Technology: Hello! This is Voice Mail Speaking

(2 of 2)

Enthusiasts insist that the systems not only improve productivity but actually enhance human interactions by eliminating wasted calls and unproductive rounds of "telephone tag." Conventional office phone calls are surprisingly inefficient, according to studies performed by Travelers before the Hartford-based insurance company switched to voice mail. Gus Bender, a vice president for data processing, reports that three out of four calls do not reach the desired party or yield the information needed, and that when written messages are taken, nine out of ten contain at least one error. Now, using an extensive voice-mail system, 12,000 field and office workers cut through the chitchat, communicating cleanly and efficiently through digitally stored messages, some 31,000 a day. Says Bender: "It's the most important piece of office automation we've installed since the paper copier."

Voice-message systems seem to be everywhere, dispensing everything from medical services ("If you have a medical emergency, press 1") to dial-a-porn ("Press 4 for something kinky"). Curtis Hatcher of Greenwood, Fla., uses his voice-mail system to run a hot line for peanut farmers. In St. Petersburg, the Pinellas County sheriff's department uses one to communicate with informants. The new telephone companies have spawned a whole genre of for- profit voice-mail services like Touch-Tone Baseball, a popular game that allows callers to answer trivia questions like "How many bases did Ty Cobb steal in his rookie year?" (Answer: two.)

Not everyone is enamored of voice mail, however. Households with rotary phones, for example, cannot use the systems without upgrading to Touch-Tone and paying a monthly surcharge. Many people complain that the stored messages tend to be long-winded and awkwardly organized, forcing callers to field long series of multipart questions just to get a simple answer. Others find that the calls they place to automated message systems are less likely to be returned than messages left with human secretaries.

And because these devices are basically complex computer systems, they invite the kinds of problems that have become endemic to the electronic age. For example, there are voice-mail hackers who use personal computers to infiltrate commercial message systems. In one case, interlopers succeeded in replacing a Chicago-area company's greeting message with off-color wisecracks. And anyone who has ever wrestled with a modern office phone can sympathize with the California man who pressed the wrong button and sent a private love message to the entire department.