AVAYA Predictive Dialer System User Group

In 1985, a company calling itself Micro Peripheral was formed by an entrepreneur named Michael L. Darland in Redmond WA, a short distance from Seattle. With the assistance of a small but highly talented group of men, one of the world’s best predictive dialers was born-Voicelink. As best can be determined, Chase Bank, NY was the first customer to be installed with Mellon Bank of PA. being the second. Darland soon changed the name of the company to Digital Systems and later Digital Systems International as the company and its’ customer base expanded into other countries.

 The thing that set DSI apart from other companies was not only a superior product but also a customer service mentality that was second to none. While Darland could be headstrong and proud of his product, it was routine for him to fly customers in as a group to talk over product ideas. Letting the customers drive the technology was a large factor in the success of the product and the company. Darland also believed that all employees should understand all the equipment down the to component level. First-hand accounts witnessed his asking the head of marketing “What is a VM2 board used for?” Fortunately he got it right; it controlled the audio to and from the agent. Yearly meetings became the norm for the users, usually conducted in Seattle in a trade show atmosphere followed by networking opportunities and celebrations. Soon the company and the Voicelink System developed what could be described as a cult following.

Around the country and the world, actual job titles started to include the name of the equipment such as “Voicelink Manager”.  In 1991, Digital Systems International  (DSI) asked users if they would like to set up a meeting independent of the National Conference. The purpose would be to share ideas on how to better use what was then known as the Voicelink System. Fourteen institutions (American Express, Bank of Boston, Bank of New York, Beneficial National Bank, Chase Bankcard Services, Chase Manhattan Bank, Corestates Bank of Delaware, First Omni Bank, Mellon Bank, National Westminster Bank, Navy Federal Credit Union, Pittsburgh National Bank and Signet Bank) met that first year in a conference room at the Holiday Inn in Wilmington Delaware. It was instantly realized that much could be learned from the sharing of knowledge and the North East Voicelink Users Group was formed. The original committee members consisted of Bank of New York’s Roberta Williams, Chase Manhattan Bank’s Bob Frame, American Express’ Jane Adkins and Bill Schmiedecke of Mellon Bank. Bill, now with PNC, still serves on the committee and for many of the early years was the only member. It would be safe to say had it not been for Bill’s efforts, the North East User Group would have simply faded away.

The North East Users Group held bi-annual meetings, normally in Wilmington and was fast copied in other parts of the country. The South East, South West, North West and Central United States all organized “regional” user groups. As time went on, many of the “user” volunteers that organized, and for the most part conducted these regional conferences, left their respective organizations or fell victims to the mass consolidation that was sweeping the banking industry leaving the North East Users Group standing alone. It was at about this time that DSI decided to change its name, as it would often be confused with Digital Systems (DEC). The name selected was Mosaix and the dialer name would also change from Voicelink to the Mosaix 5000 series.

The ranks of the North East Group grew substantially. At a meeting in Atlantic City, a vote was conducted and the name was changed to “The Mosaix User Group”, aka “MUG”.  This effectively erased the geological reference, allowing the agenda to drive participation, not just geographic location.

On April 5, 1999 Mosaix Corporation was acquired by Lucent Technologies. While this union gave hope to fantastic development possibilities for the dialer, it spelled doom for the user group as it had been known. The company was simply much too large to manage the funds and registration of the users. For the first time ever in our history, the conference planned for Buffalo, NY in April 1999 was cancelled! Just when it appeared that the Mosaix User Group would go the way of the regionals, the CEO of Universal Systems, being a user as well as a vender partner, announced that Universal would assist to keep things going.

More changes came as Lucent spun the dialer product off to the AVAYA group. Because of the support of Universal Systems, we would continue operations growing  stronger and larger.

 Today, because of so many hardworking volunteers and companies like Universal Systems, the User Group can now stand on its own and continue with its mission:

To provide a vehicle for AVAYA Predictive Dialer users to increase their knowledge on proper operation, utilization, and maintenance of their systems and other call center solutions in an environment conducive to networking.

Thus is born--  AVAYA Predictive Dialer System Users Group