The firm, whose technology has been used by Maritz Research in customer feedback surveys, aims to design and deliver voice-recognition services that will allow clients to run integrated customer contact strategies across phones, mobiles, email and the web.

VoxGen’s head of products Pierce Buckley said: “It’s a big frustration for customers not being able to switch communication channels with organisations quickly and easily, and having to repeat the same information each time when they do. This grant will lead to the development of new tools and technologies that make the process a lot more seamless for the customer, and a great deal more cost effective and implementable for organisations.”