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The voice mail transcription market — otherwise known as voice mail to text — is showing no signs of slowing down.  I have written about this space a few times (Voicemail Transcription, Vonage Voicemail Transcription, SpinVox) in the past, and I think it has tremendous potential for growth.

 

One of the companies in this space that I have been aware of for months, but haven’t had a chance to cover is SimulScribe. I recently interviewed the company’s CEO James Siminoff, who is 30 years old and has already launched a successful prepaid calling card business prior to launching SimulScribe (News - Alert).

 

As it turns out — a while back, he was having a casual conversation with his calling card business partner and the partner’s son and the topic of voice mail came up. The thought was, wouldn’t it be great if you read your voice mail instead of listening to it.

 

Shortly thereafter the company developed a system to handle this task and used it internally. Then it was rolled out to a few friends and family members. It was a fun side project. In late 2005 the company decided to focus on voice mail transcription as a business model, and SimulScribe was born.

 

James tells me his service is the only one which has been rolled out by a major carrier — Vonage and can actually be billed by the carrier. The main competitor to SimulScribe is SpinVox (News - Alert), and James was so complimentary to SpinVox, it is tough to believe the companies are actually competitors.

 

In our discussion, it seemed apparent that, in a market with billions of potential customers, there is likely enough room for not only two players, but perhaps several more. You may recall, I am aware of a major software company that will roll out voice mail transcription software soon, but I am bound by a verbal handshake not to share the name of that company.

 

Major players notwithstanding, SimulScribe wants to be the number one or two player in the space.

 

Other SimulScribe service provider customers are M5 and FreedomVoice. The company is in some stage of discussions with over 33 carriers globally. Moreover, it does not announce service provider wins until they are deployed.

 

We touched on the topic of the accuracy of speaker independent speech recognition, and James graciously explained the technology in SimulScribe’s service is something he does not disclose. Having said that, many in the industry have asserted the level of accuracy these services have achieved are impossible without some human intervention.

 

Really, the concern here boils down to security (otherwise, who really cares about the secret sauce behind such services), and if there are people listening to your voice mails, perhaps there is a security risk.

 

One point James made is if you are concerned about security, you may not want to look at a voice mail transcription service, since e-mail is less secure than voicemail. He is not talking about the security in either his service or the competition (he says the security in his company’s service is first-rate), but what he means is the security of e-mail, in general. His service offers the same level of security as e-mail he says. Whatever you feel comfortable doing with your e-mail, you can do with SimulScribe.

 

The point is voicemails are now able to be archived, meaning they can be brought into court cases as evidence. This is something that is likely not that easy to do with standard audio-based voice mail.

 

On a positive note, James points out this service can simply bring unified communications into a company with virtually no difficulty and a minimal investment. The ability to see voice mail and respond to voice mail with IM or e-mail really increases productivity.

 

James makes a point that SimulScribe is different than SpinVox because it is the most flexible service from a delivery standpoint. There is an application called SimulSays, which features a GUI that sits on a Blackberry — and soon, Windows Mobile devices. The application stores the transcribed text with the voice file, allowing you to listen to messages without using network minutes. You can also listen on an airplane or places without cellular access. He says there will be even more devices supported soon.

 

You can choose the format of voice file you want sent — WAV, MP3, or WMA. In addition, there is a Web interface allowing control over your messages (e.g., deleting, saving, etc.). Currently the competition is not doing this. James says SimulScribe includes this flexibility in its service because the company used the product for some time and built the features they needed before it was rolled out to the market.

 

The company says its service can save you three hours a month, and I have no doubt that a busy executive can see savings in this range. This also correlates with my own experience using SpinVox. But, more importantly, voice mail transcription allows you to be on a call and read voice mails from other callers while you are still on the phone. In addition you can archive your voice mails allowing you to search for that useful nugget of information stored in a 3-minute voicemail form 18 months ago.

 

I can tell you, from months of personal experience, that using voice mail transcription is a liberating experience and one you can’t easily stop using once you become accustomed to it.  Regardless of which service you use, I suggest you try voice mail transcription for yourself if you are interested in saving time and becoming more productive.