CallFire

A few months back, QuesGen Systems was approached by OneWorld Health with a unique project.  They were tasked to collect and analyze data from developing contries who were participating in a research study.  Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates, OneWorld Health was investigating different medication to cure malaria.

Rather than use traditional methods of paper questionares or text, QuesGen discovered CallFire’s Integrated Voice Response (IVR) software, using text-to-voice.  Participants heard questions asked in their own language, and submitted their answers by choosing an answer on the keypad.  This allowed data to be aggregated immediately and save time on the administration side.

CallFire was able to set up the user interface with in two weeks, allowing the deployment to take place on time.  QuesGen is considering using IVRs domesically for research on diseases including diabetes.

If you have any questions about how CallFire can be integrated for health care companies, click here

To read more of our case studies, click here

The CallFire team will be manning booth # 319 at IT Expo West next Tuesday Sept 1 – Thursday Sept 3 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Come by, talk to us, learn about our products, and get to know the team.  We will also have give-aways, so come by and see what we have!

CallFire API developers get exclusive access to Voice XML with answering machine detection. This powerful new feature allows you to specify completely different execution paths for either when a live person answers or an answering machines picks up.

As our API customers know, Voice XML is our way of giving you full control of the call. The moment the phone’s picked up, your Voice XML script is executed. This new feature now allows you to specify two separate scripts. One to be executed in case of a live answer, and another in case of an answering machine. This ensures that applications like weather notifications, mass volunteer mobilizations can ensure full coverage regardless of a human or machine answer. The no-frills technical details are available here.

As always, if you have any questions do let our developers know at techsupport (at) callfire.com. It gets lonely at our Skunkworks lab, and they’d love to hear from you.

Do you use a hosted-CRM utility?  Do you use CallFire’s Virtual Call Center?  If your answer is ‘Yes’ to both of these questions, your VCC agents might benefit from a link to your CRM platform, directly within the CallFire Agent Popup screen.

When a call is connected, your agent sees the SugarCRM contact instantly.  Here is an example:

How it works
If you embed this code in your Excel list, for each phone number, it will place a clickable link in the Agent pop-up window.   The link will open your browser based CRM.

Example code
2132212200<name of person>,<iframe src=”<<<<<  embed html link here >>>>>>>>>>>” width=”100%” height=”500″><p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p></iframe>/

<a href=”<<<insert crm link here>>>”><img src=”<<<insert image location here>>>” alt=”Call Me Now!” /></a>

Don’t want to use Javascript? Try:
<a href=”<<<put link here>>>” target=”callfireCrm”>Open CRM</a>

Want even more control? You can take your integration a step further with CallFire Voice APIs.   Developers can easily use SOAP web services calls to inject data directly to your Agent’s CRM interface, in real time!   Visit the CallFire Developer Wiki or call 877.897.3473. 

Say that 5 times fast!   A lot goes into a well made Voice Mashup.  Not only do Voice Mashup API apps have to find a target audience, but in order to gain popularity it is essential that they generate plenty of location-specific content.  One of CallFire’s earliest clients, GeoGraffiti.com has done a pretty good job at that.  

GeoGraffiti’s Voice Map has grown from a 3-user proof-of-concept, to over 10,000 users on iPhone, Android & GeoGraffiti.com, all in less than 1 year.

The CallFire team is happy to help enable GeoGraffiti’s success by providing Voice Mashup APIs that scale, and a hosted IVR platform that handles recording, inbound IVR, and other Voice API features that drive GeoGraffiti’s Phone Mashup.

Check out some of our favorite Voice Mashups:
GeoGraffiti.com – this site seems to have the most traction & users.
Woices.com – An interesting voice map with a cool UI.
SayNow.com – SMS/Voice Mashup for Celebs.

Voice Mashup links:
PC World on Voice Mashups.
Saunderslog.com’s Voice Mashup Concast.
Thomas Howe’s take on Voice Mashups.

Want to personalize your message? Want to make the message warmer? Well, if you’re a developer or have a developer, we have a recipe ready for you!

Good news for CallFire Developers. The Recording Service API is now documented in our WIKI. As always, let us know if you have questions or comments.

We’re slowly building out our developer WIKI, part of which includes providing AS-IS (i.e., with no guarantees and warranties) goodies that our API clients can then use to build apps around our CallPeer telephony infrastructure. One such goody is a PHP based web sign-up form that integrates directly with their CallFire account. Further information is available here.