Voxsmart Establishes Market Leadership For Mobile Voice Recording In The Financial Sector

Voxsmart, the mobile phone recording specialist, has announced that it has achieved a leading market position in the provision of mobile voice recording solutions to the financial sector.  In the month leading up to 14th November, the day that the FSA mobile call recording requirements came into force, Voxsmart successfully deployed its innovative VoxRecord software to well over 10,000 handsets, from large-scale on-premise deployments (including 7 of the World’s Top 25 banks by  Tier 1 capital) to single hosted deployments for boutique fund managers.

According to John Enoch, the founder of Voxsmart:  “The last couple of months have been exceptionally busy as many financial institutions left it very late in the day to select the best solution and the Voxsmart team worked around the clock to meet this last minute demand.   We are already planning future development to enhance functionality, make the user experience even better and take the technology into a number of new market sectors.”

To handle this increase in demand, Voxsmart has recently completed a major recruitment programme.  This has enabled the company to strengthen key areas of the business including marketing and business development, project management, technology and administration.

Paul Manyweathers, who heads up Voxsmart’s sales and marketing function, added:  “Now that it is mandatory for mobile phones to be recorded in the financial sector, we expect to continue winning new FSA compliance accounts over the coming months.  We also anticipate that the banks that deployed cloud-based solutions as a short term tactical response to meet the deadline will switch to VoxRecord to better meet their long term recording strategies and security requirements when they have had more time to evaluate the other options.”

Notes to Editors:
VoxRecord solutions automatically and seamlessly set up a mobile network-based 3-way call to connect smartphone calls for real time recording on any landline voice recorder.  They rely on the availability of the mobile voice network (as opposed to the less reliable data network) to make recorded calls.  All calls are automatically recorded for regulatory compliance and, as required by the FSA’s PS10/17, users are unable to bypass this process.  Calls can be made or received as normal without requiring special training prior to using the system.  All calls are kept on the mobile network and the second call which connects to the recorder is typically included free of charge in mobile contracts so there are no new fixed line call charges to account for.

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GM’s new Chevrolet Spark

The last time we heard of anything stirring up the US electric car market was the second generation of Nissan LEAF which, with a huge price drop, extended range and upgraded warranty, appeared much more promising. And as it promised, Nissan has managed to significantly improve its US electric car sales numbers. The new LEAF, out in March this year, has consistently beaten its arch rival Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid in sales numbers. The vehicle, which reported modest sales of 400-500 units a month last year, has almost quadrupled sales year-over-year, so much so that the automaker’s US arm is struggling to meet demand.

Can GM, which has finally brought a more appropriate rival (in terms of fair comparison) to LEAF in the market, further charge it up?

The all-new Chevrolet Spark all-electric car has gone on sale in the US, though initially only in California and Oregon (GM plans to gradually expand sales to pan-US over the next year). The vehicle has been launched at a price of under USD20,000 after factoring in the US federal tax credit of USD7,500. That is almost at par with the base model of LEAF after credit, and is way below the price of other electric car rivals including Ford Focus electric, Honda Fit EV, Fiat 500e, and the other more comparably-sized Mitsubishi i-MiEV hatch.

GM seems to have got the price right, but that’s not all that matters. What about range? That’s another area where GM may have done its due, having awarded over 80 miles of real world range to the 3,500 pound car. That is made possible with a 21kWh battery pack containing over 330 cells and an 85kW electric motor, combining to deliver 400lb-ft of torque. Top speed of the car stands at 90mph and zero to 60mph takes about 7 seconds. Several car reviews describe the vehicle to be agile and fun to drive, handling smoothly and quite comfortable in front and rear despite the small frame.

The vehicle can be charged using a 120V charger which is included with the car; a 240 volt charger kit is optional. Spark EV is also claimed to be the first vehicle featuring the SAE J1772 combo connector which allows for fast DC charging of the battery (up to 80% capacity) in less than 20 minutes.

At an effective price under USD20,000 and the small power-packed EV, GM may have done a good job with Spark EV but skepticism on the vehicle being just a compliance car remains.  And that will continue to be there until we see how well (or not) users embrace this newest electric car on the block. In a recent interview with Auto News, Cristi Landy, marketing director for Chevrolet’s small and electrified vehicles recognizes the challenge when she says, “The difficult thing is that it’s a small, slow-growing market that a lot of players are moving into”. GM executives are visibly wary of showing too much enthusiasm on the vehicle’s prospects and have clearly stated that the initial production of the vehicle in South Korea will remain modest (the vehicle will also go on sale in Korea and Europe later this year).

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