Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise believes that in this age of digital transformation, your customers expect quality interaction, impeccable service, and a fast response from your teams. That means you need to provide the most efficient business phones available. I spoke to Herve Obert, Product Line Manager at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, to learn more about what Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise is doing to enable businesses to respond faster and drive efficiencies from a telephone.
I was excited to hear about how Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise’s is changing businesses through their Rainbow platform and associated technology. However, some of the user stories that Herve told me really showcased this tech in a different light – and one unique to Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise.
Making phones intelligent
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Herve Obert[/caption]
I started by asking Herve to tell me a little about how Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise were using artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to change the way we view and use a telephone. Herve told me about one automation capability.
“Now you can control a phone or a room device with your voice. For businesses, you can start a call or a conference. Furthermore, with Rainbow integration, you can speak with someone in another language and see a translated transcription of what the other parties are saying.
We use a speech to text algorithm to translate your voice to an instant message protocol and translate into your chosen language.”
Rainbow supports this translation feature in 100 different languages and Herve told me about some real world examples where Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise is using this functionality. “When travellers experience an emergency and need to dial emergency services, when you are really worried and in tears, it’s really difficult to worry about speaking in another language”.
Another case was the conversation we were having during the interview. I am native English and Herve is native French. When I go to type up the interview, rather than relying on my dodgy French, I could utilise the translated transcription after the event.
Driving innovation
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ALE 8088 Smart DeskPhone - Video Collaboration - click to enlarge[/caption]
I asked Herve if customers he spoke to still viewed a telephone as a telephone or whether they were demanding features like these at Alcatel-Enterprise is rolling out. He categorised customers into two personas.
“It depends how you define a customer. B2B customers or our customer’s customer. Taking the healthcare example, we have a big project in Japan. We are using the 8088 Smart DeskPhone; our leading touch screen video model, in the nursing homes and out of city areas in Japan. First of all, elderly people can use the handsets for standard audio calls. We then introduce video calling to enhance the experience.
We go one step further with our Smart Cities solution. If there has been an earthquake or flood, you can send a broadcast alert to the handset to check if someone is injured. By using the touchscreen, the user can say they are fine or need any assistance”.
Rather than calling every user, governments now only need to spend time calling the users that have not responded to the broadcast message or to users that have confirmed they have been injured.
