Many people have commented on how Vonage is pimping its IPO to its own customers by sending them a voicemail.
This voicemail doesn't make their phone ring. I'm not sure if they receive any notification of it. In all, it's fairly unobtrusive.
Anyhow, I'm currently completing a questionnaire from my business bank: "Which of the following types of communications do you recall ever receiving (from us): ... [ ] Courtesy phone calls from our Call Centre". There then follows: "Which is your preferred method of contact..." and the predictable list of existing channels.
Now, they don't know I travel quite a bit. Calling me on my mobile could cost me quite a lot in roaming fees, and I'm not likely to be amused if they call when I'm on holiday. They've got my SkypeIn number, because that puts me in control. But they'd still annoy me by cold calling if I'm online.
Yet I wouldn't mind them being able to directly inject voicemails into my mobile or Skype mailboxes. After all, they're one of the institutions I most want a meaningful relationship with. (I suspect a lot of CRM systems get sold to businesses where the absolute last thing the customer wants is a relationship. Anonymous, transactional commerce, please!)
Today, they can't do it. The voicemail systems are closed. The opt-in mechanisms, privacy and security protocols aren't in place. It doesn't take a lot of technical flair to see how it could be done, though. And as a telco, taking some of the friction out of me and my bank communicating could turn out to be an attractive financial proposition. Unlike email, which is riddled with phishing, spamming and scamming, the telcos could build up a trusted, verified messaging system between businesses and the public.
But that could take brains, heart and courage. Click your heels together and wish...
Posted by Martin Geddes at 2:56 PMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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