The latest voice 2.0 launch to cross my inbox is a company called Fonolo–and their solution is really really awesome. As a Fonolo user, you’ll be able to shortcut throug those annoying option-dialing menus you normally have to deal with when calling big companies–like the airline, or the electric company for example. This is particularly true if you call the same companies all the time and you’re getting tired of telling them over and over that you want your session in English, not Spanish. Or perhaps that you want your session in Spanish.
Either way, Fonolo solves the problem. Their web-based interface shows you a hierarchical layout of a particular company’s menu, so you can click right to the step in the menu that you want before you even pick up the phone. Fonolo dials through the menu (rapidly) and your cell phone rings. When you answer, you’re already at the point in the menu where you want to be. Seconds, not minutes.
I’m thinking about half-jokingly telling the Fonolo folks that every web menu should have an option labeled “get me a human”, because dealing with the Electric Company or the Mortgage Company can be a real runaround–sometmes you just want a human to talk to. Fonolo will get you to that human a lot quicker.
