by Email to Voice | Oct 10, 2024 | Emergency Alerts, How To, Product Feature
We’re excited to announce a powerful new feature for our alert messaging service, EmailToVoice.net, that will simplify your business communications processes.
Previously, if you wanted to send both a voice phone call and an SMS alert, you had to send separate emails. Now, thanks to our latest upgrade, you can send both types of messages with just a single email—saving you time and effort, and ensuring consistent communication across channels.
How It Works
Imagine you need to send both an SMS alert and a voice phone call to a list of contacts. Instead of crafting and sending two separate emails, you can now combine both services into one single email. Simply include both destination addresses in the same email: for SMS, use phonenumber@sms.message-service.org, and for voice messages, use phonenumber@tts.message-service.org. With just one email, both an SMS alert and a voice phone call will be sent simultaneously.
This new feature is designed to make life easier for our customers who need to deliver time-sensitive information to their audiences. Whether it’s an emergency alert, an important meeting reminder, or any other notification that requires a multi-channel approach, you can now ensure both text and voice messages reach their recipients without having to perform repetitive tasks.
Why This Matters
We understand that efficiency is critical when it comes to business communication. By providing this unified messaging option, we’re giving you the power to seamlessly coordinate multiple channels of communication from one simple action—sending a single email. This means fewer chances of errors, fewer steps in the process, and an easier way to get your message out there quickly.
For instance, if you’re a customer service team sending outage alerts or a logistics company coordinating deliveries, it’s crucial to ensure your message reaches recipients in the most effective way possible. SMS messages are immediate and convenient, while voice calls add a personal touch, often catching attention even if a text is missed. Now you can make sure you cover all bases without any extra work.
How to Get Started
To start using this feature, simply include both SMS and TTS addresses in your email when composing your message. It’s that easy! There’s no additional setup required, and you can keep using the familiar email interface that makes EmailToVoice.net so convenient. If you have an existing workflow for sending SMS or voice messages, you can now extend it to include both with minimal changes.
We designed this feature with our customers’ needs in mind—to streamline processes and help you maximize your reach with minimal complexity. Communication is evolving, and we’re committed to providing tools that help you keep up effortlessly.
More on the Way
As always, we’re continually working on enhancing our service to meet your business needs. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this new feature, and if you have suggestions or specific needs, please feel free to reach out to us. Your feedback helps us ensure that EmailToVoice.net remains the best solution for your business communication.
Visit our blog for more updates and helpful tips, and stay tuned for more exciting announcements.
by Denis ONeil | Jul 24, 2024 | Emergency Alerts
Does it seem that Cyber Attacks are on the rise? This may be because the types of Cyber Attacks have increased.
Expanded Types of Attacks
Ransomware is not new and remains a major threat. However, the goals of the ransomware attack have broadened. The attackers may not be just after money, but also recognition for themselves or the destruction of the victim’s reputation. Ransomware attackers can use shame sites to publicly reveal who their victims are, turning ransomware into a broad weapon for cybercriminals.
Artificial Intelligence has also opened the door to more types of hacks. For instance Deepfakes, Disinformation campagns and Social Engineering.
We are also seeing an increase in hacks being used by activists. The cybercriminal can be driven by political or social issues Hacking may also be used by governments as a way to attack adversary countries indirectly.
These new methods of Cyber Attacks throw a wide net. Your company may not even be aware that they are a target for these types of expanded hacks. But they can be caught up in political or adversarial causes that are completely off their risk charts.
Checkpoint has published its 2024 Cyber Security Report which goes well beyond Ransomware and other common hacks. The Main Highlights of their report are:
- Ransomware Evolution: Explore major ransomware attacks exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities, highlighting the economic considerations behind these attacks.
- Expanding Attack Surface: Learn about the increased risk from edge devices, targeted by both nation-state APTs and sophisticated cybercriminals.
- State-Affiliated Hacktivism and Wipers: Uncover the shift towards government-involved hacktivism, employing disruptive wipers for political motives.
- Cloud’s Achilles Heel: Understand the challenges in token security, crucial for remote access and authentication in cloud environments.
