no expense.Continue reading
I downloaded OpenVBX, Twilio’s bendable, programmable cloud-based unified communications platform, tried out a few call control flows, and then drifted off into a reverie about telecom start-ups before the dot.com crash.
When the CLECs and ASPs first came on the scene in the 90s, they were offering hosted personal attendants (or assistants)—which was the term used before “Google Voice-like”—that allowed subscribers to configure find-me/follow me schedules for cell, home, and office numbers, set up voicemail notifications, and craft simple IVR menus. They would often throw in speech rec, and support virtual presence through local phone numbers.
Maybe $30 per month, with a cap on minutes. These personal auto attendants were tasty telecom appetizers and considering what was available from incumbents at the time, practically disruptive.Continue reading
I’ve been so focused on apps and trends outside of the office space that I thought I’d have a difficult time grokking the keynote speeches at Voicecon 2010. VoiceCon (now renamed to Enterprise Connect) is the place where business communication vendors announce their visions and initiatives for the coming year.
I’m happy to be misinformed in this case. Consumer-grade social media, open software, and smartphone-like apps—areas I’ve been immersed in the last few weeks—are pretty much pre-requisites to enterprise communications coursework. To varying degrees, Siemens, Avaya, Cisco, and Microsoft acknowledge, promote, and support micro-blogging, location information, transcription services, SIP, cloud-based software, and slicker interaces in their wares.
I took a quick tour through the recorded videos of the presentations given by Avaya, Cisco, Siemens, and Microsoft. A few impressions after the jump.Continue reading
