Next Generation CallerID
Remember in the late 1980s, when everyone thought it was so futuristic to plug a little box into the phone that would tell you who was calling and the number they were calling from?
Caller ID once was one of the most promising ideas of the telecommunications landscape. The disheartening part to that story, though, is that in the 20+ years since Caller ID was first mass marketed, not much about the technology has changed. Sure, it now has features that make it available on handsets, and it can enable you to block certain callers. But it is no longer considered a preeminent telecommunications technology.
That’s exactly why we at Voxygen have developed a software-based technology known as Next Generation Caller ID. At its core, the technology replaces existing Caller ID with a session-based link between voice and data, which provides context around voice sessions. It does this using existing user behaviour, whereby the user just calls the number on a website or application, unlike traditional click to call systems which use an embedded software client.
What this means for carriers is they now are able to provide their customers with an abundance of information that is invaluable. For instance, instead of just telling a user who’s calling, Next Generation Caller ID tells a user why the caller is calling, what they want, when the call originated, and from where the call is originating, such as from a PBX, a business number or a home.
Thinking about this in a few practical applications enables you to appreciate why Next Generation Caller ID can be extremely powerful. For instance, think about booking a flight online, only to get to a certain point in the process that requires you to speak to a live person. Despite that you’ve already spent time typing in a great deal of the information necessary for your flight, you’re forced to repeat everything again for the airline customer service representative. With Next Generation Caller ID, that information is pushed along to the operator, so you don’t have to repeat everything, and the problem is solved without duplication and wasted time.
In another scenario, you might call technical support about a problem with your computer. Instead of having to provide the technical support staff with information about your operating system, firewall, and other computer details, the information is provided to him automatically through the Next Generation Caller ID platform.
Voxygen now is in the process of working with one of Europe’s largest global carriers to take this patented software solution to market. Because Next Generation Caller ID is a product that works with all current telephony phone systems – both landline and mobile – it requires no network upgrades, and installation and training are simple to implement.
Businesses stand to benefit the most, as they more effectively learn how to deal with calls with rich data added to the context of the Caller ID information. One prime example is the elimination of one of the most reviled telephony dinosaurs in existence: interactive voice response (IVR) units.
IVRs almost always create a bad user experience, and users are ready for the next evolutionary step that will make business calling easier and more efficient. Next Generation Caller ID pulls so much information at the beginning of the call that it literally pushes the user straight through to the right person, intelligently, instead of forcing the caller to try to figure out who the right person is. This is made possible as our software provides context around why the user is calling and where (and if necessary how) to best route the call.
Users also will benefit from the software as they are able to accomplish their goals more quickly and experience improved customer service from both their telephony provider and businesses that implement the service. Gone will be the days of wading through endless voice mail systems or spending hours on the Internet to make a purchase, only to have the system freeze and send you to an operator who has no idea what your browsing history was.
But telephony providers also stand to inherit quite a legacy from Next Generation Caller ID. The software provides them with an incredible value-added service that is simple to implement, easy to maintain and of inestimable benefit for all of their customers. As with our European customer, other telephony customers now can start developing ways to bridge new relationships between who their customers are, what they need, where they are and how they’re communicating with other clients that utilise services across their networks.