EnvoyXtra lets users send and receive messages on telephones, cell phones, pagers, and personal digital assistants via E-mail, short messaging services, and fax services. Messages can be routed based on context, time of day, urgency, or other factors.
Users also can send and respond to messages with multiple-choice options.
For example, a manager could send an E-mail to a fleet of truckers carrying PDAs asking them to choose among three delivery times. Companies that sign up for the service are assigned engineers who act as consultants and help companies decide how they want the service integrated into their existing communications systems. Envoy engineers also help customize the service using an array of E-mail and fax templates. This way, companies don't have to worry about re-creating databases or recoding data themselves for every handheld device they want to use, Tausig says. Walter Miao, VP and director of advanced consumer research at Probe Research, says Envoy has moved ahead of the competition because it unifies numerous messaging services.