Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

So Long Voicemail, Give My Regards To the Fax Machine

Posted by samzenpus on from the end-of-the-line dept.

itwbennett writes: Yes, it was just a matter of time before voicemail, the old office relic, the technology The Guardian's Chitra Ramaswamy called "as pointless as a pigeon with a pager," finally followed the fax machine into obscurity. Last week JPMorgan Chase announced it was turning off voicemail service for tens of thousands of workers (a move that CocaCola made last December). And if Bloomberg's Ramy Inocencio has the numbers right, the cost savings are significant: JPMorgan, for example, will save $3.2 million by cutting voicemail for about 136,000. As great as this sounds, David Lazarus, writing in the LA Times, warns that customer service will suffer.

4 of 395 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Umm, what? by Mariner28 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The US mortgage industry single-handedly is keeping facsimile alive and well. Anyone who's bought a house lately can attest that they have no clue about PII in unencrypted e-mails, and think nothing of asking you to print out, sign and initial a 60 page document, then fax it back to them. And then they have the gall to complain when you reduce their 8.5 x 14 legal size documents to 8.5 x 11 because your $99 inkjet printer/scanner can't handle legal size.

    With throwback companies like that, you'd never know that the mortgage industry is the major backer behind DocuSign. Another reason why banks should issue you a digital certificate when you open an account. If the US Government can implement PKI for their own use, surely the more nimble private marketplace can do the same... /s

    --
    "A little misunderstanding? Galileo and the Pope had a little misunderstanding."
  2. Re:Makes sense by goodmanj · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There's this amazing etiquette change going on in America today, the idea that you need to contact someone first before you can have a real-time interaction with them. You can't just show up at someone's door, you have to call first. You can't just call, you need to text first. Someday soon, it'll be rude to text without first checking someone's Weibo status or some damn thing. Our great-grandparents would be baffled.

  3. Re:Umm, what? by Nukenbar · · Score: 5, Interesting

    An interesting side note to this. A buddy of mine in venture capital use a fax machines all of the time to send documents back and forth because email and any "store communications" they are required to keep copies of for regulators and other review. Since the fax machines don't "store" information, at least not long term enough to count, they are not required to keep copies of info sent or received over fax.

  4. Re:I stopped using it 5 years ago by pla · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Because prospective clients are harder and more expensive to attain than retaining current clients. Obviously, you're not in sales.

    If I call to buy some product or service from you, and get voicemail... I don't leave a message, I just move on to your competitors.

    Obviously, you're not in sales either. ;)