The Natural Advantage

Speech is natural. It's simple, fast, effective, and universal. At Datria, we take advantage of this fact to let your employees speak and listen to your corporate systems. All they need is a phone and a voice.

When an employee calls your corporate system, they actually speak to a Datria Voice Server. The server converts their voice to data and updates the application. The server then converts the application data to voice and speaks to your employee. No muss, no fuss. And no heavy equipment for your employees to cart around. And no long delays while firing up a PC and waiting to log in.

Since it's easy and natural, your employees are apt to talk to the corporate systems more frequently. They get fresher information and can serve your customers better. Your company gets faster information and can deploy and re-deploy your people more nimbly.

The Real Time Advantage

Speech is easy and natural, so your employees naturally report the newest information. Flowing newer information through your system can dramatically improve your overall productivity.

Here's an example. A number of our customers used paper forms to communicate with their field organizations. During any given shift, the employees would use a number of spare parts. But the information on which spare parts needed to be replenished didn't get back to headquarters until the end of the shift (at the earliest). Then the information had to be re-keyed. The net result was a delay in the parts replenishment process. The right parts didn't get to the right truck at the right time. Field crews sometimes couldn't complete their work at a customer site because they didn't have the right parts.

With Datria voice solutions installed, field personnel can call in immediately to let the corporate system know what they've done and what they need. They get the parts they need sooner. Everyone's happy.

The Speed Advantage

You can talk faster than you can type. You can talk faster than you can write. You can talk a whole lot faster than you can write and then have someone else type it. With Datria, you can get more information into and out of the system more quickly than in traditional alternatives. Better information means better decisions.

The "Lighten the Load on the Call Center" Advantage

Some of our customers used to have their field personnel call an agent in a call center to report their latest accomplishments and get their latest assignments. The agent sat at a keyboard and converted the caller's voice to data to update the corporate system. The agent also read the data on the screen back to the field crew (converting data to voice).

Now our customers let their field employees talk directly to a Datria Voice Server. The server does the same thing that the call center agent would do - converts voice to data and data to voice. It's simple and natural and it's available 24 hours a day, seven days a week from any phone anywhere in the world.

Your employees are doing exactly what they did before - they're talking and listening. Only now, they're talking to a server rather than a person. Your call center agents can spend more time with customers.

The Contractor Advantage

Many of our customers use third-party contractors to handle fluctuations in demand for their service. They need a work management system that can easily accommodate their temporary workforce. Unfortunately, most automated solutions require expensive special equipment - like laptops, mobile data terminals, or PDAs - that can't easily be given to every temporary employee. They may also require an extensive training period.

Datria customers have an effective solution that they can immediately deploy to new employees or temporary employees. Any employee with access to a phone already has all the special equipment they need. One of our customers reports that they can get new users up to speed in about 30 minutes. Your employees will be fast, not furious.

The "It's Not an IVR" Advantage

When we talk to prospective customers, they sometimes roll their eyes and say, "Oh, it's just another IVR unit." In fact, they're wrong. IVR - Interactive Voice Response - uses highly structured menus to guide a caller through a pre-programmed process. By contrast, Datria allows you to conduct very natural conversations with your corporate systems. You talk and the computer listens; the computer talks and you listen. It's just like talking to an agent in a call center, except that you can't flirt with it.

The "No Garbage In" Advantage

Garbage in, garbage out. Not with Datria. Our systems play back what they hear to the caller and ask for confirmation. You get cleaner information. Cleaner is better.

The Fast Deployment Advantage

If you were to buy a laptop for each of your field employees, how long would it take you acquire them, load them, stage them, distribute them, and train your employees how to use the mobile applications? If your mobile applications changed, how long would it take to load the new application logic to each laptop?

Voice makes it faster. Your employees probably already have the equipment they need - a phone and a voice. They talk to a Datria Voice Server and the Datria Voice Server talks to your corporate applications. It's a simple solution that you can deploy and update quickly.

The "Extend What You Already Have" Advantage

Your company probably already has corporate applications that help you manage your mobile employees. These applications allocate work, keep track of customer needs, order spare parts, calculate bonuses, and so on. Would it be a career limiting move if you ripped them out and replaced them?

With Datria, you don't have to. You can teach your existing applications to talk to your employees - and listen to them. You're improving what you already have. That's a good career move.

The Packaged Software Advantage

Many voice-enabled solutions require custom programming. That can take a long time and may result in applications that are difficult to maintain.

