City of Grand Rapids Streamlines Communications With Speech-Enabled Solution From Sound Advantage.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 10, 2003

Employees of the City of Grand Rapids, MN are now using the power of their voice to simplify office communications thanks to SANDi(R), a speech-enabled unified office solution developed by Sound Advantage. Through simple voice commands, City employees can integrate their phone, voicemail, fax and email messages to streamline their daily communications and dramatically improve customer service.

The City of Grand Rapids needed an affordable communications solution that would easily integrate with its existing phone system to manage incoming and outgoing communications for both employees and customers. Since many City employees spend several hours each day out of the office working in the field, they also required a system that could locate them regardless of their location to insure that they stayed connected with their customers.

By leveraging the latest speech-recognition technology available, SANDi offers City employees the flexibility to redirect incoming calls to specified locations, convenient wireless access to email and fax messages, and call screening so that they can more effectively prioritize their work. The SANDi solution also features a speech-enabled auto-attendant that efficiently manages incoming calls, serving as a friendly guide to direct callers to the person or department they are trying to reach and also provide easy access to City information.

"The citizens of Grand Rapids turn to us for a variety of services and responding to them in a pleasant and efficient manner is our number one priority," said Marilyn Isaac, IT Manager, City of Grand Rapids, MN. "Prior to implementing SANDi's speech-enabled auto-attendant, we were using an outdated touch-tone system that frustrated our customers and provided no real value. By unifying our communications and using SANDi's ingenious locate feature we can optimize our time to better serve our customers and each other."

"The City of Grand Rapids serves as an excellent model of how municipalities and city governments of all sizes can utilize Sound Advantage's next-generation communications products to implement the latest speech-recognition technology to better serve their customers," said Denny Michael, Vice President of Marketing, Sound Advantage. "SANDi provides users with an extensive list of speech-enabled features and functionality to streamline their communications while meeting the stringent capital budget requirements of businesses in both the private and public sectors."

DCR Communications, a specialized dealer located in Grand Rapids worked with the City on the purchase, and provided a quick installation and thorough training of City employees on Sound Advantage's SANDi solution. According to Sophie Dunagan of DCR Communications, SANDi offers an attractive value proposition that they have been able to pass along to their customers. "Because it works with existing infrastructure, it is perfect for customers that don't have the means to heavily invest in new hardware."

About Sound Advantage

Established in 1997, Sound Advantage is a leading developer of voice activated solutions for the small to medium enterprise market. Specifically designed to extend the life of an enterprise's legacy communications infrastructure, the company's core product, SANDi(R) (Sound Advantage Natural Dialog Interface), facilitates call completion and provides features and functionality to meet the emerging mobility requirements of today's workforce. The SANDi family of products includes advanced communications solutions that speech-enable common office communications technology such as auto attendant, voice mail, dialing, PBX, e-mail and fax. For additional information, contact Denny Michael, Vice President of Marketing, Sound Advantage, 300 Commerce, Suite 100, Irvine, California. Phone: [phone]. FAX: [phone]. Access the company's website at www.soundadvantage.com.