BALTIMORE – Swedish Health Insurance Agency, (RFV), streamlines customer service with its RFV Telephone Service, an interactive voice response system facilitating health services for the 7.1 million people registered on its database.
The RFV service was developed using Envox Script Editor, a development package for voice, fax and computer telephony released first quarter by Envox, (U.S.) Ltd., Naples, FL, the U.S. division of Envox AB Ltd of Stockholm, a company specializing in application generators for computer telephony.
RFV, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, allows customers to register for 10 social insurance services, (of the 40 health insurance services that exist in Sweden) including parental leave for a sick child, using a touch tone telephone and a 020-number. It decreases what was once hours on the telephone to only a few minutes.
“It was an excellent way for us to increase our customer service,” said Thomas Wedin, Project Manager for the RFV Telephone Service. “It also alleviates the burden on our personnel resources which were hard pressed,” said Wedin.
Every year RFV receives 40 million telephone calls, roughly 5 new calls per second. The new Envox telephone system handles roughly 7 million of these calls.
The service is simple. Customers call the RFV 020 number and come to a menu. They push the corresponding number for the service that they need i.e. parental leave for a sick child. They enter their national insurance number followed by their sick child’s number. The numbers are checked for security reasons in the database. If something is wrong they are transferred to an appropriate RFV staff member. If the security check is cleared then they proceed with the registration.
An important advantage to the Envox Script Editor is the system’s ease of use, according to Karl Butler, Business Manager, Envox. “The customizable system can be handled in-house without the need for computer programmers.”
“The 32-bit Windows application generator is fast, comprehensive and affordable,” said Butler. “It drastically cuts application time.”
The script editor product combines drag-and-drop application building without the need to write a single line of code, intuitive flow chart-style scripts, a built-in compiler, unique HTML-to-fax conversion capabilities, and pre-programmed fax, text-to-speech and voice recognition functions, offering major versatility, completeness and ease-of-use advantages over other low-cost CTI application generators.
Each script is assembled from powerful predefined building blocks ranging from standard telephony functions such as Offhook, Onhook, Play, Call, Record and SendFax to more advanced functions such as HTML, RAS, POP3, Voice Recognition and Text to Speech. These building blocks eliminate the need for sophisticated programming, and they have a standard properties menu that make them quick and effective to use. Scripts can contain an unlimited number of user-defined blocks and variables for complete flexibility in building an application.
Envox Script Editor’s FileConv and HTML blocks allow HTML documents already published in an intranet, extranet or Internet application to be converted into fax documents for instant fax on demand delivery. Billing data can be inserted into an HTML page on the fly before conversion. Any number of files can be added to a document prior to sending the fax, including raw text, ASCII, and BMP, TIFF/F and PCX/DCX bitmap files. The use of HTML instead of Postscript or PCL for the creation of dynamic fax services cuts development time substantially.
Every ODBC-compliant database can be directly accessed from the script editor, making it possible to enter any SQL statement into a script for functions such as checking credit card balances, tracking shipping dates or entering database information into an HTML document. External programs written in Visual Basic, Delphi or C can be directly accessed from within the script by adding a Call-DLL or DDE Block, allowing the easy addition of applications such as screen pops.
Envox Script Editor makes it possible to play Dialogic or Pika, Mu-law, A-law and Wave files within the same script. This mix-and-match capability offers maximum flexibility and eliminates the need to purchase separate versions for each format, as required by many high-end CT platforms.
In addition to error checking during compilation with a graphical error report, the script editor makes it possible to handle database, memory or other operation errors without shutting the system or part of the system down. Using predefined error blocks that require no code writing, applications can be easily configured to correct errors by a default or user-defined setting.
The Envox Script Editor is part of a suite of products called the Envox CT Studio that also includes the Envox Control Panel and Envox Wave Editor. Envox Control Panel is a native 32-bit Windows application designed to interpret the executable scripts created by the Envox Script Editor. Envox Wave Editor is a native 32-bit Windows application for creation and editing of sound files. The sound files can be separate voice files or stored into one indexed file for faster access and development.
