Comments on: Google Voice: A New Tool For Nonprofits But Not So Great for Community Voicemail

By: google bizkit

google bizkit — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:25:14 +0000

Yeah I agree, it is kinda soon for this. Skype is a very good product as well.

By: pamelaa

pamelaa — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:16:01 +0000

I would totally agree with Meredith. It comes so fast, in just a snap.

By: Meredith Moore

Meredith Moore — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:57:42 +0000

Not to say voicemail is not important now, it is. Just a good time to be thinking about the future. It comes so fast.

By: Meredith Moore

Meredith Moore — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:54:01 +0000

Voice mail will be obsolete in a few years. Sorry to bust the bubble. This is a great wake-up call to all non-profits who have only provided this service or had this as its main mission. The world is getting more and more complicated and instant. I never leave voice mails if I can help it, and I rarely check them as most of them are sales calls. But that is just me.

One would think that upgrading the access and knowledge of different technical communication outlets for their clients would be more of an asset in the job market. If you are a non-profit providing fax machines and voicemail only, just plan to shut down. In a few years you will be left behind and no one will want to support a group providing substandard services to the homeless. You can't fight technology.

Remember that your ultimate goal is to impact society so that it starts to naturally become aware and care for the constituency that you serve. I believe that is what you have gotten Google to do. You should pat yourselves on the back. Good job!

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By: Allan Benamer

Allan Benamer — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:20:47 +0000

Steve! Finally, you made it! Readers, that's Steve Albertson from CVM but I don't think he's responding in an "official" capacity. I think he's been trying to post comments for some time but for whatever reason, IntenseDebate was erasing the comment. If you've had this problem yourself, please e-mail me at abenamer@nonprofittechblog.org.

On to the substance of his comment… It's pretty clear that most nonprofits don't give their clients "free" e-mail when it's so readily available from the likes of Yahoo, MSN, and Gmail. Of course, there's a profit motive behind free e-mail. I suggest that Google Voice will also be similarly monetized. The fact that Google paid off the patent on visual voicemail seems indicative of their more serious intent regarding voice. My guess is that Google Voice will be even more closely integrated on their Android devices. Google has found a way to give away "free" voicemail while at the same time using it as a way to dislodge cellular carriers from their walled gardens. I don't think Google will drop this service in the same manner they dropped Lively or Google Notebook. Looking at the launch timing (in a terrible economy), the patent payment, and its use with Android, I don't think they're leaving Voice.

Of course, this is going to be a matter that will play itself out in the months and years ahead. If Google Voice doesn't exist a year from now, I've got a few hats to eat. However, if it does, will CVM change its focus to provide more unique services that?

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:19:32 +0000

Not exactly an apt analogy. A better one might be PrivatePhone, a free voice mail service from NetZero that shut down after about six months. Or the free voice mail service that WorldCom once provided to homeless people in San Francisco (we know how well that worked). Or even GrandCentral, which stopped offering free voice mail for nearly two years after being acquired by Google. To me, the point is that technology companies offer technology, and they do so for a profit. In the interest of profit, they have to tweak their business models from time to time, and for a "free" service, that has always meant a.) charging for the service, or b.) shutting it down. Gmail's monetization model is pretty clear; it's not so clear for Google Voice. Regardless, Community Voice Mail is a *program* that integrates with a network of 2000 social service agencies in 47 U.S. cities, and is comprised of much more than just the voice mail technology. Our only mission is to help meet the communication and information needs of our clients, and the agencies that serve them. Google will never be that.

By: Should Nonprofits Become Obsolete? | Tactical Philanthropy

Should Nonprofits Become Obsolete? | Tactical Philanthropy — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:35:11 +0000

[...] He wrote: [CVM’s] admirable goal was to provide free voicemail accounts for homeless clients throughout the city…There is no doubt that a lot of good was done by CVM before Grandcentral showed up on the scene. Many clients attested to its usefulness. However, Community Voicemail is made redundant in the face of publicly available free voicemail. Indeed, Grandcentral actually offered homeless people in San Francisco free voicemail just like CVM. [...]

By: Allan Benamer

Allan Benamer — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:02:17 +0000

Uh, no. This shutdown of CVM occurred in early 2007. As for your statement:

I prefer to rely on an honest, if simple, non-profit service rather than to trust the so-called private sector.

I see you left a gmail address for your contact information. How's that working out for ya?

By: Joel Remigio

Joel Remigio — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:09:04 +0000

Indeed, I suppose another option for us should we lose our donors would be to use the existing CVM infrastructure, but the costs do remain high and they are still dealing with frequent outages and other problems.