Wesleyan University Selects Parlance

MEDFORD, MA - Parlance Corporation, which provides a speech-activated interface for enterprise phone systems, announced that Wesleyan University has implemented its NameConnector Service campus-wide. Today, callers can automatically connect to over 4,000 destinations including university staff, students, faculty and departments by saying the name. The NameConnector Service handles all calls to Wesleyan's main number, providing callers with direct access to the voice network 24/7. Callers are greeted after the first ring, say the name of their destination and are connected. Callers who need specialized assistance can reach an operator at anytime by saying, "Operator" or dialing "0." Greetings are customized in response to special circumstances such as holidays or emergency notifications. Wesleyan University also utilizes the NameConnector Service to connect internal callers. Students, faculty and university staff access the Service from any phone by dialing a designated 4-digit extension number. The Service provides internal callers with a "virtual directory" of all campus destinations available 24/7. "The NameConnector enables us to provide our callers with an enhanced level of service and has improved the efficiency of our existing voice network. The Service connects more than 10,000 callers per month, drastically reducing our current and future telecommunications operating expenses," said Debra Story Houle, Manager of Network Services and Operations at Wesleyan University. The NameConnector reduced Wesleyan's operating expenses by eliminating the need to hire additional support to handle increasing call volumes during and after business hours. Today, the Service handles all the routine transfers freeing operators to both help callers who need additional assistance and focus on more valued projects. Jack Reilly, CEO of Parlance Corporation, commented, "Similar to many colleges and universities, Wesleyan University's call volume consisted largely of routine transfer requests. Our experience reflects that typically 80% of internal and 60% of external calls are routine transfer requests originating from callers who know the name of their destination. The NameConnector Service is ideal in these situations and will virtually offload all of the routine transfer requests from operators, allowing them to handle other tasks."