- Software Repositories Under Siege: Discover the rise in malicious software packages within open-source repositories, posing significant risks to software supply chains.
- AI: The cutting-edge defender in today’s cybersecurity battle: In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a game-changer, revolutionizing the way we prevent, protect against, and respond to cyber threats.
As identified in the Checkpoint report, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is playing an increasing role in Cyber Attacks in 2024.
However, AI is also playing a key role in predicting threats before they happen or recognizing a threat before it becomes systemic. This may be another example of the answer being in the problem. ISC2 – the world’s leading nonprofit member organization for cybersecurity professionals, announced findings regarding AI from its latest study,
AI in Cyber 2024: Is the Cybersecurity Profession Ready?, revealing the real-world impacts that artificial intelligence (AI) has had on cybersecurity. With responses from more than 1,100 cybersecurity professionals, 88% of respondents believe that AI will significantly impact their jobs, now or in the near future, and 35% have already witnessed its effects. While there is considerable positivity about the role of AI in dealing with cyberattacks, these findings also recognize the urgent demand from professionals for industry preparedness to mitigate cyber risks and safeguard the entire ecosystem.
Effective Alerts and Communications are Key
While the counter-offensive by cybersecurity professionals will prevail over the cyber-criminals, communications remain at the heart of success. Communications begin with critical alerts. Those alerts that get people’s attention are not emails. The communication mode that gets attention is still a ringing phone. Phone calls get people’s attention when you need them to act on a critical event. When you send an email, it just does not get the necessary level of attention for critical time-sensitive alerts.
How EmailToVoice.Net Works
All you have to do is subscribe to the EmailToVoice.Net service and then add an email destination to your alert monitoring service that looks something like 5551234567@tts.message-service.org
The recipient will receive a call on their phone. The text in the email is converted to a nice-sounding voice. If the recipient answers, they will hear the message right away. If they do not answer, the message will be left on their voicemail system. You can even leave a different message if the call goes to voice mail! There are many mission-critical features in the service, such as escalation lists, message parsing, and more. We also can convert the email content to an SMS message if required.
Let us know what your critical communication requirements are so we can provide you with assistance. Or just go ahead and subscribe to our service. Test us in a production environment for free – no credit card is required until you use your USD 5.00 free usage.
by Denis ONeil | Jan 19, 2024 | Emergency Alerts, How To
In this era of constant digital communication, email has become a vital tool for professional and personal correspondence. But what if you could take your email communication to the next level by turning your written messages into voice calls. EmailtoVoice.net is an enterprise platform that offers the unique ability to convert your emails into voice phone calls, opening up a world of possibilities for seamless and efficient communication.
EmailtoVoice.net: Bridging the Gap between Email and Voice Communication
EmailtoVoice.net is an innovative platform that bridges the gap between traditional email and voice communication. With its user-friendly interface and cutting-edge technology, this platform offers a seamless way to transform your text-based emails into clear and concise voice calls. Whether you’re a business professional looking to connect with clients or a loved one who prefers the personal touch of a phone call, EmailtoVoice.net has you covered.
How Does EmailtoVoice.net Work?
The process of converting an email into a voice call with EmailtoVoice.net is remarkably straightforward. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown:
1. Compose Your Email: Begin by crafting your email message just as you normally would. You can use any email client or platform to create your message.
2. In the recipient field, include the recipient’s phone number, followed by “@tts.message-service.org”. For example, if you want to send a voice call to the phone number (555) 123-4567, your TO field would be “5551234567@tts.message-service.org” (International calls need a +country-code before the number, like +615512312345)
3. Compose Your Message: The content of your email will be converted into a voice call message. Write your message as you normally would, and EmailtoVoice.net will handle the rest.
4. Send Your Email: This email can be sent from a monitoring software or any email interface.
5. Recipient Receives a Voice Call: The recipient will receive a phone call with your message converted into spoken words. They can listen to the message just like any other phone call.
