Can Your Phone Do This?
By: Tracy Venters, Aastra Technologies Limited
Phones aren’t just for talking anymore. The astounding success of Apple’s App Store, with over 225,000 applications available and over 5 billion downloads to date demonstrates the fact that folks are using their phones to do a lot more than just make phone calls. Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian users have their own applications marketplace as well.
But what about desktop phones? Is the trend to use the phone to access applications previously only available on the PC limited only to mobile phones? After all, mobile applications are great because you don’t always have a computer handy. With desktop phones you usually do…or do you? There are a number of places where you can usually expect to find a phone, but not necessarily a PC. Building lobbies, warehouses, hotel rooms, hospital rooms and retail floors are a just a few examples. Additionally, computers can be slow to boot up or slow to connect through a browser. There are many instances where it makes more sense to have certain applications available via the desktop phone.
One category of applications that may be better suited for access via the phone is telephony type applications. For example, the phone can provide access to the corporate directory and even the availa¬bility of employees (available, at lunch, traveling, etc.). A visual voicemail application can allow users to scroll through a list of new and saved voicemails right on the phone screen, picking which ones to play or delete without having to listen to them all. The ability to define and alert multiple types of groups such Page groups, Ring groups and Voicemail Blast groups is also possible. Schmooze Communications’ PBXact solution includes a number of applications such as these tightly integrated into the Aastra phones.
Phone applications that tap into corporate databases can be very powerful. Human resource appli¬cations such as clocking in and out, and logging vacation or sick time can be per¬formed via the phone. Inventory lookups and reports, and tracking shipments are also possible at the touch of a button. Hotel maids can use a simple application on the phone in a guest room to indicate to housekeeping that it has been cleaned.
Another category of applications involves accessing media feeds and tools directly from the web. News, stock quotes, weather, area code lookups and world time converters are just a few examples. Alerts and notifications of all types can also be sent directly to the phone. There are many applications in all types of verticals such as education, hospitality, financial services and more, made possible via an application on the desktop phone.
eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is a widely adopted, open standard for delivering information to any Web interface and a great choice for developing applications on the phone; the data is displayed by the phone’s built-in browser. XML is a markup language like HTML. However, whereas HTML tells a browser or other application how to display data, XML is designed to carry data. The tags, which identify the type of data being carried, are not predefined so there is a lot of flexibility built in for applications that send or receive XML data.
Many of the industry leading SIP phones, including Aastra’s complete line, have a built-in XML browser capability. Aastra provides a comprehensive API and free development toolkit, as well as example applications and documentation to support application development. Many of Aastra’s customers have implemented valuable applications using this capability.
TriCorp Credit Union is a credit union that provides services to other credit unions. TriCorp employees receive a high volume of calls asking for rate quotes. Employees previously had to use several different websites to access up-to-the-minute rate quotes. By using an XML application to aggregate that data, they can now look up the rate right on their Aastra phone. This application has increased employee productivity and it allows faster lookups which increases customer satisfaction.
Victory Solutions provides another example. Victory VoIP is a multi-functional, portable phone bank solution which includes Hosted VoIP service and Aastra phones. Using XML, Victory has developed applications to simplify and automate activities associated with an election call campaign. Campaign volunteers have everything they need right on the phone: they can push a single button to dial the next call, or push another button to leave a pre-recorded voicemail while the next call is being made. Volunteers can even read survey questions and input the voter responses right on the phone screen!
There is no limit to the number of applications that can be implemented using XML on a SIP phone, making important data available via the touch of a button. To stimulate ideas and development, Aastra is currently sponsoring a worldwide XML application development contest. Submitted entries will be made available to the open source community via a BSD license. To register for the contest, or to find out more about XML applications on the phone, go to http://www.aastrausa.com/xml-contest.
Tracy Venters is Director of Marketing for Aastra USA, the North American business unit of Aastra Technologies Limited (TSX: “AAH”). Aastra is a leading company at the forefront of the enterprise communications market. With more than 50 million installed lines around the world, Aastra offers one of the most complete portfolios of unified communications solutions available today. www.aastrausa.com.
