Phone calls get people’s attention – Email does not

Phone calls get people’s attention – Email does not

by | Dec 28, 2019 | Voice communications

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 important information.

Critical messages are becoming more common as we move into the Industrial IoT era. As TARRIS states

The Internet of Things (IoT) has exploded in recent years, and it’s not slowing down any time soon. Gartner forecasts that 20.4 billion connected things will be in use worldwide by 2020, and a new Business Insider Intelligence study predicts that the IoT market will grow to over $3 trillion annually by 2026.

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.

Cloud Communications Solution Makes it Easy

Implementation of industrial strength solution for communication-enabling business processes such as critical alerts is a major effort. Sending a message from monitoring software or directly from an IoT device to a phone requires a specialized hardware and software solution 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.

Let us know if you would like to learn more. Contact us. We love to share our experience in mission-critical business communications and industrial alerts.

What Type of Communication Gets Attention, Today

What Type of Communication Gets Attention, Today

by | Oct 20, 2016 | Voice communications

Companies are using phone calls to send notifications and alerts for commercial purposes. One reason is because their customers pay more attention to voice calls these days than email or even text messages. Another factor is new laws regarding restrictions on reading text messages in cars and commercial vehicles.

In many cities and States in the U.S, it is illegal to read text messages or emails in a commercial or private vehicle. If an Industrial IoT (IIoT) device fails, that device needs to notify someone to come and fix it. That someone may be driving a commercial repair truck. The driver may be able to listen to a telephone call or voice message, but, cannot read an email or a text message and still remain within the law. IIoT devices need to be able to make a phone call and send a voice message to that repair truck.

So IIoT needs to be given a voice. An IIoT device that has merely the ability to send an email must now be able to dial the phone number of the repair truck, handle voice mail if there is no answer, retry if the call fails because of network issues, and more.

Voice really needs to be included in any Customer Service strategy.

With a  cloud-based messaging service, all that is needed to send a voice message from an IIoT device is an ability to send an email. An Email interface is common in many IIoT devices or can be done through an Edge Interface to a central application.

In the past, implementation to communication-enable business processes would have been a major effort. Sending a message from an application or smart device to a phone required specialized hardware and software solutions to be installed in the client’s central data center. Connections to smart devices, CRM, PCS or ERP systems were through complex API’s or propriety software gateways.

With a cloud-based messaging services, all that is required is to add a new recipient in the TO field in the Email. The cloud-based messaging service takes care of the rest. To learn more about how to voice-enable IIoT, visit Email to Voice.