Key Features of EmailtoVoice.net
1. Global Reach: EmailtoVoice.net offers global coverage, ensuring that you can reach recipients anywhere in the world without the need to pre-register the phone number with our service.
2. Customizable Caller ID: You can personalize the caller ID that appears on the recipient’s phone, making it easy for them to recognize you.
3. Text-to-Speech: The platform uses advanced text-to-speech technology to ensure that your message is delivered with clarity and precision.
4. Window of Time: You can set a window of time voice calls can be sent, like for instance “after-normal-working-hours”.
5. Reporting: EmailtoVoice.net provides a Customer Portal and email delivery reports, so you can track the status of your voice calls and ensure that they reach their intended recipients.
Use Cases for EmailtoVoice.net
The versatility of EmailtoVoice.net opens up a world of possibilities for various use cases:
1. Business Communications: Businesses can use EmailtoVoice.net to send important updates, alerts, and notifications to clients, employees, and stakeholders with the personal touch of a voice call.
2. Emergency Notifications: EmailtoVoice.net is an invaluable tool for sending critical emergency notifications to specific recipients quickly and effectively. And, voice phone calls get answered, unlike emails.
In a world where digital communication dominates, EmailtoVoice.net stands out. With its ability to seamlessly convert emails into voice calls, this platform offers a unique and efficient way to connect with others. Whether for business communications or emergency alerts, EmailtoVoice.net is a powerful tool that enhances the way we communicate. Try it today and experience the transformation of your email communication.
by Denis ONeil | Jan 17, 2023 | Emergency Alerts, Enterprise SMS, Voice communications
We are an Application to Person (A2P) Solution for Critical Alerts and Business Communications
With EmailToVoice.Net, you can use any common email interface to send a phone or text message. We convert the content of an email to a voice phone call or a rich content SMS message.
In addition to using email to send the message through our service, you can also use a cURL command from within any program or Blockchain application.
The EmailToVoice.Net Suite of Products
Convert an Email into a Voice Phone Call
We dial the number in the TO field of the Email, which looks something like 5551234567@tts.message-service.org (international calls require a +CountryCode in front of the local number)
The recipient will receive a call on their phone. The text in the email is converted to a nice-sounding voice. If the recipient answers, they will hear the message right away. If they do not answer, the message will be left on their voice mail system. You can even leave a different message if the call goes to voice mail.
You can also send to a list of recipients. The recipients on the list can either be called all at once or called sequentially stopping when one acknowledges receipt of the call. This is called an Escalation List.
Convert an Email into a Text SMS Message
We convert the content of an email to a text message and deliver the message as an SMS.
Convert an Email into a Rich Communications SMS Message
We create a custom HTML Web page from the content of the email and deliver it through a simple SMS message, allowing viewing of the page on a cell phone from a simple tap. The message can also require a password to be entered before the rich content SMS message can be read by the recipient.
Convert an Email with a recorded voice attachment into a Voice Phone Call
We deliver a prerecorded voice to a phone.
Convert an Email into a FAX
We deliver the attachment of an email to a FAX number and use the content of the email as the cover letter.
Other Useful Features
Parse the important part of the message converted to Voice or SMS
You can parse the email message by specifying where the important part of the text starts and ends. This eliminates the irrelevant parts of your email, such as images, the top Header part, and the bottom of the email, such as the Signature, leaving only the important part of the message. Set these parameters in the Customer Portal / My Details / Change Details. It is great to keep the message short and more succinct.
Set a window of time for delivering the messages
If you want to send alerts out to your staff as phone calls or SMS text messages only during a specific time of day, you can specify the times in Customer Portal / My Details / Email To Broadcast: Active Window.
In Summary
There are many advanced features of EmailToVoice.Net. These are merely a few of them. We love to share our many years of experience in this industry and provide easy no-code solutions for your workflow communications needs. Do not hesitate to Contact Us.
Author
Director at EmailToVoice.Net: CISSP – Solutions Architect for Industrial IoT Alerts and Business Communications.
LinkedIn
by Denis ONeil | Apr 30, 2021 | Emergency Alerts, Voice communications
SIEM critical alerts need to get immediate attention when triggered. Phone calls get people’s attention. A phone call is rare and loud.
