REDWOOD SHORES, CA--(Marketwired - Jan 15, 2015) - Oracle (NYSE: ORCL)

News Summary

A Sales system is only as good as the sales data it holds, and most of this data comes from field sales representatives who are expected to enter it on their laptops and desktops. But typical reps spend 32% of their time traveling and waiting for meetings. During these times, the only device available may be a smart phone. No surprise then that current sales data may be delayed getting into sales systems, impacting sales leaders' visibility into sales activity.

Release 9 of the Oracle Sales Cloud brings Oracle Voice (officially "Oracle Fusion Voice Cloud Service for the Oracle Sales Cloud"), a speech-enabled virtual assistant that lets sales reps speak directly to the Oracle Sales Cloud on their smartphones. Oracle Voice represents Oracle's ongoing commitment to bringing the best user experiences to the Oracle Applications Cloud. It's a fast, friendly and fun way for reps to view their work, so they walk into meetings prepared. Walking out of meetings, they are able to quickly create Notes, Activities and Contacts, and update Opportunities while the information is still fresh in their minds. With increased usage, everyone benefits from current sales data, improved visibility from sales activities, and better sales decisions.

News Facts

  • Oracle first delivered voice user experiences in Oracle Fusion Mobile Expenses on the smartphone, and found such a great reception we decided to pursue other areas where it benefits the user.
  • The next most meaningful group of users were sales representatives, whose primary device is often the smart phone and whose primary job is talking.
  • Instead of relying on slow typing on a smart phone, sales reps can enter information three times faster by speaking to the Oracle Sales Cloud through Oracle Voice -- a key user experience improvement. Since details are precisely captured and follow-ups are quicker, deals are closed faster and more efficiently.
  • Oracle Voice focuses on letting field sales reps quickly accomplish a few key tasks that are frequent yet time-critical: creating and viewing Notes, Tasks, Appointments, Contacts and also editing and viewing Opportunities. For example, one-command access to Opportunity details and notes lets them walk into meetings better-prepared. Capturing sales information through notes and activities right after a meeting retains important details in the system that would otherwise be forgotten.
  • Oracle Voice allows users to switch between voice, touch, and typing as needed.
  • Users don't need any training to navigate and interact with Oracle Voice; they can simply tap and speak in a command. Oracle Voice takes them through a natural, conversational dialog to help them view or capture sales data in real-time.
  • The Oracle Applications Cloud, in this case, the Oracle Sales Cloud Release 9, provides a unique capability to deliver innovative user experiences, leveraging Nuance's automatic speech recognition and text-to-speech conversion.
  • Oracle Voice is currently only available in North America with support for US English.
  • In a recent study, 80% of Oracle field sales reps testing Oracle Voice said the product exceeded their expectations for productivity and ease of use.

Supporting Quotes

  • "Oracle's own sales organization was involved in developing Oracle Voice for the Oracle Sales Cloud. We wanted to be sure that the user experience is seamless, works well on mobile devices, and is easy for all sales reps to use," said Kate Fitzgerald, Group Vice President, Oracle Sales Automation.
  • "It understands me better than similar speech-enabled assistants do," said Andrew Dunleavy, Sales Representative, Oracle Fusion Middleware.
  • "Busy sales people on the go need to very quickly and effectively interact with their enterprise systems. With Oracle's enterprise experience, and Nuance's natural language processing, we have made it as simple as using their voice," said Jeremy Ashley, Vice President, Oracle Applications User Experience.
  • "Mobile smart phones and tablets are quickly becoming the leading devices for interacting with enterprise applications, and Oracle has led the way through our broad set of mobile apps. Working with Nuance, we are also leading the way in using speech interfaces to make it easier and more natural to interact with enterprise solutions," said Alan Fothergill, Vice President, Oracle Applications Development.

Supporting Resources

  • Download the app on the AppStore
  • Oracle Voice data sheet
  • See how a sales person uses Oracle Voice to be productive in this short video
  • See Oracle Voice in action in this short video
  • See how Oracle Voice helps get current sales data to supercharge the Oracle Sales Cloud in this short video
  • Read about the story behind the Oracle Voice user experience at the VoX blog
  • Read about recent presentation of Oracle Voice at the Israel Oracle User Group on the Usable Apps blog.
  • Oracle shares its top 10 guidelines for designing a voice user experience
  • For more information on user experience design strategy -- simplicity, mobility, extensibility -- visit the Usable Apps web site.
  • To read about our latest design initiative, glance, scan & commit, also visit UsableApps

The Oracle User Experience

User experience is a strategic investment area for Oracle. A clear example of this is our research and development on our applications cloud user experiences, with a focus on simplicity, mobility and extensibility. Oracle investigates first the capabilities of our next-generation cloud technology, built on Oracle Fusion Middleware, to create these product experiences, ranging from its simplified UI to wearable devices. We then look to leverage these innovations across our other product lines through user experience design patterns and associated development tools. Our goals are always to see a clear gain in end-user productivity and a return on our customers' investment in our applications and technologies.

About Oracle

Oracle engineers hardware and software to work together in the cloud and in your data center. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), visit www.oracle.com.

Trademarks 

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Safe Harbor Disclaimer:

The preceding is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for Oracle's products remains at the sole discretion of Oracle Corporation.

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