Angel.com made headlines back in April when it announced its alliance with Internet communications company, Skype (News - Alert), a collaboration allowing Skype customers to create and manage speech-enabled IVR applications. As an official platform partner, Angel.com provides tools, such as Site Builder toolkit, helping Skype users to start up new, revenue-generating services with IVR technology.
Sam Aparicio, vice president of products and strategy for Angel.com was available for some commentary regarding the Skype/Angel.com partnership.
So, should we say a few words over the old "IVR box" hardware? Does this mean it's well and truly dead?
I wouldn’t say ‘dead,’ but the prognosis is not good. Even for the largest of companies, the mammoth old IVR box systems are difficult to maintain and adapt to changing needs.
On-demand telephony, in contrast, has a very bright future. Pay for what you use, zero maintenance, highly adaptable – that's what it's all about. Also, let's not forget that speech recognition makes for a much more effective user experience. Callers care.
How much skill does it take for companies to build their own menu trees? Can they do it on their own with little assistance, even if they are the sort of people who think that Bic lighters are too technologically complicated for them?
To understand Site Builder, I would say a user would need to be moderately web-savvy. They would also have to understand basic concepts of how a phone system works… greeting, menus, call transfers, voicemail, etc. But that's about it. Thousands of non-technical users work with Site Builder every month.
How will companies be charged for the service?
Our model is simple: pay for minutes used. You get a plan from us that includes a set number of pre-paid minutes, and then you pay for overage, if any. Its very similar to many cell phone plans. We have plans that include a Skype Toll-Free Number (where Skype callers don't pay), and plans that include a Skype Premium numbers (where you charge a per-minute fee to callers for a premium service).
You indicate that people who use the service can actually make money on it from their own customers. How so?
Users with Skype premium numbers offer premium content that callers will pay to access. When a Skype user calls a premium number, it will count against their “Skype Credit”. Skype takes a cut, Angel takes a smaller cut, and the rest goes to the content provider. This is a great arrangement for a number of innovative applications, such as these -- http://angel.com/partners/skypeapps.jsp
What are some of the most unique deployments of the service you've seen in your testing phases?
One of the first that I believe we will be launching in the near future is “Geeks on Call.” I’m not sure I can get into too much at this early stage, but it will basically be similar to their current per-minute technical advice line.
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For more information, visit Angel.com
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Michelle Pasquerello is Associate Editor for TMCnet’s Online Channels. To see more of her articles, please visit Michelle Pasquerello’s columnist page.
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