TORONTO, Canada - May 5, 2004 - The Messaging Industry Association (TMIA) Telephone Answer Committee today released the results of its latest research on voicemail migration. The research focuses on the migration of voicemail subscribers from current legacy technology to next-generation voicemail platforms. Preliminary results were first presented at TMIA's annual meeting in Miami by two of the committee members, JB Colletta and Paul Nussbaum.

Results May Change Voicemail Migration Theories
The research may change a common perception in the service provider industry: that subscribers would insist on seamless migration when being transitioned from one voicemail platform to another. The new research indicates otherwise: maintaining dynamic data such as greetings and stored messages is not a primary issue for most subscribers switching voicemail platforms. In addition, the research found that subscribers' transition difficulties can generally be resolved if the service providers offer consistent and precise communication about the changes.

The new research also corroborated findings from a previous survey showing that 80% of non-voicemail subscribers have never tried voicemail. This finding runs against the common industry-held perception that non voice-mail users are for the most part former users who have abandoned the service. For service providers, the results indicate a significant market for potential first-time voicemail customers.

Research Critical as Service Providers and Vendors Explore New Technologies
"The next few years will see a great deal of migration to the latest hardware and software technologies in the voicemail arena," said committee-member Paul Nussbaum. "As service providers invest significant resources into new technologies, it's critical for them to understand how their voicemail subscribers will react to change. The Telephone Answer Committee's work will continue to help them assess the market's needs, fears and desires."

"Knowing that there is still a significant portion of the market that has not used voicemail enables us to tailor both our offerings and our communication," said committee-member JB Colletta, "Service Providers may have previously focused efforts on understanding why subscribers gave up voicemail and how to bring them back. Now we can focus more on communicating the benefits of voicemail to a new audience."

The Telephone Answer Committee is composed of professional vendor and service-provider TMIA members who collaborate through regular conference calls to produce research that benefits the messaging industry. This research represents the committee's second project in 12 months, using 1500 randomly-selected adult respondents across North America. "The committee's next research project, which has already begun, will confirm these findings and explore further the fears and needs of our end-user customers," said Bill Ehlinger, who chairs the Telephone Answer Committee. "Our member companies planning migrations to the latest technology find any insight into customer attitudes invaluable."

About TMIA
The Messaging Industry Association, formed in 1998, is an open forum comprised of over 44companies including major service providers, prominent voicemail/messaging vendors, ASPs, customer premises equipment (CPE) providers and other parties. TMIA members share an interest in advancing the use of all messaging services in all markets, including SMS, UC, MMS and enhanced voicemail.

TMIA is actively recruiting members throughout the messaging industry. Those interested are encouraged to call 519-620-8668 or check the TMIA's web page at www.tmia.org.

« Back