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 The Author:



Jason Morris has been with http://www.businessphonesystemsdirect.co.uk since 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/ivr for more information.