UK company launches ‘first intelligent voice on Internet’
A small UK technology company is claiming a world first with the launch this week of “the first intelligent, interactive human voice” on the Internet.
Called Talking Forms, the technology is billed as a way to “significantly” reduce “online purchaser diffidence”.
Tango Zebra, the company behind Talking Forms, has already made a splash with its N-XEC Web technology, which has been used to simulate TV ads (e-volve, MW March 30).
Tango expects “universal” applications for its latest product, but says marketers could have the most to gain. Online shoppers have been quick to abandon their cyber shopping trolleys, through lack of customer service support at the crucial moment.
There are also still widespread fears about online credit card security.
Talking Forms, says Tango, will allow online shoppers to complete their purchase “face to face” rather than in an automated fashion. They will receive a verbal reply to any questions “more quickly and with greater impact than a text message”. Customers will be able to read and listen simultaneously without the need for any plug-ins or streaming technology.
The product also makes use of “native language or dialect” and will point out and explain any errors made while completing an online ordering form.
“As we enter the next generation of voice-interactive environments, a Pandora’s box of potential ideas and applications has opened up before us,” says James Booth, co-founder of tango Zebra and inventor of the Talking Forms technology.
