talking up a storm

Vocollect, a Pittsburgh-based provider of voice-directed distribution systems, achieved record sales in 2002, more than doubling its revenues over the previous year. It also completed more installations of its systems last year than in any other 12- month period in the company's 16-year history. Revenues reached well over $25 million, driving Vocollect's compound annual growth rate to more than 60 percent over the last three years. Today, more than 25,000 order selectors in 14 countries from the United States to Australia to France, use the company's wireless hands-free, eyes-free Talkman systems.

Early indications are that the company is on track to continue that performance in 2003, according to Vocollect's president and CEO, Jack LeVan. "As companies operate on thinner margins and in a tighter economy, they continually look for cost reductions, and that's what we deliver," he says. "We've had a very busy first quarter."