Sybase subsidiary iAnywhere has developed Answers Anywhere, a carrier-grade middleware platform featuring natural language and context-understanding capabilities.
Several wireless telecommunications carriers and independent software vendors (ISVs) have already deployed the product.
"This product is the next generation of technology in the Sybase fold," says Gerard Sofianos, manager of the Unwired Practice at Sybase SA. "The application allows access to information, no matter the type of device used or how users want to ask for the services they need.
"The service provider managed to boost their SMS traffic by 300% using this technology from Sybase. 95% of users adopted Answers Anywhere as their preferred interface because it's like a butler that finds information for you, whether you talk to it using e-mail, the Web or SMS."
Natural language interface technology provides users with a highly efficient and accessible method for people to request information from multiple back-end applications, databases or content sources. Possible applications of the technology abound.
Salesforce.com, the on-demand customer relationship management (CRM) business, uses Answers Anywhere to enhance and simplify its wireless offering.
"Sales and service people need to maintain productivity while on the road; this means providing them with real-time access to customer information wherever they may be," says Patricia Sueltz, executive VP and president of technology, marketing and systems at Salesforce.com. "When users in the field are discouraged by the complexity of mobile applications, they abandon them. That's why Answers Anywhere is such an important component for solving the complexity problem and increasing application adoption rates."
Salesforce.com is a hosted CRM service, which means companies without any CRM systems can use Salesforce.com in an outsourced model. Salesforce.com has used the Sybase technology to allow customers to retrieve contact details such as addresses, telephone numbers and account balances using, for instance, a cellphone. The customer simply sends a natural language SMS to the system, for example: "Give me the cellphone number for John Smith", which the system then uses to return the correct information. That's the strength of the Sybase natural language processing engine.
IDC's Steve McClure, program VP, Software Research Group, says: "A natural language system can be the most intuitive interface for humans seeking information. It can produce highly accurate responses that dramatically reduce search time and increase productivity. Answers Anywhere can enable the development of systems that require less training, are accessible to a wider audience, and can be deployed in a shorter period of time."
Answers Anywhere lets users bypass multi-layered menus and complex pull-down interfaces to access what they need quickly and reliably.
Answers Anywhere gives users the ability to formulate natural language questions such as: "Get me the phone number and address of an electrician in the Sandton area", using SMS, e-mail, Webforms and other channels of communication available to the user.
Answers Anywhere also provides direct access to application functionality for mobile and desktop users through Web, e-mail, voice and text messaging interfaces. Companies such as Veritext employ Answers Anywhere to provide Web and e-mail access to detailed court transcripts and legal information, making it easier for business professionals to find the information they need, when they need it.
Answers Anywhere has also been used to create and implement direct access to customised applications through single- and multi-modal interfaces.
Customised applications include telematic systems such as vehicle-based electronic dashboards, online navigation, information services and emergency assistance. For example, Toyota ITC is using the Answers Anywhere technology to develop in-car telematics applications to access a broad range of information and services.
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