Hey we like this company, Interact, with its SPOTbuild platform. Any company with a product named Spot that uses a dog in their company image is okay by us. We’ll try to work the word “fetch” in the article somewhere as well.

“Why tie-up valuable resources and capital writing VoiceXML (News - Alert)/CCXML applications by hand when Interact Incorporated can provide you with a cost effective, time saving alternative?” SPOTbuild officials reasonably ask, adding that SPOTbuild is “Interact Incorporated’s (News - Alert) graphical service creation environment for the design and deployment of calls flows and voice applications.”

In traditional VoiceXML/CCXML application development, SPOTbuild officials say, the task of building call flows and applications “has fallen on highly skilled application programmers.” Guys who know what they’re doing. But Interact’s SPOTbuild has been designed so “virtually any user,” which, politely, means “you,” can operate, design, build and deploy applications “without needing to write a single line of code.”

As company officials say, SPOTbuild “has been designed as a Web-based application: a Webserver is installed on a Linux platform.” So to fetch the tool -- gotcha -- the user “opens SPOTbuild in a Web browser, and the tool is ready for use.”

With SPOTbuild, call flow commands and actions are represented by icons called nodes within the library panel, company officials explain. “These nodes or icons representing specific blocks of VXML / CCXML code, include commands and actions such as conference, audio/prompt, get entry, outdial, decision, and all other commands or actions necessary for creating a call flow or voice application.”

Because when we non-geeks try to do geeky things, we like icons. Icons are simple, and simple is good. Yet one more lesson Apple (News - Alert) has taught the rest of the world.

Call flow and voice applications are created by dragging and dropping the appropriate “nodes” from the library onto the canvas, interconnecting the nodes with arrows, and then configuring the properties for each “node.” The application can then be deployed to your SPOT IVR.

What could be better?