What you should know when selecting a professional services team for custom IVR applications

IVR solutions, as they grow more complex in their capabilities, are assuming a more prominent role in enterprises. Once merely a front line for call centers, IVR has now evolved into a tool that facilitates not only customer service, but also other processes that are ripe for automation such as workforce management, payment solutions or service order fulfillment. The vast potential of IVR-enabled automation is now prompting more and more enterprises to seek feature-rich IVR solutions that are best delivered via custom IVR application development.

When selecting a professional services team to build your custom IVR application, there are a number of things look for to ensure the quality, reliability and performance of your IVR solution.

1. Vertically integrated. When choosing an IVR vendor, look for a company that develops and owns the IVR technology . IVR vendors that build, own and support their technology, (the core of which is the VoiceXML IVR platform), will provide superior technical expertise in all phases of your application development and deployment. Engineers who designed and built their own VoiceXML platform from the ground up will be better qualified to create custom IVR applications that exhibit faster performance, greater functionality and superior call quality.

2. VoiceXML platform certification. VoiceXML platform certification ensures interoperability of VoiceXML platforms, tools, service providers, and applications

As VoiceXML adoption continues to grow in enterprises and carriers, certification assists customers in choosing from a wide variety of vendors and deployment options to solve their particular business needs The certification program is managed and developed by VoiceXML Forum members and provides impartiality through the use of independent third-party test laboratories.

3. Support for multiple speech technologies. Look for a vendor whose VoiceXML platform supports as many speech technologies as possible.

VoiceXML IVR systems should support outside resources such as speech recognition engines or text-to-speech engines in a modular manner. This is important, because as these technologies are upgraded, application functionality can be improved without modifying VoiceXML code.

4. Clear project management framework to guide each phase of the design, development and deployment process.

Stages of a custom application development project should include:

-Design Phase: Expect complete design specification to be written by your IVR vendor to define the application's functionality, behavior, caller/user interface, and XML-based application programming interface (API) for the database interface.

-Implementation Phase: Expect high-quality voice application development by our experienced IVR software engineers freeing you to focus on business data while your IVR vendor focuses on the call flow.

-QA and Deployment: Expect a thorough and well-managed application test process that exercises your application end-to-end to ensure a smooth transition to production.

5. Support, maintenance and management Although often underestimated, support and maintenance will strongly affect the performance and reliability of your IVR application. Look for a vertically integrated IVR vendor that has a lengthy track record of proven customer satisfaction in the industry.

6. Deployment options: Seek a vendor that offers both on-site IVR and hosted IVR deployments. This will allow you choice in terms of equipment management. For those that prefer to manage their own telco connection or their own IVR servers, an on-site solution will be a better fit. For those that want to outsource all aspects of the their IVR solution, including telco connectivity, infrastructure and the IVR application, hosted IVR will be the right choice.

By Matt Ervin, Co-Founder, Plum Voice

A Child Is Calling For Help. Wireless AMBER Alerts Put Wireless Devices To Use

Statistics show that the first three hours after a child's abduction are most critical to recovery efforts. By combining the efforts of the wireless industry with the U.S. Department of Justice, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) and law enforcement agencies, the Wireless AMBER Alerts™ initiative will be a catalyst for the more than 200 million wireless subscribers to aid in the search for and recovery of an abducted child.

AMBER
According to NCMEC, more than 260 children have been recovered since the AMBER Alert program began in 1997. The program-an early warning system to find abducted children-started as a local effort in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, area and became a national initiative in 2003. AMBER stands for "America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response." The program is a legacy to Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and was later found murdered.

An estimated 70 percent of Americans have wireless phones, and together they can serve as a national network that assists families and the authorities in searching for abducted children. By signing up to receive Wireless AMBER Alerts, subscribers receive information about local Alerts, as well as updates as the search progresses.

Opting In
Subscribers capable of receiving text messages, and whose wireless carrier participates in the Wireless AMBER Alerts initiative, may opt in to receive Alerts by registering at www.wirelessamberalerts.org or their wireless carrier's Web site. Users can designate up to five ZIP codes from which they'd like to be alerted in the case of an AMBER Alert activation.

