iCoGo Joins Microsoft Speech Partner Program and Chooses Microsoft Speech Server For 411 Concierge Services

Service Addresses 75% of Call Center Complaints and Provides Intelligent Personal Assistant Functions for employees and customers.

(PRWEB) February 19, 2004 --North American organizations struggling with mediocre customer response systems can look forward to dynamic intelligent speech and telephony services to accelerate communication with customers who need information and answers without battling through inadequate interactive voice systems and call center solutions. iCoGo Inc. recently joined the Microsoft Speech Partner Program to offer its customers services that merge speech, telephony control and information systems. Built on Microsoft Speech Server, iCoGo 411 Concierge Services provides superior response for customers and allows employees to efficiently interact while delegating voice mail and call centers to last resort options.

Call centers and IVR systems are notoriously time consuming for customers and expensive for businesses and are cited in iCoGos research by three in four customers as a growing nuisance. iCoGo 411 Concierge Services offers customers an alternative method of interacting with organizations, minimizes the need for large call centers and allows front line staff to be more specialized. The companys first service will provide a voice and web interface to a secure automated personal assistant. The personal assistant allows employees to be contacted wherever they are through dynamic rules and provides customers with a major improvement over standard voicemail. The personal assistant can provide telephone based email access for employees, respond to selected customers with specific information, redirect calls as appropriate, and offer callback services.

Our strategic relationship with Microsoft is based on our common commitment to lower the cost of ownership in adopting speech technology and offering high-quality, low-cost solutions" said Fazal Khan, Program Manager at iCoGo.

"iCoGo shares our vision for making speech a mainstream and pervasive technology, and we are very proud to welcome them into the Microsoft Speech Partner Program," said James Mastan, director of marketing for the Speech Technologies team at Microsoft. "It is because of companies such as iCoGo that we are able to extend the delivery of the Microsoft Speech Server, enabling organizations to deploy sophisticated speech-enabled applications that deliver outstanding business value."

iCoGo has received an overwhelming response from its existing customer base to participate in initial testing of the service later this spring. Limited availability of the first series of services will be offered to mid-level managers in the Greater Toronto Area starting in August, 2004. Additional resources, schedules, availability and registration can be found at http://www.icogo.com/speech.

Founded in 2000, iCoGo inspires perfection in performance. Organizations and individuals are challenged with innovative technology, services and best practices to achieve rapid long lasting success. iCoGos main office is located in Toronto, Canada and works with growing and mid-sized organizations in North America and Europe.