IVR Systems Boost Government Communications in Developing Nations
November 23, 2011
By Juliana Kenny, TMCnet Managing Editor
It goes without saying that nations in Africa and other more rural parts of the world are slow to adopt certain technologies, but a recent survey published by the UN revealed an increase in the implementation of e-government solutions.
With particular uptakes in e-government technology in northern African nations, including Tunisia and Egypt, those regions once thought to be on the slower side of technological advancements are now showing some improvement.
The South African government pledged that it will have 50 services automated on e-government platform in 2014, according to the survey. Yet, writer James Middleton has a few observations on this subject, one of which is, “When looking at e-government strategies in Africa, something is particularly striking: There is no clear articulation of the potential role that mobile devices can play in the spread of e-government services.”
This idea brings up the notion of moving from the “e-government” automation to “m-government”automation. While “m-government” isn’t an official term, it refers to the operation of automated services on mobile devices, and Middleton suggests that, with the use of m-government, “Applications and services can improve organizational and business processes, such as making in-field mobile workers more productive, encouraging the use of videoconferencing or providing secure co-partner services with other agencies (e.g., NGOs).”
Certain software providers are well aware of the needs of developing countries, particularly ones with up-and-coming telco systems and communications needs. Interact, Inc., a provider of voice recognition software, interactive voice response (IVR) systems, and speech technology, has worked with other nations before to integrate location-based services with IVR systems for government applications. Interact is able to create any custom government application with its flexible, scalable solutions.
Juliana Kenny graduated from the University of Connecticut with a double degree in English and French. After managing a small company for two years, she joined TMC (News - Alert) as a Web Editor for TMCnet. Juliana currently focuses on the call center and CRM industries, but she also writes about cloud telephony and network gear including softswitches.
Edited by Juliana Kenny