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Fonolo Moves to Open Public Beta

December 9th, 2008 (5:00am) Jim Courtney 2 Comments

fonolologocurrent150pxThree weeks ago I provided a detailed description of Fonolo, the “Deep Dialing” service that takes you directly to where you want to go within an enterprise IVR menu.

At that time Fonolo was looking for 100 new beta accounts as the final stage of a private beta program. It’s provided good feedback but they need to hear from a broader audience of  consumer users. Today Fonolo, with an expanded directory of over 300 enterprises, will launch a fully open public beta available to anyone wishing to try out the service. They want feedback from “real users”.

For those with a deeper interest, check out this Skype Journal post for more background on what Fonolo is learning from their beta programs.

Fonolo: Bypassing Those Persistent AutoAttendant Menus

November 18th, 2008 (1:00pm) Jim Courtney 5 Comments

fonolologocurrent150pxYou’ve got a problem with your Internet service but every time you call your Service Provider’s support line you have to branch out through their phone tree to get through to technical support via a series of voice menus that get repetitive quickly.

  1. What service are you calling about? 1 for Wireless, 2 for Home Phone, 3 for Cable TV, 4 for High Speed Internet
  2. What assistance are you seeking? 1 for Billing, 2 for Customer Service, 4 for Technical Support, etc.

Last week, to reach a technical support service I had to enter “9″ four times to reach the particular service I required. And there was also the “anxiety” time spent listening to the introduction to each step.

What if you could just “call” the basic number but jump right to the level of response you are seeking?

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