Dozens of development tools, many based on Visual Basic, can help you create a voice-processing system
James Burton
"Press 1 to speak with a sales representative. Press 2 to reach technical support. Press 3 to listen to some lovely Muzak...." We've all had firsthand experience with infuriating voice-menu systems that drone on and on with options we don't want to hear. But that's not a fair summary of what computer telephony is all about. Modern, well-designed telephony applications can do much for an organization--and for those who call it.
What is a telephony application? At its simplest, it's the automation of the handling of telephone calls: answering the phone, greeting the caller, and responding to a request--all without a human operator. As it grows
more complex, it incorporates many other functions, including digit capture, storing and forwarding of voice messages, database access, automatic speech recognition, text-to-speech conversion, storing and forwarding of fax data, fax response, dialing out, and tracking usage statistics.
So far, the most successful voice-processing applications automate existing manual functions. These usually show a rapid, measurable payback. This is probably a transitional stage, however. It reflects the relative newness of CTI (computer telephony integration). As more organizations create a wider variety of applications, we will begin to better understand how CTI can serve us. In a few years, we'll be using applications that we haven't even thought of now. As more organizations use telephony, those that don't may be at a competitive disadvantage.
It's Not Just New Software
While most of us think of applications primarily in terms of software, it's important to factor in hardware when yo
u're dealing with telephony. The profusion of telephony standards (see the article "Standard Issue") means that you must know what hardware you're going to run your telephony application on before you create it -- and even before you pick a development tool or environment.
In addition to the hardware you'll run your application on, consider the external hardware and software you'll connect to. Look at the interface to the telephone system and the external database. What kind of PBX do you have? What kind of phone lines link you to your local telephone company's central office? What other services are available? You may have analog or digital line options. Switching and information services, such as DID (direct inward dialing) and caller ID (widely but not universally available), are important to know about at the beginning.
In addition to selecting the appropriate services, you need to make sure that the voice-processing boards and the applications generator support those services. Also, it's im
portant to know how many telephone ports you'll need. You can determine this by estimating the telephone traffic during the busiest hour of the day and deciding on the quality of service you need. Then you can consult telephony traffic tables to find out just how many ports you'll need. If you're connecting to the telephone network through a PBX, the same basic considerations are required, although you may find yourself constrained by the services and capacities your PBX will support.
One last external factor you need to consider is any existing databases -- customers or orders, for example -- you will use with the telephony application. You'll want to pick a development tool that integrates easily with your database and gives reliable access to the information you need.
Telephone-Taming Toolkits
OK, you've opted to go the computer telephony route, and you've got an idea of the hardware and other software you'll connect to, so what's next? A variety of
development tools
is available, ranging from simple programming libraries through telephony utilities to comprehensive applications generators.
These tools assist in building telephony applications for a variety of operating environments and with a variety of programming methodologies. The table
"Applications Generators for Telephony"
gives summary information about many toolkits. Some have the ability to implement or integrate with voice mail, fax processing, speech recognition, text-to-speech converters, telephony switching (e.g., conferencing and call forwarding), and data communications capabilities. As with any software project, good tools can cut the development time and cost substantially. They often enable organizations to build their own applications rather than seeking outside help (see the sidebar "How Much Will It Cost?").
Picking the Right Tool
All these tools aren't designed to do the same job. The right voice-processing applicat
ions generator is the one that best matches your experience and skills and the needs of a specific application. Most vendors are offering or planning multiple products that support multiple methods. Among the factors you should consider are the programming skills of your developers, what platforms you want to use, what telephony features you plan to use in your application, and the quality of support provided by the vendor.
Menu-driven or script-based?
If some or all of the development will be done by people with little programming experience, it makes sense to pick a menu-driven product. With these, you construct your application by connecting specific functions--for example, answer phone, play prompt, or get digits--which are commonly referred to as actions. Governing each action is a set of parameters that is presented to the user in a menu, typically giving defaults and other choices. Menu-based applications generators require a minimum learning investment, and they are useful when you ne
ed to create an application rapidly.
If the application is complex, however, a menu-driven applications generator may not have all the functions you need. Although many of them are comprehensive, they're limited to those features the vendor has decided to include. Connectivity is frequently the most limiting factor.
Consider, too, whether you want a tool that uses a graphical interface or a character-based interface. GUI-based applications generators appeal to the point-and-click oriented. As with many other visual programming tools, you build an application by connecting action icons together.
For organizations with in-house programming expertise, products using a scripting language will typically provide more flexibility to the developer than menu-based products. The price you'll pay is an increase in development and support times. Also, some vendors' menu-based and scripting-language products are compatible with each other, but others aren't. If this is important, check it out.
Consider whether you want your programmers to learn a new language, or whether you want to use one of the many popular voice-processing tools based on Visual Basic, such as Stylus Innovation's Visual Voice or Pronexus's VBVoice. Many applications generators also let you include your own C functions.
Processing platform.
