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|In: Android|Last Updated: | 2 Comments
Last week we reviewed an Android/iOS app named VocalBee and this week, we have a Q&A with Atul Tatke one of the co-founders of VocalBee. The chat revolves around VocalBee, his views on startups and his tips for entrepreneurs. So, let’s start with the candid interview ..
Can you give a small background of your startup & it’s co-founders ?
We are four of us that are working on this venture. Two of the founder members have been working on voice & mobile technology startup Hummingbytes. Another one comes from smartphone development background. He was a part of the company which got bought over by a big technology company. The fourth one comes from Restaurant and Retail industry. He has deep experience in Business and Technology consulting.
How did you guys come up with the idea of “VocalBee” ?
VocalBee is a spinoff of the idea that got conceived in Hummingbytes. Some part of the engine was built and used in Call Center & other customer service centric implementations.
Which are the areas where you feel VocalBee would be very effective ?
We concentrate on three kind of communications – Question, Idea & Feedback. Also we are concetrating on local government and businesses. I think we will be effective where citizens and consumers want to have quick communication of above type. Location based service is also another key point of the system. Events and promotion is also another feature which is very appealing when you mix it with location based service.
In addition to above mentioned areas, we will be able to capture client specific structured feedback once business is onboard with us.
Can you explain a bit more as to how the entire flow goes from when user sends suggestion/idea to VocalBee [i.e. what happens when I file a complaint of Pothole in my area, where the complaint will go etc. and user can keep track of it] ?
Government Setup: So, if you are in an area in Bangalore and came across a big pothole. Currently there is no easy way for you to raise your concern. With VocalBee you can take a picture, write about it and send it to the city. This communication will be going to a special page that we have designed for India. Also this communication will be going to our Twitter and Facebook. We are also analyzing this data that is coming & eventually will be presenting it to the government.
We will also try to get government to buy into it and give them the account. At this time it will become a claimed account. With claimed account, government can be directly in touch with citizens. They can broadcast events like street construction, water or electricity outage etc. In the US we are working with a couple of towns and their response is very good. They are working closely with us.
Business Setup: You visit the restuarant and like the food. Currently you can go on Zomato or Burrp and give the review. The review goes in social sphere. With VocalBee you give review to the business and we will connect with the business & send your communication to them. Businesses that come on board will be able to have one-on-one connection with consumer. Businesses can also send promotions, events on this established connection. We also have a concept of Wall where other people can answer or vote on public communication. We already have more than half a dozen businesses on this platform in the US.

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|In: Android|Last Updated: | 3 Comments

How many times do we complain to others about the potholes, poor maintainance of parks, dirty roads, endless constructions nearby our area but have found no solution rather than cribbing about it. This article does indicate that the Indian government is spending good amount of money for the making the roads better  !!! Also, it does make a difference when many people “shout out” about the same issue rather than one person talking about it… Well in such situations VocalBee , an Android/iOS based app can come to your rescue.

VocalBee is a “Location Based” app that uses the strength of crowdsourcing to empower the user to do just one thing i.e. “BE HEARD“.  Be it sharing feedback about good customer service at a nearby restaurant, to complaining about the bad condition of roads or complaining to the government authorities about street lights etc., VocalBee helps you to close the circle i.e. it ensures that your query/complaint/feedback reaches the right destination 🙂

VocalBee has three target segments:

  1. Consumers – Provides a platform to voice out their opinions/suggestions/complaints & ensures that it reaches the right destination so that the consumer can keep a track of the same.
  2. Government – Helps them to cater issues raised by the consumers & keep them informed about the progress of their issue; which in turn would help to reduce the overall cycle time.
  3. Businesses – Acts as a collective medium to take “Honest Feedback” from the consumers which would help them to improve their service & in turn get more business.

Installation

I installed the app on my Android device as well as on my iPod Touch & installed without any hassles. Now we would walk through the features of the app & it’s usefulness.

Startup Page

The “Introduction” page explains the complete idea behind the app and how it would be useful to the users as well as for local businesses.

Usage

With VocalBee, you can either submit an Idea, Question or Feedback. Just like other location based apps like FourSquare, VocalBee shows the list of the nearby places for which the user can submit either of them.

There is an option to click a photograph and attach it to your query which also acts as an evidence of your problem. I posted couple of issues e.g. endless construction of roads nearby my apartment & many people did give a “thumbs up” to the issue & this is where the real power of VocalBee can bee seen i.e. Community Involvement.

Social Media Integration

VocalBee does a good job of integrating Twitter & Facebook through which users can share their “queries” on these Social networks. The UI is clean and makes the app very easy to use. The user also has the facility to keep a track of their queries online through the VocalBee website

Final Verdict & Suggestions

I have been using VocalBee for few weeks & it looks a great tool where you want your unattended issues to be solved & that is the power it gives to the consumers !!! However, there are a couple of suggestions –

  1. Photos taken real-time can only be attached to your query/suggestion/complaint which means the App does not allow to “attach” an already taken photo from the Media Gallery. This feature would really be helpful in cases where you have already seen a problem but forgot to submit the complaint to VocalBee. Also, problems can be seen at any place & at anytime !!!
  2. The life-cycle of the query was not very clear for eg. If I file a “complaint” for potholes against my local authority; to which department the complaint has reached i.e. the flow of the query from “new” -> “In Progress” -> “Closed” can be made a bit transparent.
  3. A further extension could be allowing the users to post “Videos” as well in which case, VocalBee would act just like a Citizen Journalist for consumers 🙂

VocalBee can be downloaded from the Android Market from here. You can also download it on your iPhone or iPod Touch from here. Do give VocalBee a spin and share your feedback in the comments section…