Who isnt familiar with that ultimate frustration you arrive home and just as you reach the door, you hear the phone ringing. Desperately digging for your house keys, you drop your packages, manage to open the door and dash in. Lunging for the phone, you lift the receiver... only to be greeted by a dial tone.
by Daniella Ashkenazy
Since the phone company, Bezek, inaugurated its "Last Call" service, Israelis have been spared this all-to-common aggravation. By dialing a three digit code *42 the phone system automatically dials the last call directed to the unanswered phone. Every month there are about two million requests for this service.
"Last Call" is only one of a series of innovative services many free, a few for a nominal monthly fee that Bezek has introduced or plans to introduce in coming months. Ironically only a decade ago, Israel had one of the most antiquated and under-developed telephone systems in the world. The number of calls leading to wrong numbers was legendary and one could wait up to seven years for a new telephone to be installed. In the wake of privatization and the introduction of state-of-the-art digital switching systems on a nation-wide basis, Bezek has been able to build what in communication technology jargon is called an "intelligent network" capable of automatically monitoring and directing phone traffic. This capability has allowed Bezek to woo and wow customers with a host of perks that many western subscribers only dream about.
Yigal Alfassi, deputy manager of Bezeks marketing department says its a win-win operation. Many of the services that the company has initiated not only provide useful services for customers but if adopted on a wide scale which the services are usage makes the entire system more efficient and enhances corporate profits.
Many phone companies have "Call Waiting" signals indicating that a second party is trying to call the busy line and allowing a customer to interrupt the conversation to see who it is. Bezek also offers this service, including the option of directing the second caller to the voice mail of the desired party. But thats not all. There is also a "Call Waiting" feature that eliminates the necessity of waiting and re-dialing.
When one gets a busy signal, rather than putting the line on automatic re-dial or dropping everything else to repeatedly re-dial, Israelis can dial another three-digit code *41 replace the receiver and do something else until the party they wish to reach has finished talking. The phone system will notify the caller by a special ring when the desired line is available. All one has to do is lift the receiver and the phone rings the partys number forthwith. If the line is busy again, a recorded announcement says so, and the system continues to "wait in ambush" for the desired party unless the caller cancels the request with another easy-to-remember, three-digit code *61.
Every month there are one million requests for this free service. Alfassi says its not only a matter of making life easier for customers and freeing untold callers to do something else while they try to get through to a tied-up line, it is also a boon to efficiency in the workplace. These same individuals, he points out, are not tying up telephone lines by re-dialing the same busy number time-after-time and thus, the companys communications infrastructure operates at a much higher level of efficiently.
In another move, the phone company walked off with a significant share in the market for answering machines. By offering a fail-safe digital "Voice mail" system run by the phone company provided for a nominal fee of less than $2 a month Bezek has attracted a full 30% of all its subscribers! Not only is the voice quality exceptionally clear, but subscribers will soon have voice mail that identifies whether the incoming call is a phone call or a fax. Moreover, a "Family Voice Mail" option will allow subscribers to split their voice mail into individual mail boxes for each member of the family ("If you want to leave a message for Jack - dial 1, for Jill - dial 2"). This will save parents from having to wade through and write down all the messages for their offspring on the family answering machine, and yet another new service can control the use of phones by phone-crazed teenagers.
Parents can already rig the family phone system with a "Smart Block" service, so that phones in the kids rooms can receive calls but not initiate them. If they want to dial a friend, they have to come out in the open. Actually, the service was designed for business establishments that want to keep employees from using company phones to conduct private business a habit which developed in Israeli society in times when not everyone had a phone at home. There are 150,000 subscribers that have ordered this service to block outgoing calls from extensions in the workplace or at home.
Another new service unique to Israel is targeted at small businesses and is a modification of popular toll-free numbers, perhaps best labeled "Dutch treat." Geared for the budget of small businesses that cant afford to foot the bill for all incoming calls on an "800" line, it allows service providers to generate new customers by meeting potential clients half way. The new "700" line service now being launched will split phone charges between the caller and recipient.
Bezeks marketing success reflects the fact that Israelis on all socio-economic levels adopt new technologies rapidly. Israel has one of the highest number of computers, videos, faxes and Internet users per capita in the world. Penetration of cellular phones in Israel is phenomenal 2.3 million cell phones in a population of less than six million. While this is partially due to cheap user rates, the desire to be accessible at all times, prompted another free perk: a unique "Follow Me" service.
No more waiting at home for an important call! Subscribers can temporarily re-route all calls to any particular number regular or cell phone and simply pay the additional charge for the call from the home phone to the destination of the number designated. Thus, for instance, parents can go out to shop, or to a friends house or cafe without missing a call, for example, from a child in the army or back-packing abroad.
Alfassi says that while the ideas for some of the services originated elsewhere, Israeli marketing personnel like their counterparts in R&D tend to "tinker" with existing product designs to make them innovative. Thus, Bezek offers a service that, for the nominal charge of three local calls, allows a person to order an automatic "wake-up" call at any hour of the day or night by dialing a code and punching in the desired hour to be awakened. Bezek now plans to increase use of this service and enhance corporate profits by turning home telephones into personal organizers as well: when one dials this service there will be an option to leave a recorded message, like "Daniella, Good morning. Its 7:00 AM. Dont forget to take" that will be repeated when the phone rings. Another twist to the same service will provide subscribers an up-scaled version of the once-popular "singing telegram." Designed for the dedicated-but-busy or the chronically-forgetful, callers will be able to send special recorded greetings on a birthday or anniversary recorded in advance and programmed to ring on an appointed date and time.
Yet, the ultimate service with maximum accessibility is still in the planning stages. Bezek intends to offer Israelis a "Personal Number." For those who want to be "on call" at all times there will be an option to subscribe to a single phone number that will automatically ring on a series of phones designated by the subscriber until it locates him/her, who in any and all circumstances is eager to talk whether at home, at the office, in the car or out for a walk.