Parlance Provides Hewitt Associates with Speech-activated Employee Directory

Parlance, which provides a speech-activated interface for enterprise phone systems, announced that Hewitt Associates is using the NameConnector Service throughout itsorganization.

Parlance's NameConnector is installed in 15Hewitt sites including: the United Kingdom, Canada and offices throughout the United States. Callers say the name of the employee or department they want to reach and are connected.

The NameConnector is accessible from any phone at any time of the day. When in the office, employees dial "0", when off-site, employees access the NameConnector through the main number. The NameConnector Service handles all after-hours calls to Hewitt's main number, providing callers with 24-hour access to the voice network and offloading routine transfer requests formerly handled by Hewitt security officers. Callers are also provided with customized greetings during special circumstances such as holidays and emergency situations.

"We needed something that could grow with us. Our call volume was growing at such an astonishing rate; it was unclear how many operators we would need. With the Parlance NameConnector, if we want additional capacity it's available," commented Roxanne Dalen, Switchboard Unit Manager at Hewitt Associates, Lincolnshire, Illinois.

"Hewitt's headquarters was our initial NameConnector installation. Implementation was seamless and the users immediately embraced the Service. The organization realized the value and began deploying NameConnectors across the organization. Today, installations and call volumes continue to increase," said Jack Reilly, Parlance Corporation CEO.

Prior to the NameConnector Service, operators at the Hewitt Lincolnshire site were experiencing difficulties handling the increasing call volume originating from both internal and external callers Collectively, The NameConnector offloads 80,000 routine transfer requests per week from Hewitt operators, enabling them to help customers who need specialized assistance. As call volumes across the organization continue to increase, the Service scales to handle the additional capacity.