1. Date : March, 01 , 2010 Publication : Transport World Africa Page Number: 37
INFO ECHNOLOCY
Transport technology to the rescue
WHILE VOICE ^
screen recording are by no means new tech-
nolog»es. ihey are evolving ai a rapid pace
to keep up with increasing regulatory require-
ments The transport industry is. among oth-
ers, governed by the South Alncan National
Standard Railway Safety Management (SANS
3000-1) which places emphasrs on the col-
lection, indexing, dimg and storage of safety
records and reports, including documentation
on occurrences and activities.
This brings us to a conundrum ol sorts:
how do sectors such as the transport industry
manage this ertormous amount ot information,
deriving the absolute essence from it to ensure
thai it becomes an effective business toot?
More importantly, how does it enable us to
meet the various regulatory requirements that
govern our respective industries''
A valuable contribution
To comprehend the above challenge, it is
important lo take a step back; dissecting voce
and screen recordings to understand just
lew effectively they can be used when man-
aged optimally Voce recording today spans a
number ol platforms, and includes solutions for
both fixed and mobile lines
Kgabo Badmmo. managing director at
Spescom' DataVoce. explains. "In the case
of computer telephony integration, these voce
solutions have been developed to integrate
wilh various telephony environments from
multiple vendors
Storage also forms a critical part of any
voice-recordmg solution and is usually backed
Kgabo Badmino. managing
director at Spescom
DataVolce
Radar-screen recordings can determine whether pilots and drivers
followed the correct safety procedures and help prevent future disasters
such as these experienced
up and stored on a myriad of sophisticated
and entrenched storage platforms such as
SAN (Storage Area Network). NAS (Network
Attached Storage) and DAS (Direct Attached
Storage) Screen recording adds another
level ol information availability lo the trans-
action management environment Jorian du
Toit. product manager at Spescom DataVoice.
explains. Without screen recording, it is usu-
ally diffcufl or impossible lo determine whether
data inconsistency resulted from the operator,
software or process errors For example, while
a conversation might indicate lhat an agent
captured information correctly, the screen
mighl show the contrary It is thnrelore an
important tool in ensuring lhat service delivery,
particularly in mission-critcal circumstances, is
delrvered optimally." In an equally critical sce-
nario, a small plane almost collides with a pas-
senger iet The owner claims the plot followed
the instructions The radar screen recording,
however, paints an eniirety different picture
showing thai the pilot did not follow instructions
10 change altitude As a result the pitoi is lined
and his licence is suspended
Simplitication and management
The now famous prediction by intellectual
capital pioneer. Professor Nick Bontis. which
proclaims thai by 2010 the cumulalrve codified
knowledgebase ol tfie world wilt double every
11 hours, seems to hold true when one con-
siders voce and screen recordings So how
does the transport industry make sense ol all
Ihis information and, more importantly, ensure
it adds value to Hie business9
A distributed
solution framework is the answer - a system
thai offers a unified view ol all data through a
simple and easy-lo-use interface regardless
of the actual location of the data According
lo Francois Visagie. product manager at
Spescom DataVoce. a distributed solution
framework will provide the user with immediate
access to voce and screen recording regard-
less ol their actual location With ttie use of
a control tool, one can seaich for a specilc
occurrence It wiH lock in on the event tn ques-
tion and provide the information immedialery
This (unclionalily is further strengthened by an
accurate and oiturlrve search feature.
For example, when investigating a rail transport
modem it will be dose to impossible lo locate
among millions the relevant voce recordings
and correctly synchronise them with playback
ol signalling instructions On Ihe other hand,
il Ihe signalling and recording syslems are
integrated and a specilc event is selected lor
investigation, the signalling system immediate-
ry loads the required recordings and correclry
sequences them
Additionally, a distributed solution frame-
work enables users to marvige their agents
m a cohesive, central and simplilied manner
regardless of their geographc location It fur-
Ihermore provides access lo speech analytic
results via the web 3S
'Spescom «s a JSf-bsted compute opcf,aa>g mtnelCI
(ftiftymafto/t and Commmcatonstechnology)sector
Founded "i '977.ffnsSoulfi Alncan company has devel
opedand debuted a numoet ol ncfliW technolo&es.
as iwfl us "Tomfw product* atxl srywees lo local and
global matots
TWA 34 I 2010-37
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