The Beginners Guide to IVR
Interactive Voice
Response
The term IVR is short for Interactive Voice Response, which is a
telephony technology that allows interaction between callers and a phone system
to acquire or enter information into a database. More and more companies are
turning to IVR to help reduce the cost of common sales, service, collections,
inquiry and support calls to and from their company.
Interactive Voice Response or IVR is one of the most common telephone functions
in use across the business community and is capable of bringing remarkable
benefits to your company. IVR systems allow 24 hour access to a company from its
customers via its phone system. In today’s busy modern
world, most callers expect on first contact with a company, to be handled via
some kind of Auto Attendant or Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. This
method of call handling is generally accepted as long as the caller is given
ample
opportunity to opt out of the IVR system and be able to speak to a live agent.
IVR systems offer a cost effective and money saving way of handling customer
calls twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. The handling of routine phone
requests for information can consume a substantial amount of company
resources and ultimately money. Interactive Voice Response systems, tailored to
a company’s requirements can provide much the same information as a live
operator at a fraction of the cost both financially and resourcefully. To put
things in their most simple form IVR systems let callers interact with your
company via its telephone system.
IVR systems hugely reduce customer call handling costs, and can be introduced
into your company environment in a number of ways. The most basic IVR systems
simply allow you to record a message that is played when a customer presses the
appropriate number on the phone keypad. The more advanced
Interactive Voice Response systems allow callers to interact with a company on a
much greater scale. For example you could set up an IVR to retrieve specific
account information that is relayed to the caller through the implementation of
text-to-speech recognition technology. This technology allows IVR systems to
read specific information from a database and then relate that information back
to the customer in spoken format.
Typical IVR - Interactive Voice Response System Applications
The potential applications of IVR systems are virtually endless. IVR systems can
be used to automate a wide range of services and requests for information. By
combining the input of a caller with tailor made scripts, IVR systems allow
callers to call into a company or IVR hosting company using a touch-tone
telephone, and then to interact with the system in real time. Below is a list of
example IVR
applications:
1. Automated account payment systems
2. Customer account information
3 Banking service for account balance transfer
information
4 Customer market surveys
5 Emergency notifications
6 Virtual receptionists
7 Call centre automation
8 Order status and tracking
9 Package tracking
10 Virtual PBX’s
11 Voicemail services
12 Voice instant messaging
13 Bill reminder
14 Bill collection
15 Telesales
16 Virtual agents
17 Auto attendants
18 Call routing
19 Call recording solutions
20 Plus many, many more
Benefits of IVR Systems
1. Integrated Voice Response systems can be extremely beneficial to
companies by cutting down on live call handling time, thus saving money and
enabling staff to be free to concentrate on other business areas.
2. IVR systems can benefit callers by either allowing access to personalised
information or, directing them to the right department or, by a combination of
multiple input types and selections via menu choices involving telephone keypad
input and speech recognition.
3. IVR systems allow callers to retrieve or access information quickly with or
without additional human assistance.
4. Integrated Voice Response systems allow companies to easily expand their
hours of business, without the need for live operators to be on hand. This
allows callers to call at their convenience and still be able to carry out a
multitude of tasks automatically.
5. Call queuing times to departments within a company can be drastically
reduced. With IVR systems, calls can be transferred to appropriate departments
through the menu selection process.
6. IVR systems allow company representatives to experience lower call volumes
thorough the automation of repetitive tasks. This allows these representatives
to
manage their calls more efficiently and lets them to concentrate on more
important issues.
7. Through the implementation of a good Integrated Voice Response System,
companies may actually be able to expand their call capacity and respond to
larger call volumes through the correct management and routing of all inbound
calls, reducing the handling cost per call ratio.
8. For companies who accept payments via the telephone IVR systems can fully
automate this task, allowing them to process transactions anytime of the day,
any day of the week.
9. For when call volumes are high, IVR systems allow companies to highlight new
products, updates or product information etc while a caller is on hold.
10.Companies are able to monitor call progress and transactions through the use
of daily call activity reports.
Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) IVR or Hosted IVR The Choice Is Yours
CPE - This is equipment that is purchased or leased by a customer and is then
located, hosted and maintained at the customers site. For most companies this is
an expensive way of harnessing the power a good IVR system can bring to any
business due to the initial cost of the hardware and installation work that
would be required. For those companies that have the necessary funding for CPE
there are of course benefits as well as drawbacks. CPE allows you to
take full control of your IVR system and will also allow for future company
expansion, though many hosted IVR solutions do allow for this also. The main
drawback to CPE IVR systems is that you would need continuing technical support
and maintenance either from your own internal staff or outsourced to the IVR
system provider.
IVR Hosting - If a customer prefers not to host an IVR system on their premises,
is restricted by location, lacks IT support or quite simply cannot withstand the
initial financial outlay required for outright purchase then a remote IVR
hosting solution that can be tailored to a company’s requirements could be the
answer. This option is particularly attractive for small to medium sized
businesses
who wish to take advantage of a fully featured Interactive Voice Response
system, with a vastly reduced initial capital outlay, as well as eradicating the
need for system IT maintenance, and support.
Whichever form of IVR system you decide to implement, it is better to ask the
advice of experts before you go ahead and purchase any hardware or sign any form
of lease agreement. A good IVR systems provider or IVR hosting company will take
the time to sit down with you and discuss your requirements in detail before
helping you make a decision on what type of system you should opt for.
Thanks for reading.
About Author: Jason Morris has been with
http://www.businessphonesystemsdirect.co.uksince the start of their
ecommerce directive in September 2004. He has continued to provide help,
guidance and support to customers all over the world ever since. For free help
and advice regarding IVR, Hosted IVR or Virtual PBX systems please visit
http://www.businessphonesystemsdirect.co.uk/ivrfor more information.
Source: ArticleTrader.com |