Public Service

Advertising Campaign
The Advertising Council, in partnership with NCMEC, The Wireless Foundation and the U.S Department of Justice, launched a multimedia public service advertising (PSA) campaign designed to raise awareness of Wireless AMBER Alerts and encourage all wireless subscribers to aid in the search for abducted children. It is the first nationwide PSA campaign to address this technology and the ads launched on National Missing Children's Day (May 25th).

Wireless subscribers can now sign up to receive free AMBER Alerts via text messages.

Download Free Iphone Theme

The popularity of the Iphone means that you can download themes for it from many different sites-and also you can even download Iphone themes for other kinds of cellphones, and even websites if you are a wordpress user.

Your Iphone is one of the most advanced media devices the world has yet seen, with the ability to watch movies, listen to music, surf the web and of course make phone calls, it seems like Apple's research and design department put in some overtime on this one.

Even if you aren't an Apple or iPod fan, the Iphone is very hard not to like. Why wouldn't anyone want to have their entire music collection and full internet access on their cellphone? Sadly though, stocks of the Iphone are low due to the sheer popularity of it, so it means many of us will have to wait a while before we can own one. All is not lost though, as you are still able to download Iphone themes for your average Nokia and Motorola phones.

If you are lucky enough to obtain an Iphone, you can download something known as a "hack toolkit" which allows you to get into the firmware etc of the Iphone, and change it's theme around etc. You'll find that the themes are available at many different places around the net.

When you are looking for places to download themes from, the biggest problem is finding a site you can trust. While it can be dangerous to your computer and your Iphone, due to the nature of the files downloading a theme is generally much safer than downloading a new game or movie etc, especially if you are using a shady P2P site, as P2P sites are known for their lack of safety for users.

Having said that, it's very important to be careful and keep your antivirus updated, as shady hackers and users of torrent sites can use fake downloads as a way to make you download trojan software or other things that will open the backdoor of your computer system. This can cause endless problems, it can even ill your computer so it's really worth making sure your antivirus software can keep you safe.

If you are smart and use your common sense about what you download and where you download it from, downloading Iphone themes can safe and fun.

The Best French Advice

The best way to learn French is different for each person. You'll find that there is not one concrete definite way that works for everyone, as everyone is different and their learning methods will reflect this. Instead of looking for the definitive best way to learn French, check out the rest of this article to find some ways that may help you.

Home study is one of the most popular ways to learn anything,and has been for a while. You may find this especially useful as a method of learning another language, as it allows you the freedom to go at your own pace and learn at your own speeds. This will make sure your knowledge and vocabulary is thorough, rather than being patchy. Modern home study courses can include anything from CDs, MP3s, even video to help you get your pronunciation and accent down.

Another traditional method of learning another language is a night or evening class. These can usually be found in your local community centre or community college. Courses like this are not expensive, and you will often find that there is some form of concession available, or even lessons that are free altogether. Benefits of learning to speak French like this can be the opportunity to interact with others, as well as participation in field trips and even some real trips to France. Nothing will better your accent than speaking to French people!

For those that perhaps already have some experience of speaking French or working with a French accent, there is always the idea of a French study vacation. These are readily available and easily found on the web, and what better excuse to travel to Paris and see the sights? Obviously, learning a language in this fashion is just about the best way to actually get to grips with it and put it into use, but the downside is that travelling to Europe is a whole lot more expensive that travelling to your local college!

Another method of learning French that may fall on the expensive side is some private tuition. If you can afford it, this is great, possibly the next best thing to travelling there as you will often find that the teachers are native French speakers, with a wealth of experience of teaching people how to speak their home tongue. Many tutors will have their own tips and tricks to get you remembering and expanding your vocabulary on a daily basis, so if you opt for this choice be ready to make some fast progress.

As you've seen, learning French is not as difficult as it first seems-with the advances of modern technology and the internet, you are only a click away from a French lesson whenever you want one.