SIEM is a class of products that combines security event management and security information management. SIEM technologies provide the analysis of log and event data together with security information management. Machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities within SIEM products are on the rise. Cloud services are also being developed for SIEM offerings.
People responsible for the issues are notified of the results of the threat monitoring, event correlation, and incident response. The critical alerts cannot be ignored. A multi-channel response must be used because of the importance of these issues. Voice phone calls must be part of that multi-channel alert. These SIEM services can send emails. But, an email to voice and SMS service needs to be implemented to achieve the multi-channel communications network. EmailToVoice.Net is a cloud-based multi-channel communications service that can be implemented with minimal effort and reasonable cost.
As stated by Mary Pratt in What is SIEM software? How it works and how to choose the right tool
The SIEM market has several dominant vendors based on worldwide sales, specifically IBM, Splunk and HPE. There are at least several more major players, namely Alert Logic, Intel, LogRhythm, ManageEngine, Micro Focus, Solar Winds, and Trustwave.
Implementing critical alerts delivered from SIEM products is a major effort. Sending a message from SIEM products to a phone requires specialized hardware and software solutions to be installed in the client’s central data center. However, a cloud-based communications solution such as EmailToVoice.Net makes this all as easy as sending an email. The EmailToVoice.Net service does the hard stuff. It converts the text of the email message into a genuine-sounding voice (Text to Speech), then dials the phone, handles voice mail, and much more. All of this is done without the need to install hardware or use APIs. There are not even any monthly fees.
People pay more attention to voice calls these days than email. A phone ringing gets the attention of the person that needs to be alerted in an emergency. The reason is that email has swamped us to the point we do not pay attention to them, anymore. A phone ringing still makes people pay attention. They are loud and rare.
How to send an Alert to a Phone
EmailToVoice.Net provides the ability to make a phone call using any email interface. This can be tested using a personal email mailbox. However, the production use of this capability is by utilizing the email capability within Alert Software, CRM, ERP or any enterprise application.
First, a user should subscribe to EmailToVoice.net. A free trial is available with a value of $4.95 USD allowing about 55 message units to be sent within a 28 day trial period. The user will be able to immediately make a phone call using their email by following the simple instructions below:
The email must be sent from the same email address as was specified during the free trial subscription process.
The TO field will specify the phone number to be dialed. The TO field would look something like 2145551783@tts.message-service.org. (if the number is not a USA or Canadian number, then the TO field would look something like +6155551243@tts.message-service.org) The number can be any phone number in the world, with some exceptions due to international regulations, and does not have to be preregistered.
The SUBJECT field can be anything brief. It is used for reporting.
The content of the email is converted to a pleasant-sounding voice.
That’s it. The EmalToVoice.net service will dial the number, play the voice rendition of the email content, handle voicemail, etc.
Extensive Features
There are many advanced features of EmailToVoice.Net. EmailToVoice.net can make a phone call, send an SMS, send 16MB of HTML data via SMS and even send a FAX. We love to share our many years of experience in this industry and provide easy no-code solutions for your workflow communications needs. Do not hesitate to Contact Us.
Author
Director at EmailToVoice.Net: CISSP – Solutions Architect for Industrial IoT Alerts and Business Communications.
LinkedIn
by Denis ONeil | Nov 19, 2020 | Emergency Alerts
People pay more attention to voice calls these days than email. A phone ringing gets the attention of the person that needs to be alerted in an emergency. The reason is that email and other forms of text messaging have swamped us to the point we do not pay attention to them, anymore. A phone ringing still makes people pay attention. They are loud and rare.
In the John Brandon article Why Millennials Don’t Like to Make Phone Calls, he states as one of the many reasons phone calls are rare is;
In a phone call, there’s a chance the person on the other end of the line might have an opinion.
An alert phone call is not a conversation. It is the delivery of critically important information. A phone call with a voice message is the perfect delivery method for time-sensitive critical information.
