I live in Los Angeles, so I spend more than my share of time stuck in traffic.
Often, to make the best use of that time I’ll try to set up phone calls to handle during the slow drive. If I’ve set an appointment in my Google Calendar, it will “usually” send me a text message with the number I need to call, but lately, those texts have been more sporadic than I’d like. But I still need to look down at my phone, unlock it and click on the number. It’s certainly safer than trying to dial and drive, but still not truly safe. In addition, sometimes that time in the car is best spent calling people out of the blue and just catching up. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to do that while you’re driving without being distracted by fumbling through an address book looking for numbers, or dealing with Siri’s still unperfected features.
What I Really Need To Be Productive In Traffic
What people like me need is an app that automatically dials a preset list of numbers – one after the other. I’d happily take a few moments before getting into the car to log in and choose who I wanted to call on my journey. I could then fire up the app and allow it to dial the numbers in order. I would need it to know when I hang up and then simply move to the next number on my list. The end result would be less distraction while driving and increased productivity and, hopefully, some planned serendipity. I’ve searched hard, but I can’t find one that does this.
No Frills Required
This doesn’t need to be a complex app. Give me a site to access to load up my list if I’m at my desktop. This would then sync with my app and be ready to fire up when I got in the car. Oh, and make it easy for me to browse my contacts as I get into the car so I can create a list on the fly, right in the app. That’s it. Just a list. Just dial the numbers for me… one after the other after the other.
I don’t think I’m asking for a lot here, but I’ve been known to drastically underestimate the complexity of development tasks. But I can already see myself hopping in the car, firing up this wonderfully simple app, and hitting the road while my trusty assistant dials up number after number of friendly voices to keep me entertained and productive on my slow crawls around Los Angeles.
Surely I’m not the only person out there having this mobile app dream. 🙂
I don’t get it – isn’t this what Siri is good for?
If you’ve ever tried to use siri with a database of contacts as large as mine, with funky last names, then you’ll know it still requires too much interfacing. Looking down to see which contact is the right one is not an option, nor is looking down to make sure you don’t have two mobile numbers even if there is only one contact, but multiple phone numbers. 🙂
As Siri continues to improve, this “need” may go away. But that is the nature of tech advancement.
Also, wouldn’t it be nice if it could integrate with a simple CRM, like Contactually, so when you got your list of people to contact that morning you could push them to your app and not have to remember to who you wanted to call? Just some thoughts. (I’m going to try less self-editing of thoughts I have in my brain.)
I love this idea. For now I use Siri to dial for me, but that requires having a handy list of people to call (usually – gasp – written in my paper calendar, sitting on the passenger seat).
Building in the option to pause between calls might be good so you can (verbally, Siri again) jot down calendar or to do items before jumping into the next discussion.
I think you get my issue. I don’t want to have to look at a list to use Siri. It’s just as dangerous. And the pause would be awesome… or make it more complicated to build and let me leave a note via the app. 🙂
Hi Jeff, We have a product similar to what you require. It is an autodialer with three calling modes, You can choose any depending upon your comfort. This app also has predefined folders like Leads, Clients, Prospects where you can categorize your contacts. Each folder has an autodialer option. You can import the contact list either from the phone or import it by syncing the app with the dashboard (our website). It offers a dashboard on the cloud for the managers to effectively allocate the tasks/prospects to the field agents. The solution also measures field workforce productivity as well as Geo-track the individuals from the centralized office. It is available in both iOS and android version. For more detail you can contact me at: pat@cbsinfosys.com
You can visit our website: http://www.fieldworkmobility.
It is FREE to download.
Thanks