Technology Times
News on the Business of Technology
Reprinted by permission
Your
E-mail is Calling
Pick
up the phone and listen
By Chris Seper
The Internet
may be the key to the future of business communications, but you'd be surprised
how many workers aren't even attempting to unlock the door. In some businesses,
only 25 to 40 percent of employees have e-mail addresses. They don't
go online because they are on the road a lot, they 're intimidated
by the Internet, they lack easy access to a computer,
or any one of a dozen other reasons.
Helping
those workers to unlock the power of electronic communication is a new
company called LiquidEmail, whose technology makes e-mail as simple
as voice mail.
LiquidEmail
has created a system that allows a company or individual to send out an
e-mail message that its recipient can access by telephone. For business,
this can mean cheaply reaching all of its employees directly, even
those who don't have Internet e-mail accounts.
Rejection
the Impetus
"That
is really hot stuff", said Jesse Levine, managing Director of E-Push.
"Instead of paying 10 to 15 cents for each fax, you can send the message
once through e-mail and it goes to everybody - for free, You can
network a couple of thousands of people."
Levine
created the program while pitching an Internet service program to another
business. Company representatives were interested, they said, but
declined because many of their workers were in the field and didn't have
e-mail addresses or access to the World Wide Web.
"I went
back to the drawing board and hired a couple Silicon Valley PhDs," Levine
said. "I told them, We're looking to do with a telephone everything
we're doing on the Web today."
Hear
it - and fax it, too
The
LiquidEmail system works like this: A subscriber picks up the phone to
check his or her e-mail. After entering a password, the person
hears a computer generated voice that states the number of messages received,
from whom, the e-mail address of the sender, and the subject of the message.
The
voice then reads the e-mail aloud. Subscribers have the option
to send each message anywhere via fax, even fax it to themselves.
The LiquidEmail
system allows users to change the volume, speed and sound of the voice
that reads the e-mail. The voices vary from gravely men to high pitched
adolescents.
The benefits
of the system are many, Levine said.
Travelers
can always access their e-mail, it simplifies e-mail use for anyone who
isn't comfortable going on-line. It can also cut costs for companies.
"They
can send one message to thousands of people without one keystroke and it
doesn't cost them anything," Levine said.
Future
in phones
LiquidEmail's
current technology is only the beginning, Levine added. His team
is currently working on a way to place all communications functions now
done via computers on a telephone instead.
Among
the projects: creating the ability to send as well as receive e-mail through
a telephone. Levine also hopes to create a telephone data base much
like the ones now available on the Internet.
To
sample LiquidEmail, e-mail a message to: epush@kclink.com and call:
(888) 437-8743 to hear the message. |
