Technology Reseller - v12 2018

technolog y reseller.co.uk 27 COMMUNICATIONS AI is all about making things even easier for the user and automating things that currently must be done manually by users and customers example by helping Citrix add support of WebRTC to their infrastructure. It was the first unified communications vendor to implement a WebRTC solution, with the launch of Kite, which enables customers to communicate with a company through its website, using chat and video calls. Then, in 2015, it launched a WebRTC desk phone and became the first company to implement a WebRTC web phone in a PBX infrastructure. Today, large, established PBX manufacturers are making big investments in the technology, but VoIP engineer Vasiliy Ganchev is confident that Wildix can maintain a lead over its rivals, pointing out that Wildix’s hosted PBX is the first implementation of WebRTC in the cloud and that it provides customers with much more choice over the type of phone they can use. “We are far ahead of other PBX vendors,” he said. “Some support a WebRTC phone, but that’s the only phone customers can use, whereas we provide a webphone, an Android phone and a desk phone, and customers can use whichever is most useful. That kind of implementation, with such broad functionality, is quite rare.” Ganchev adds that Wildix WebRTC phones are also more versatile and reliable than those offered by other vendors. “Some vendors might have some basic functionality: I call you, you answer and we speak, for example. But when I start video, you start video, you disable video or you make a transfer something usually breaks. To make a simple WebRTC phone is easy, but to make a WebRTC phone that works in all circumstances, with all other infrastructures, with all other devices and between different browsers is much harder. This we have already done,” he said. Lean software development In this context, another of Wildix’s strengths is its commitment to lean software development, which prioritises the rapid production of working code, with support for last minute changes, and close and daily co-operation between technical developers, business managers and QA teams. “It would take Avaya much more time to make a product like we have,” said Ganchev. “When we develop something, the time between an idea and implementation is very short. We don’t have all the red tape that people have to go through in big companies. We are always open and always fast. Of course, Avaya can make something similar, but they have lost time and when they do implement it, we will have implemented a lot of new features we have in the pipeline.” Osler adds that many of these make use of artificial intelligence, for which there is strong demand in the UK. “When we entered the UK and US, we saw much more interest in advanced features relating to AI, like the ability to create a transcript of voice mail and call recordings and intelligent IVRs that let you dial by name – services similar to Siri and Amazon Echo. That is what we are working on now,” he said. “AI is all about making things even easier for the user and automating things that currently must be done manually by users and customers.” New micro-services Examples of new micro-services due to be launched this year, many of which include AI functionality, include: n LiveVoice IVR. This doesn’t have to be programmed in advance but uses artificial intelligence to respond to what the caller says. For example, if someone says ‘I want to speak to Mr Smith’, it could reply ‘There are two Smiths. Do you want to speak to John Smith or David Smith?’; n Text to speech. This speeds up the creation of IVR programmes by removing the need for someone to record options. Instead, you can just type in the text and Continued ...