Is this truly unique? (Who are your competitors?)

Yes. Other services vary from voice recognition and text to speech applications right through DA /DQ mechanisms and finally to paper driven directories. However, each one of these competitive applications does not have the ability to determine suitability of seller before contact between the buyer and seller is made.

What is the difference between 118 services and Responsa?

118 services provide either a residential or business telephone numbers; some will provide a business' name with its associated number. The consumer will then dial this number themselves or have their call automatically connected. This means that consumers may have to keep phoning back for another number and then to dial all over again & again, which is both time consuming and expensive.

With Responsa you simply leave your request and the service will deliver a supplier that can meet your actual request, it automatically sorts through all the possibilities to bring the answer, rather than provide a list of possible suppliers. (Responsa matches willing buyers with able sellers as an automated process).

What is the difference between the Responsa service and a service such as Scoot or Talking Yellow Pages?

There are many subtle differences, the main one being that Responsa does all the dialling and finding on behalf of the buyer at the cost of one call charge. The seller can decline anonymously if unable to fulfil the request, saving them valuable time. The seller does not have to pay for the service unless a request is accepted. (Pay as you go).

With other services there may be high upfront costs for the sellers, with Responsa, the barriers to entry are removed and this creates a far greater critical mass of sellers.

What feedback have Responsa been given by the supplier/sellers/Trade/advertisers?

Totally positive, the suppliers (advertisers) love the service for many reasons: Pay as you go, declining work is fast and anonymous, low cost to join, no adverts to design, ease of accepting consumers, the quality of the hot leads it brings.

What feedback have Responsa been given by the buyers?

Almost all comments are positive: They love the simplicity, and the fact that responsa is a source of reputable business, i.e. there is some comeback for poor service. Most are surprised at the speed of the response. We have had some comments that it has taken too long to find a taxi and some have been disappointed when responsa has not found the solution to their request, but they do however understand that, as in real life, sometimes it is not possible to find an appropriate supplier. On a positive, they appreciate that the system has tried and that they now know that their request may be hard to fulfil locally. This aspect of the service is also made explicit when they first have the service explained to them.

How is Responsa funded?

To date Responsa has been privately funded but in order to take advantage of market opportunities it will require external funding over the next 2 years. It is actively looking for investors.