Vocalis Group PLC - Re New Order

RNS No 9467f
VOCALIS GROUP PLC
29th July 1998

Vocalis earns more interest from Abbey National

Abbey National upgrade, expand and introduce new services
to their telebanking system

Vocalis,  the Cambridge, UK based speech recognition  and
telephony  solutions company are pleased to  announce  an
order  from  Logica for Abbey National,  the  UK's  fifth
largest  bank,  to  upgrade and expand their  telebanking
system.

Included  in the circa #0.5m package are two new flexible
and  powerful  Vocalis interactive voice  response  (IVR)
servers,  to  help  meet  the  growing  demand  for   the
telebanking  system, along with upgrades to the  existing
servers.  These improvements will result in  faster  call
processing,  greater  call  handling  capacity  and   the
ability  to introduce new services for all Abbey National
banking  and  credit card customers. Recently  introduced
services include the facility for customers to request  a
spoken  mini  statement  service,  which  announces   the
details  of  the  last  ten account  transactions.  Abbey
National  are  also  one of the few banks  to  offer  the
facility  to  allow  customers to pay their  credit  card
bills  through  the automated service. There  is  also  a
dedicated  link  for  business  banking  customers,  this
ensures that, should business customers need to speak  to
someone,  they  are automatically routed  through  to  an
agent specialising in business accounts.

Jonathan  Hart,  Sales  Director at  Vocalis  Group  plc,
comments  "We  are delighted to continue to  provide  the
Abbey   National   with  the  latest   telecommunications
technology  for  business. This ensures  they  can  offer
their customers the best possible service.  Using Vocalis
and  Logica  technology  more customers  benefit  from  a
quicker,  more efficient service, with the  easy  to  use
options of speech technology or touch tone driven menus."

  "The Abbey National telebanking system has continued to
grow  rapidly  since its introduction. We currently  have
over  half  a million Abbey National customers registered
to use this service and this number is increasing all the
time."    John   Hancock,   Manager   Telephone   Banking
Development  at Abbey National explains " The convenience
of  the  telebanking service results in new users joining
and  greater  use  by  those already registered.  We  are
pleased   to   be  able  to  increase  and  improve   our
telebanking service so more customers can take  advantage
of the benefits it has to offer."

Chris  Edmett, Account Manager at Logica, adds  "We  have
worked  with  Vocalis to offer speech driven call  centre
applications to a range of clients.  We are pleased  with
the  continued success of the Abbey National. This  order
for   infrastructure   investment   by   Abbey   National
demonstrates  the  success  of  this  type  of  automated
service.  The Vocalis and Logica technology provides  the
complete  easy  to use telebanking solution  which  keeps
Abbey National customers coming back for more. "

For further information on: -

Vocalis Group plc:-

Tom Moriarty                          Jonathan Hart/Philippa Buttle
Tavistock Communications Ltd          Vocalis Group plc
Tel:  [phone]                   Tel:  [phone]
Fax:  [phone]                   Fax:  [phone]
Email:  [e-mail]      Email:  [e-mail]
                                              [e-mail]

Abbey National: -
Lorna Waddell
Media Relations
Tel:  [phone]
Fax:  [phone]

Logica: -
Will Cameron
Press Office
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

About Vocalis
Vocalis  Group  plc  builds a range  of  voice  activated
telephony   products   for  telephone   network   service
providers and corporate clients worldwide. Vocalis has  a
proprietary  speech  recognition technology,  SpeechWare,
which   helps  businesses  and  people  stay  in   touch,
naturally.

Products  include SPEECHtel, a family of voice  activated
service   applications,  such  as  voice   dialling   and
directory  assistance,  for fixed  and  mobile  telephone
operators.   Vocalis  products  also   include   business
application  platforms, which offer customised  solutions
for  corporate businesses and Operetta, a voice activated
auto  attendant. Vocalis was formed in 1993 and has  been
trading on the London Stock Exchange since July 1996.

The Vocalis Website is at http://www.vocalis.com.

Vocalis,  the  Vocalis  logo, SPEECHtel,  SpeechWare  and
Operetta are trademarks of Vocalis Ltd.

About Abbey National
Abbey  national  is  the  fifth largest  UK  retail  bank
offering a wide range of personal financial services. The
24-hour telephone banking service was launched in  summer
1995  in  conjunction  with the new Abbey  National  Bank
Account.

About Logica
Founded   in  the  UK  in  1969,  Logica  is  a   leading
international    computer   consultancy    and    systems
integration  company  with around 5,400  staff  in  their
offices   in  22  countries.  They  help  other   leading
organisations   world-wide   to   maximise   value   from
investments  in  information technology  by  supplying  a
range of services to the highest professional standards.

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