If you are more comfortable speaking orders than typing them, Vangard Voice Systems has just the thing. Its AccuSpeechMobile MVP (mobile voice platform) can voice-enable any application, leaving hands free and eyes up so that you can continue working while a mobile B2B application is updating in the background. Vangard claims to be different from past proprietary, server-based systems because all of the action happens right at the handset.
“We are not network-dependent, not server-dependent, and we can voice-enable any device,” Vangard CEO Bob Bova says.
The value proposition: Instead of punching in numbers, scanning a bar code, or typing a message, which require workers to stop the task at hand, users can talk and continue what they are doing, increasing productivity.
Also, the payback on voice picking systems, which increase safety in warehouses and plants, is six to 12 months, research and consulting firm Datamonitor says. Many companies are recognizing the potential. Datamonitor predicts global spending on voice solutions will rise to $247 million by 2014, from $119 million in 2008.
Vangard offers a software development kit, which OEM partners, such as Intermec and Motorola, and systems integrators turn into industry-specific applications. For example, a fleet inspector could walk around a truck and say, “Exterior of car is fine,” prompting the fleet management application to check all relevant boxes at once, saving the operator from manually sifting through a checklist.
“The magic is our finite grammar sets for each individual field that not only recognize an utterance, but simultaneously attribute action to it,” Bova says.
Working with any mobile Windows operating system — a version for Java-based applications is planned for rollout this year — the toolkit includes a speech engine from Nuance Communications and locally stored grammar sets. Vangard’s voice-directed user templates are mapped to the action of the application and can be tuned to a user’s voice.
While Vangard has been in business since 2001, the developer’s kit was created in 2003. Bova has been a driving force behind the company since he came onboard in 2005. “The fact is, voice [enabling applications] is hard. But we have the right combination of people who look at the problem in a new way,” he says.
Data Points
Year founded: 2001; developer’s toolkit that treats voice as software created in 2003