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WELLESLEY, MA and TORONTO, CANADA - An automated speech application for ordering flowers by phone was introduced by Metaphor Solutions Inc., a developer of automated conversational speech solutions. It provides affordability for developing and integrating speech applications. "This is the first automated speech application for ordering flowers by phone that I have tested. I think speech applications like these have a strong future in automating retail phone shopping for consumers," said John Kelly, Publisher and Editor in Chief of Speech Technology Magazine. Michael Kuperstein, founder and CEO of Metaphor Solutions, said, "Because of the high cost of developing and integrating automated speech solutions, only the largest companies have been able to afford them. Now, for the first time Metaphor Solutions is providing small to mid-sized retailers with automated speech solutions that deliver the ease-of-use of speech for servicing consumers and yet are affordable. This combination will spark widespread adoption of automated retail phone shopping." "Our partnership with Metaphor Solutions will accelerate the time-to-market of automated speech applications for retailers," said Stuart Berkowitz, President and CEO of VoiceGenie Technologies. "By integrating our open standards VoiceXML Gateway with Metaphor's affordable, conversational speech solutions, we have answered the call from small to mid-sized companies looking to speech-enable their retail operations, reliably, flexibly, and economically." Metaphor provides companies wishing to automate phone services with speech application development. This is possible because Metaphor has built a number of speech application templates that are going to be close to what call centers need.
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