Datria's voice solutions are different. We've studied the business processes used by mobile workers, identified the commonalities, and packaged up a set of standard solutions that embody the best practices in your industry. You get a better solution, more quickly, and with lower cost of ownership. From time to time, we send you standard updates to help you keep abreast of the newest best practices.

Like all packaged software, Datria's voice solutions solve standard problems in standard ways. If the problem you're trying to solve isn't so standard, you can use Datria Voice Configuration tools to re-configure our logic. Or you can call the Datria Professional Service organization. They've got a lot of practice at this kind of thing.

The Open System Advantage

We've mentioned the Datria Voice Server several times. What is it? Basically, it's a plain old ordinary UNIX or Windows server that sits on your network and runs the Datria Application Environment, which is written in J2EE. The platform is open and you probably already have the skills in-house to run it.

The Future Proof Advantage

We've built our Datria voice solutions to be future proof in two ways. First, we insulate the business logic from the underlying speech technology. As speech technology improves, we can deliver those improvements to you without getting tangled up in your business logic.

Second, we put the business logic on a server rather than distributing it out to client devices. If your business should change - and it probably will - you can change the business logic all in one place, all at one time. That's a lot easier than recalling every laptop that your employees carry to update them one at a time.

The "Heads Up, Hands Free" Advantage

A number of our customers have field employees who have to climb up things, crawl under things, and wriggle around things. At the same time, they need to be connected to a system so they can tell exactly which part to replace or board to repair. With Datria voice solutions and the appropriate headset, they can stay connected while still doing their work.

In many cases, your employees can also connect while driving from one job site to another. Rather then sitting around watching a laptop fire up, they can move and communicate simultaneously. Why sit around when you can walk and talk at the same time?

The GPS Advantage

All Datria solutions accept voice input. They can also accept geographical location information such as that reported by GPS. Who would use that? Well, for instance, several of our customers have millions of utility poles to worry about. They can send out crews to look them over and call in any needed repairs. They describe the repairs in natural language and, at the same time, the GPS input precisely locates where the repair needs to take place. Similarly, some of our customers are concerned about responding rapidly to any service outage. With Datria, a technician can describe the problem verbally and the GPS device can locate the fault to within a few feet. That means that the right repair crew can get to the right place with the right tools in record time.

The Thin Client Advantage

OK, let's talk technical for a minute. To access Datria voice solutions, all you need is a phone and a voice. In computer speak, a phone is a very thin client. In other words, it doesn't have much intelligence built into it. The intelligence is back on the server in headquarters. (A thin-client system is sometimes referred to as a server-centric system).

Why is thin better? First, the client devices aren't very expensive to purchase, own, or maintain. Second, it's universal -- most people have ready access to a phone in most places. Third, it's substitutable. If you lose your phone, it's easy to find a replacement. Fourth, everybody already knows how to use one. Fifth, they're more reliable. When was the last time your phone crashed? When was the last time your laptop crashed? Sixth, it's much easier to give them new functionality. You just add the new capability to the server and all the clients have immediate access to it.

By comparison, all the high tech alternatives to Datria - including laptops, mobile data terminals, and PDAs - are fat clients. They're more expensive to own, manage, deploy, and update. If you lose them, you lose data. Since you can't find easy substitutes, they have to be ruggedized. They have to be updated every 18 months or so. Worse, if your business process changes, you may have to touch every fat client in your company to update the logic on the machine.

All this adds up to higher costs. Indeed, Gartner Group says that the Total Cost of Ownership of a wireless PDA is $4,192 per device per year. We hate to brag but Datria's solution is much more cost effective.

The Multilingual Advantage

Some of our customers have multilingual field organizations. It's OK. We can handle it. In fact, we have customers whose field technicians call into one number and simply start talking. The Datria Voice Server recognizes the language they're speaking and continues the dialog in that language. It's a lot simpler and less expensive than hiring multilingual agents in your call center.

The Fast but Affordable Advantage

Many of our customers used to use paper forms to communicate with their mobile employees. These systems were simple, easy to learn, and quick to deploy. Unfortunately, they were also very slow. So our customers often had to make decisions using out-of-date data - never an easy task.

Other customers used very sophisticated fat clients systems - like laptops, PDAs, and mobile data terminals - to interact with their field staff. The systems were fast but they were also very expensive to own, manage, coordinate, and update.

At Datria, we offer the best of both worlds. Our systems are very affordable. After all, they're largely based on what you already have. They're also very fast. In fact, because they're natural and immediate, our customers say they often get fresher information with voice than with fat client alternatives. Fresher information means better decisions and increased productivity.