Most voice-processing development systems create applications for one operating environment. You should choose your platform and tool carefully. Windows 3.1 is an inferior multitasking OS, for example. For telephony systems that have many ports, or for critical-performance applications, DOS-based applications generators typically produce the best results. These systems don't actually use DOS as the run-time OS; instead, they rely on their own embedded OS, which is designed specifically for voice-processing applications and is extremely efficient.
The vendors that have been around the longest are Expert Systems, SpeechSoft, Telephone Response Technologies, and U.S. Telec
om. Although all their products have improved, they're still essentially identical to what they were offering 10 years ago. For example, they still use DOS. Although there's significant pressure to migrate to other OSes, the reality is that DOS-based systems provide performance and capability that are comparable, or superior, to systems based on Windows 3.1, Unix, or OS/2, and they're less costly.
PRICE OF DEVELOPERS
KIT--
PRODUCT PROGRAMMING MINIMUM/FULL
VENDOR NAME PLATFORM INTERFACE CONFIGURATION
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apex Voice Communications, OmniVox Unix o $2400/$5600
Sherman Oaks, CA,
(800) 727-3970 or
(818) 379-8400
Big Sky Techn
ologies, Remark OS/2 o $6364/$6364
San Diego, CA,
(800)736-2751 or
(619) 496-2100;
fax (619) 565-2114
Cascade Technologies, Inc., CAS Voice OS/2 o $2300/$19,320
New York, NY,
(212) 768-7380
CTI Information Services, Apprentice Unix * $6500
Reston, VA,
(703) 648-1610;
fax (703) 648-1678
Cypress Research, PhonePro AppleTalk o * $349/$849
Sunnyvale, CA,
(408) 752-2700;
fax (408) 752-2735
Edify, Santa Clara, CA, Electronic OS/2 o * $11,400/$13,100
(800) 944-0056 or WorkForce
(408) 982-2000
Expert Systems, Atlanta, GA, Ease 3.0 MS-DOS o * $695/$16,295
(404) 642-7575
IBM, Research Triangle Park, CallPath OS/2 o $4000/$11,800
NC, (800) 426-4211 DirectTalk/2
Info Systems, Toronto, Talkie MS-DOS o * $715
Ontario, Canada,
(800)825-5434 or
(416) 665-7638;
fax (716) 855
-2244
Intelligent Computer PhoneLink Windows 0 $729 (includes
Technology, Norcross, GA, card)/$1745
(800) 441-9077 or
(404) 441-9077;
fax (404) 441-2727
ITI Logiciel, Montreal, Multi-Voice MS-DOS 0 $149/$599
Quebec, Canada,
(514) 597-1692;
fax (514) 526-2362
International Voice Systems, Insight OS/2 o $3740/$7084
Hamden, CT,
(203) 288-4461;
fax (203) 288-4552
KDS Corp., Wilmette, IL, Vox MS-DOS, 0 $15,000
(708) 251-2621; OS/2 (includes five
fax (708) 251-6489 run times)
MasterMind Technologies, MasterVox OS/2 o $1995/$3185
Vienna, VA,
(703) 848-9040
MediaSoft Telecom, Montreal, IVS Builder/ Unix o * $950
Quebec, Canada, Server
(800) 558-3839 or
(514) 731-3838;
fax (514) 731-3833
Parity So
ftware Development, Vos MS-DOS 0 $1885/$20,350
San Francisco, CA,
(415) 989-0330;
fax (415) 989-0441
PCVoice, Roswell, GA, Assist Pro/FP Windows 0 $325/$449
(800) 443-8201 or
(404) 343-8201;
fax (404) 442-3156
Pronexus, Carp, Ontario, VBVoice Windows/ 0 $395
Canada, Visual Basic
(613) 839-0033;
fax (613) 839-0035
SpeechSoft, Ringoes, NJ, Speech Master MS-DOS 0 $595/$3144
(609) 466-1100 fax (609) 466-0757
Stylus Innovation, Visual Voice Windows/ 0 $495/$2785
Cambridge, MA, Visual Basic
(617) 621-9545;
fax (617) 621-7862
Talking Technology, Peak Toolkit MS-DOS, 0 $399
Alameda, CA, Windows
(510) 522-3800;
fax (510) 522-5556
Technically Speaking, Show N Tel OS/2 o * 0 $995/$7000
Southborough, MA,
(508) 229-7777;
fax (508) 229-8777
Telephone Response ProVide MS-DOS, o 0 $723/$12,352
Technologies, Roseville, CA, Windows 3.1/
(916) 784-7777 Visual Basic
U.S. Telecom International, Val MS-DOS 0 $1995/$1995
Joplin, MO,
(800) 835-7788 or
(417) 781-7000;
fax (417) 623-2963
Voice Information Systems, VFedit MS-DOS -- $395
Santa Monica, CA,
