An Australian entrepreneur has come up with a quirky high-tech solution for business people wanting to dramatically cut the number of meetings and emails flooding their work days.
Anurag Chakradhar's Blrt app allows people to send short five-minute interactive voice and video messages that he believes could revolutionise the workplace.
Users record voice messages that are transmitted along with relevant images from a document.
As they are talking, they can circle different parts of the document, zoom in and change pages to help emphasise their message.
Blrt recipients then record their own voice message response and add any alterations they need to the document.
Mr Chakradhar says Blrts are a quick and convenient way for people wanting to ask questions or give instructions about documents, maps, drawings, pictures and even x-rays without needing to organise meetings and phone calls or set out lengthy explanations in an email.
"You get ultimate clarity in communication and huge productivity gains," he told AAP.
"With Blrt the document is loaded once and people are just talking, pointing and drawing."
The app was developed in-house by his boutique digital marketing agency, Thinkun, in Sydney.
Thousands of people have already trialled Blrt following its "soft" launch in 2014.
Mr Chakradhar is currently seeking to raise $2 million from investors so he can roll out Blrt around the world.
He is initially targeting users in marketing, advertising, publishing, journalism, architecture, engineering, teaching and healthcare.
"I'm sure educational and medical professionals will really pick it up," he said.
"Doctors are so short of time. They could get a scanned X-ray and instead of recording messages about it into their dictaphone, they can create a Blrt that gives visual clarity to what they're saying.
"It removes the need for a meeting and helps people use their time effectively."
Mr Chakradhar says one of the main advantages of Blrt is that they are 50 to 100 times smaller to transmit than traditional video messages, making them easier to send from remote locations.
He has successfully sent Blrts from Antarctica this week while attending The Unstoppables think tank for entrepreneurs.
The app is free for people wanting to send one minute Blrts, or there is a premium service for $15 a month for unlimited five-minute Blrts that can involve up to 20 people and 100-page documents.
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