TalkByText Overview, RNID's state of the art software for real-time text, was awarded the SustainIT 2006/07 National eWell-Being Award for ICT Innovation in the Third Sector at a gala award ceremony in London on 29 March 2007.
The eWell-Being Awards are the UK's only national awards to celebrate the social, economic and environmental benefits of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The awards ceremony was held on 29 March 2007 at London's Globe Theatre.
TalkByText Overview is a modern replacement for expensive, complicated analogue textphones, sometimes also known as "minicoms" and is ideal for customer service centres, helplines, banks, hospitals, council offices, or any client-facing department. Unlike Instant Messaging systems, TalkByText Overview provides a real-time, character-by-character text service, which is essential for effective communication and allows deaf and hard of hearing people to make calls via Text Relay.
Guido Gybels, Director of New Technologies, RNID, says "Receiving this prestigious award is a great success for RNID and we hope that TalkByText Overview will make a significant difference to the lives of deaf and hard of hearing people. In our modern world, deaf and hard of hearing people still face considerable barriers and we highlighted a real need for a product which would help to bridge the gap between textphone users and the rest of society. TalkByText Overview brings deaf and hard of hearing people into the mainstream by offering government, businesses and all other parts of society affordable, easy to use software to communicate effectively and efficiently with them using standard hardware and networks."
"At RNID, we strive to be at the forefront of innovation and use technology to transform deaf and hard of hearing people's lives. We feel that TalkByText Overview is a good example of how Information and Communication Technology can lead to greater equality and improved communication for deaf and hard of hearing people."