Critical Alerts from Applications
Implementing critical alerts delivered from business applications is a major effort. Sending a message from monitoring software or directly from an IoT device to a phone requires specialized hardware and software solutions to be installed in the client’s central data center. Connections to smart devices, CRM, PCS or ERP systems need to go through complex API’s or propriety software gateways
However, a cloud-based communications solution such as EmailToVoice.Net makes this all as easy as sending an email. The EmailToVoice.Net service does the hard stuff. It converts the text of the email message into a genuine-sounding voice (Text to Speech), then dials the phone, handles voice mail, and much more. All of this is done without the need to install hardware or use APIs. There are not even any monthly fees.
How EmailToVoice.Net Works
All you have to do is subscribe to the EmailToVoice.Net service and then make the TO field in the Email look something like 5551234567@tts.message-service.org
The recipient will receive a call on their phone. The text in the email is converted to a nice-sounding voice. If the recipient answers, they will hear the message right away. If they do not answer, the message will be left on their voice mail system. You can even leave a different message if the call goes to voice mail! There are many mission-critical features in the service.
Industrial IoT Needs To Send Alerts
An IoT device is any device connected to the Internet. In an enterprise environment, monitoring these devices is commonly done through Monitoring Software, like viewLINC, or SolarWinds to name just a couple – there are many.
These IoT devices need to communicate with people through alerts and integration with mission-critical applications. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) needs to be given a voice. An IIoT device that has only the ability to send an email must now be enabled to dial a phone. The number may be repair truck or used to wake people in the middle of the night or cut through all the mundane communications received during the regular business day.
Since people are not making phone calls as much as they used to, the voice phone call now becomes the perfect way to deliver a critical alert to an individual.
Supply Chains Require Communications
Supply Chain communication is critical to the success of the Supply chain and its stakeholders. The importance of effective communications for internal stakeholders and external suppliers cannot be overstated. An enterprise must have a well-planned communication strategy to ensure the resilience of the Supply Chain.
As part of a Supply Chain communication plan, multiple channels and methods should be taken into consideration,. An alternative communication channel is a voice phone call. This is an effective communication channel in regular Supply Chain processes because phone calls get the participant’s attention. Supply Chain Communications is critical to the resilience of critical processes. Using multiple channels during the process is imperative to success.
The fact that Phone calls are rare has made them an excellent communication channel to convey important information and emergency alerts. We are inundated with text communications coming from SMS, Email, and a multitude of chat Instant Messaging platforms. To cut through all of that noise with an important alert, a loud and reliable channel needs to be used. That channel is the common voice phone call.
How to send an Alert to a Phone
EmailToVoice.Net provides the ability to make a phone call using any email interface. This can be tested using a personal email mailbox. However, the production use of this capability is by utilizing the email messaging capability within the monitoring software or business application.
How to Use EmailToVoice.Net
First, a user should subscribe to EmailToVoice.net. A free trial is available.
FROM Field
The Email must be sent from the same Email address as was specified during the free trial subscription process. A Send-Only Email address can be added later for the production implementation.
TO Field
The TO field should specify the phone number to be dialed.
The TO field would look something like 2145551783@tts.message-service.org. (if the number is not a USA or Canadian number, then the TO field would look something like +6155551243@tts.message-service.org)
The number can be any phone number in the world, with some exceptions due to international regulations, and does not have to be preregistered.
SUBJECT Field
The SUBJECT field can be anything brief. It is used for reporting. Optionally, the Subject field can also be made part of the voice message.
Content of Email
The content of the Email is converted to a pleasant sounding American English voice. (Leave at least 4 lines after the content of the email and before the email signature, so the Email signature is not converted to voice.) There are additional dialects to accommodate other languages or accents.
Send the Email
That’s it. The EmalToVoice.net service will dial the number, play the voice rendition of the email content, handle voicemail, etc.
Advanced Features
There are many advanced features of EmailToVoice.Net. Those features will be covered in future posts. So, subscribe to our blog and stay updated. We also provide some very useful information in our Blog regarding Industrial Internet of Things, Monitoring Software, and much more.
