Lobby welcome: Advanced Information Systems has developed the Video Receptionist, shown here in an office building on St. Rose Parkway. It provides visitors to an office or building lobby the feature of a self-service employee directory with the ability to initiate two-way live video communications between the visitor and the employee.
Friday, Feb. 6, 2009 | 2 a.m.
At a time when many companies are looking for ways to cut costs, a Las Vegas-based company has introduced an alternative to a paid receptionist.
The Video Receptionist from Advanced Information Systems can greet guests, provide company information and perform a host of other services usually done by a receptionist.
“The Video Receptionist is basically a welcoming guide,” said Frank Yoder, president of Advanced Information Systems.
The Video Receptionist can be deployed in two basic configurations.
The PC Client with Video allows two-way video communications for customers with a webcam installed on employees’ computers. The Phone Client is for clients who prefer to have voice only communications with visitors.
The system can be installed in an inside reception area or on the outside of a secure building.
“The way that works is that we put a film on the inside of the window and then we project onto it so it becomes a computer screen,” Yoder said. “The film then allows the window to become a touch screen from the outside.”
Yoder recently demonstrated a system installed at the St. Rose Executive Suites office building in Henderson.
“The reason that Executive Suites is using this is because it lets visitors to all of the tenants have access to it when the building is locked,” Yoder said.
Previously, when the building was locked, visitors would have to call someone inside to come and open the door. Now guests can just call one of the offices and the door can be unlocked with the push of a button. The two-way interface system allows clients with the computer-enhanced version to screen visitors before allowing access to the building.
The system does not require any inside hardware because it links directly to the user’s phone system.
A basic system, which includes a 20-client, one-directory software license, starts at $350 a month and upgrades to the system are included for an additional cost.
Other features offered with the system include employee and company directories, motion sensor technology, video voice mail recording, advertising options and company branding. Advanced Information also provides setup and configuration, system uptime monitoring and activity logs for customers.
Advanced Information estimates the system can save users about $20,000 a year and the Video Receptionist, Yoder points out, never takes a day off and does not require health insurance or other employee benefits. Because of the wave of technological advances in recent years, people have begun to accept, and even embrace, machines that perform tasks formerly done by people. Yoder says the public has become much less resistant to interacting with a computer because the information provided is consistent and often more accurate.
Yoder founded Advanced Information in 1987 in Virginia, and the company moved to Las Vegas in 1995. Its corporate offices are on Cameron Street,
Advanced Information offers a variety of technology solutions and has formed strategic partnerships with several companies, including Microsoft, IBM and Avaya. Services provided include custom software development, professional services, broadband solutions and voice and data communications services.
Advanced Information also provides information technology professionals such as project managers and database administrators and fills short-term contract needs for its customers as well as full-time positions.
In addition to the Video Receptionist the company has developed other products, including Sierra CMS, which is a case management system for Chapter 11 bankruptcies. The system assists bankruptcy attorneys with the management of company restructuring under a bankruptcy.
The company started development of the product in January 2008 and, not surprisingly considering the current state of the economy, has received a lot of interest in the system.
Advanced Information is also developing a product called eRounds, which will be used in the health care industry.
The product will be used by nurses and other health care professionals during daily rounds to track and update patient information automatically and transfer that data back to a server.
Yoder said that while some of the company’s other products are industry-specific, the Video Receptionist can be used almost anywhere. Potential applications include use in multifamily residential complexes such as high-rise condominiums and gated communities.
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