MicroStrategy Inc is extending its delivery footprint with a new Telecaster service which can automate telephone calls to customers based upon the results of data warehouse analysis. It reckons calls work out at $0.25 a minute. An online brokerage might use the software so that clients can be called automatically when a stock reaches a certain price or a bank customer may be called when the balance of a checking account reaches a certain level and needs to be topped up from a deposit account. The Telecaster software costs $35,000 works on top of the company’s DS Server software which via a Broadcaster application can already deliver results to various clients including pagers.
The VoiceBureau that MicroStrategy is hosting handles the computer telephony integration and text-to-speech processing parts. A customer send the call requests – which Telecaster transforms into XML documents – to the center which converts the text to speech and initiates the calls. The company is using the Phonic AccuVoice engine.
