Super-ATMs and Dictation over the Net

CyberTranscriber Internet Secretary Now Online

Application Breakthroughs:

Super-ATMs and Dictation over the Net

After seven years spent developing its new Super-ATMs (automated teller machines), Docunet Inc. reports that Document Delivery Master Distributors (DMDD) will soon start to deploy the machines across the US. Linked over phone lines, the machines will turn ATM sites into general-purpose providers of anything from cash to concert tickets.

US consumers may soon be able to use ATMs at banks and supermarkets to buy event tickets, airline tickets and delivery services, and prepaid phone cards. Other uses could include getting cash and electronic money, and recharging stored value or "smart cards."

Docunet claims ATMs have been a great success story of the last couple of decades, changing the economics of the banking industry, providing a new level of convenience to the consumer, and helping banks turn a cost center (banking through a teller) into a profit center (banking through an ATM).

The money involved is not trivial. In the US, 165,000 ATMs conduct 11 billion transactions a year. Worldwide, more than 300,000 ATMs dispense cash. Single-purpose ATMs are multiplying at over 30 percent per year and will reach one million units by 2001, said DDMD.

Consumers pay an average fee of $1.11 to get cash from ATMs away from their own branches. In the US, according to the firm, converting ATMs to multipurpose dispensers will add a potential $100 billion in airline ticket sales, $50 billion for traveler’s checks, and $5 billion for event tickets.

In the travel industry, the ability to make reservations and deliver tickets, boarding passes, itineraries and confirmations through ATMs will save a significant portion of the current estimated $40 overhead cost per ticket, adding to profit margins.

DDMD and Docunet say they will license the enhanced ATMs within "defined marketing territories." In addition to adding new functions to existing ATMS, the firms expect to install new ATMs in office buildings, business parks, universities, and airports. They say there also is a market to retrofit or replace up to 13,000 satellite ticket printers at corporate facilities.

(Contact: Scott Thompson, DDMD, 800-278-2542)

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CyberTranscriber Internet Secretary Now Online

Speech Machines, a privately held California firm that wants to bring speech recognition into mainstream business use, has launched an Internet-based automatic transcription service. The CyberTranscriber service, for which free trials are available, accepts dictation over the phone and returns transcriptions as word-processed, spelling-checked files via e-mail.

Speech Machines President Mike von Grey says the idea behind CyberTranscriber is to make more productive the time people lose in "wait states" at places like no-data-lines hotels, airports, or in traffic jams. Particular targets are "road warriors," sales forces, and others who need fast-response typing but who have no keyboards handy.

"Our view is that there are a number of different ways to create documents, from doing them yourself to having a secretary or dedicated typist do it, to using a combination of speech recognition products," von Grey said. "We’re combining speech recognition with a service delivery model, to give people a highly flexible, easily accessed method to create reports, memos, and letters."

He added: "People spend countless hours in cars, airports, trains, and other such places, not being very productive. Just for example, a salesman who just completed an important sales call can do a complete report while the session is still fresh in his mind by dictating into a voice memo machine in his car, or he can pick up his car cell phone and dictate directly. The report will be waiting as a verbatim word-processed file in his inbox when he gets back to office."

Free client software provided to subscribers will let users of Microsoft Word for Windows review their documents with integrated audio playback. The cursor follows the words on-screen while an automated voice reads the text, like a high-tech version of "follow the bouncing ball" sing-alongs in 1940s animated cartoons.

The firm claims its speech recognition software, tied to automatic voice-learning and at-need human review, is as accurate as more traditional secretarial services but is much cheaper. Von Grey cited $6-$8 per page as typical for traditional services, versus $2.50-$3 a page using CyberTranscriber.

Delivery by way of the Internet makes the service available worldwide, von Grey added, providing an "economy of scale" that allows low costs to users.

Documents are transcribed and routed back to subscribers in one business day, although three-hour turnaround is available. A one-time registration fee of $29.95 has been waived for the first 1,000 users, the firm said. A $9.95 per month subscription entitles users to $14.00 worth of free transcription. That works out to four pages or four separate jobs, said von Grey. The no-charge trial is available at the firm’s web site at http://speechmachines.com

(Contact: Ron Kalb, A&R Partners, 650-363-0982, E-mail ron_kalb@arpartners.com)

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