AT&T Corp is preparing to begin trials of a new service, instant Answers (iA), that is designed to bridge the gap between call center applications and companies’ Web pages. Although the service brings little in the way of technological advances, it nevertheless looks like an interesting application: on iA-enabled Web sites, users wanting to speak to a company representative have the option of entering their phone number, which is then passed to the company’s call center, generating a phone call in response. Since the call center operators will be aware of which page the user has just been looking at, the phone call request can be passed to somebody in the correct department, says AT&T, although it admits that one drawback with the service is that users accessing the Internet via a modem will need two phone lines – one line for the Web connection, and the other for the voice conversation. A second feature of the service then allows the call center operator to download’ photos or diagrams to the user (for example to illustrate other available products), which automatically appear on the user’s screen. The trial is due to begin in October, with a commercial service following next year. Although AT&T is using the trial to assess the correct tariffing for the service, it will nevertheless be charged on per-transaction basis.
