The adoption of voice messaging in global markets such as the US is at a rate of 80 percent and in Europe it is at 60 percent. In contrast,in emerging markets such as India and Africa, the reach of voicemail is less than 2 percent. Rather, there is a widespread use of 'missed calls' to communicate, and people in the emerging markets do not like to pay for a call if they do not talk or leave a voice message. Post the advent of novel technologies like WhatsApp and WeChat, which offer the easiest of chatting and communicating mediums, the usage of voicemail,even in developed markets,has been on a decline and people are increasingly drifting towards newer chatting services.

Acting as a bridge between the first wave of communication channels such as SMS, MMS, and voicemail, and the second wave of OTT such as WhatsApp,is a company which invented Voice SMS and revolutionized the mobile voice messaging space - Kirusa. Founded in year 2001, by Dr. Inderpal Singh Mumick, Barinderpal Singh Mumick, Sandeep Sibal, and Louis Golm, Kirusa is the leading global developer of Voice SMS based mobile messaging and social media apps; connecting family and friends, fans and celebrities, enterprises and customers. Kirusa is building mobile apps for consumers in emerging markets and helping to maximize the value they derive from their cell phones. Kirusa's solutions include the highly successful Kirusa Voice SMS and Celeb Connect, which are offered in partnership with more than thirty-five carriers around the world in Africa, India, LatAm, and Middle East. The firm services more than 80 million mobile subscribers every month, generating over 1.3 billion transactions.

The Challenges to Address

Dr.Inderpal believes that the firm is poised to solve the major pain points concerning mobile messaging. The adoption of voice messaging in the emerging markets, incompatibility of various chatting services with voicemails and missed calls, and the desire of the people in the market to connect with celebrities, have all been challenges to look up to. "Whenever you use chatting services, you can view what you have sent out; whereas with voicemail, one does not have the privilege to do so. There is an unmet customer need here", says the CEO.

The enterprises always had a challenge of connecting to people - text messages have become the preferred mode of communication, given the widespread infrastructure for SMS;but had there been anything planned for the voice messaging service, it would have been a seamless journey for people to connect with enterprise by voice as well.