Voice Mail Intelligence: How It Works

CellGate’s Watchman™ visitor management and access control products are installed at many single-family homes, multi-family homes, and commercial properties across the country. All of them come with a unique capability called Voice Mail Intelligence (VMI), a proprietary feature that only CellGate currently offers.

How Does Voice Mail Intelligence Work?

When a visitor arrives at a Watchman gate call box and presses the “Call” button, the system can contact up to 9 unique phone numbers, organized in groups of 3.

What is a practical example of how this works?

Example Scenario

Consider a household with two parents, two teenagers, and grandparents living together. Their 9-number call list might look like this:

First Group:
1. Mom’s cell
2. Dad’s cell
3. Home landline

Second Group:
4. Dad’s work
5. Oldest teenager’s cell
6. Second teenager’s cell

Third Group:
7. Grandmother’s cell
8. Grandparents’ home landline
9. Grandfather’s cell

Call Group Functionality

When a visitor arrives to visit the family, the first three numbers in the designated call group are simultaneously called. If anyone in this initial group answers, they can screen and grant access to the visitor if they wish. The remaining numbers in the call group (#4 thru #9 listed above) are not dialed.

However, if the first three calls go unanswered and reach voicemail, the Voice Mail Intelligence feature understands this. It then knows to automatically begin dialing the next set of numbers in the call group (#4-#6, then #7-#9, if necessary)

Primary Benefits of Voice Mail Intelligence

The two primary benefits of Voice Mail Intelligence are:

1. Increased Probability of Reaching Someone: VMI significantly increases the likelihood of reaching someone live who can grant access by automatically progressing through the call group list when initial contact numbers are unavailable.

2. Reduced Visitor Congestion: VMI also minimizes instances of stranded visitors at the Watchman gate call box—preventing potential traffic buildup at gates. This can be especially problematic during peak times at both multi-family and commercial properties.

Competitive Advantage of Voice Mail Intelligence

Unlike most gate call box systems that can only dial one number per resident, CellGate’s Watchman product line, with its Voice Mail Intelligence feature, offers a more robust solution to visitor management. With nine numbers and Voice Mail Intelligence call routing, Watchman systems dramatically improve the chances of successfully connecting visitors with the property’s occupants they are trying to reach.

The information provided here was based off research and solutions available at the time this post was written.