(800) 234-8474 or
(310) 392-8780
Voicetek Corp., Generations VAX/VMS, o * $18,000
Chelmsford, MA, SunOS
(508) 250-9393
Voysys, Fremont, CA, VoysAccess Windows 3.1 0 $595/$595
(800) 786-9797
Winters Development, VoiceKit MS-DOS 0 $599
Manti, UT,
(801) 835-0100;
fax (801) 835-0103
KEY:
o = Menu-driven
* = GUI
0 = Programming
PRICE OF RUN-TIME F
OR
PRODUCT 4/8/16/24/48
VENDOR NAME TELEPHONE PORTS
===============================================================================
Apex Voice Communications, OmniVox $1400/$2800/$5600/$8400/$16,800
Sherman Oaks, CA,
(800) 727-3970 or
(818) 379-8400
Big Sky Technologies, Remark $23,164/$45,564/$90,364/$135,164/--
San Diego, CA,
(800)736-2751 or
(619) 496-2100;
fax (619) 565-2114
Cascade Technologies, Inc., CAS Voice $1150/$2070/$2760/--/--
New York, NY,
(212) 768-7380
CTI Information Services, Apprentice Varies
Reston, VA,
(703) 648-1610;
fax (703) 648-1678
Cypress Research, PhonePro $199-$548 per port
Sunnyvale, CA,
(408) 752-2700;
fax (408) 752-2735
Edify, Santa Clara, CA, Electronic $7800/$15,600/$31,200/$46,000/
(800) 944-0056 or WorkForce
$86,520
(408) 982-2000
Expert Systems, Ease 3.0 $495/$945/$1245/$1445/$2045
Atlanta, GA,
(404) 642-7575
IBM, Research Triangle CallPath $4000/$8000/$16,000/$24,000/
Park, NC, DirectTalk/2 $48,000
(800) 426-4211
Info Systems, Talkie $100 per port
Toronto, Ontario, Canada,
(800)825-5434 or
(416) 665-7638;
fax (716) 855-2244
Intelligent Computer PhoneLink $2695/(hardware add-ons above 4)
Technology, Norcross, GA,
(800) 441-9077 or
(404) 441-9077;
fax (404) 441-2727
ITI Logiciel, Montreal, Multi-Voice None
Quebec, Canada,
(514) 597-1692;
fax (514) 526-2362
International Voice Insight $1870/$2618/$3368/$3740/$4488
Systems, Hamden, CT,
(203) 288-4461;
fax (203) 288-4552
KDS Corp., Wilmette, IL, Vox 0/$600/$1350/$2450/$6650
(708) 251-2621;
fax (708)
251-6489
MasterMind Technologies, MasterVox $400/$800/$1600/$2400/--
Vienna, VA,
(703) 848-9040
MediaSoft Telecom, IVS Builder/ $1980/$3680/$5060/$9200/$17,520
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Server
(800) 558-3839 or
(514) 731-3838;
fax (514) 731-3833
Parity Software Development, Vos $660/$1320/$2640/$3960/$7920
San Francisco, CA,
(415) 989-0330;
fax (415) 989-0441
PCVoice, Roswell, GA, Assist Pro/FP None
(800) 443-8201 or
(404) 343-8201;
fax (404) 442-3156
Pronexus, Carp, Ontario, VBVoice $995/$1295/$1695/(32) $1995
Canada,
(613) 839-0033;
fax (613) 839-0035
SpeechSoft, Ringoes, NJ, Speech Master $895/$1145/$1395/$1395/--
(609) 466-1100;
fax (609) 466-0757
Stylus Innovation, Visual Voice None
Cambridge, MA,
(617) 621-9545;
fax (617) 621-7862
Talking Technology, Peak Toolkit None
Alam
eda, CA,
(510) 522-3800;
fax (510) 522-5556
Technically Speaking, Show N Tel $700/$1400/$2800/$5160/$12,240
Southborough, MA,
(508) 229-7777;
fax (508) 229-8777
Telephone Response ProVide $1145/$2145/$3455/$4069/$5845
Technologies,
Roseville, CA,
(916) 784-7777
U.S. Telecom International, Val $600/$1200/$2300/$3300/$5700
Joplin, MO,
(800) 835-7788 or
(417) 781-7000;
fax (417) 623-2963
Voice Information Systems, VFedit None
Santa Monica, CA,
(800) 234-8474 or
(310) 392-8780
Voicetek Corp., Generations $800/$1600/$3200/$4800/$9600
Chelmsford, MA,
(508) 250-9393
Voysys, Fremont, CA, VoysAccess $495/$990/$1485/$1980/--
(800) 786-9797
Winters Development, VoiceKit $599/(12) $799/(24) $999/$2599
Manti, UT,
(801) 835-0100;
fax (801) 835-0103
screen_link (47 Kbytes)
This application was developed using the graphically oriented toolkit Show N Tell from Technically Speaking. It is an order-verification system that includes interactive voice response, fax on demand, and database querying.
James Burton is CEO of C-T Link, Inc., a computer telephony consultancy based in Boston, Massachusetts. You can reach him on the Internet at
jburton@internetmci.com
or on BIX c/o "editors."
Building Telephony Applications
