ATA Retail Services Selects LumenVox for Advanced Workforce Automation System

San Diego, CA and Fremont, CA (OCT 7, 2003) — LumenVox, a provider of speech recognition software for telephony applications, in partnership with COHM Technologies and NeoSpeech, announced today that ATA Retail Services has selected LumenVox's Speech Platform, for its new automated merchandise ordering and shipment system servicing more than 800 field merchandising personnel. ATA Retail Services (ATA) is the largest wholesale distributor of non–perishables to supermarkets in the United States, providing direct store delivery to more than 5000 supermarkets in more than 35 states.

Mike Gilson, Vice President of ATA Retail Services states, "By using a speech enabled system, our merchandisers realize significant time savings through 24–hour–a–day telephone access to information, from delivery status to new delivery days and product opportunities. The new system will enable us to continue our rapid growth and at the same time improve the efficiency of our ordering system — without adding additional staff."

As part of ATA's store ordering process, merchandisers in the past visited a store on a weekly or semi–monthly basis, then called in and left a voicemail with the items that needed to be restocked. That voicemail was manually transcribed and the order then sent to a warehouse for processing. Several days later, 25–40% of merchandisers generally placed a follow–up call to learn the status of their order. Under the newly automated system, the merchandiser calls an order into the speech–enabled system, which translates their speech into text and creates a warehouse order within an hour. Once the order is shipped, a Text–to–Speech message is generated so that the merchandiser can easily confirm shipping status. The system also provides a UPS tracking number, enabling workers to easily look up the time and date the merchandise is delivered to the store.

"ATA's system is a perfect example of the efficiencies created by a high quality speech enabled system that is possible for other companies," states Chris Lotspeich, Director of Marketing at LumenVox. "Also, the inclusion of NeoSpeech's VoiceText product, and the development expertise of COHM Technologies, provides the complete solution that ATA requires."

LumenVox's Speech Platform is a GUI–based toolkit that allows speech developers to quickly create their call flow and easily deploy an application. The Platform is supported by LumenVox's Speech Engine and Intel telephony cards.