Interactive voice response (IVR)

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is an interactive technology that allows a computer to detect voice and keypad inputs. Interactive voice response (IVR)  technology is used extensively in telecommunications, but is also being introduced into automobile systems for hands-free operation. Current deployment in automobiles revolves around satellite navigation, audio and mobile phone systems. In telecommunications, Interactive voice response (IVR)  allows customers to access a company’s database via a telephone touchtone keypad or by speech recognition, after which they can service their own enquiries by following the instructions. IVR systems can respond with pre-recorded or dynamically generated audio to further direct users on how to proceed. IVR systems and IVR Hosting can be used to control almost any function where the interface can be broken down into a series of simple menu choices. In telecommunications applications, such as customer support lines, IVR systems generally scale well to handle large call volumes.

It has become common in industries that have recently entered the telecom industry to refer to an Automated Attendant as an IVR. The terms Automated Attendant and IVR are distinct and mean different things to traditional telecom professionals, whereas emerging telephony and VoIP professionals often use the term IVR as a catch-all to signify any kind of telephony menu, even a basic automated attendant.

Typical uses

IVR systems are typically used to service high call volumes, reduce cost and improve the customer experience. Examples of typical IVR applications are: telephone banking, televoting, and credit card transactions. Large companies use IVR services to extend the business hours of operation.

Call centers use IVR systems to identify and segment callers. The ability to identify customers allows the ability to tailor services according to the customer profile. It also allows the option of choosing automated services. Information can be fed to the caller allowing choices such as: wait in the queue, choose an automated service, or request a callback (at a suitable time and telephone number). The use of computer telephony integration (CTI) will allow the IVR system to look up the caller line identification (CLI) on a network database and identify the caller. This is currently accurate for about 80% of inbound calls. In the cases where CLI is withheld or unavailable, the caller can be asked to identify themselves by other methods such as a PIN or password. The use of DNIS will ensure that the correct application and language is executed by the IVR system.

CTI allows a contact center or organisation to gather information about the caller as a means of directing their inquiry to an appropriate agent. CTI can also extract important or relevant information about the individual customer from the database, making for a more effective and efficient service.

The use of IVR and voice automation enables a company to improve its customer service and lower its costs, due to the fact that callers’ queries can be resolved without the cost of a live agent who, in turn, can be directed to deal with specific areas of the service. If the caller does not find the information they need, or require further assistance, the call is then transferred to an agent who can deal with them directly through CTI integration. This makes for a more efficient system in which agents have more room to deal with complex interactions, for example, customer retention, up selling, cross selling and issue resolution. This way, the customer is more likely to be satisfied with a personalised service and the interaction is likely to be more fulfilling and rewarding for the agent, as opposed to dealing with basic enquiries that require yes/no responses, such as obtaining customer details. Employee satisfaction is important in the telecommunications industry due to the fast turnover of staff, IVR is therefore one way of retaining a workforce and allowing them to do a more effective job.

IVR also enables customer prioritisation. In a system whereby individual customers may have a different status, for example, a bronze, gold or platinum card holder, the service will automatically prioritise the individuals call and, in the case of a platinum card holder, move them to the front of the calling queue.

Voice-Activated Dialers(VAD)

Voice-activated IVR systems are now used to replace the switchboard or PABX (Private Automatic Branch eXchange) operators and are used in many hospitals and large businesses to reduce the caller waiting time. An additional function is the ability to allow external callers to page hospital staff and transfer the inbound call to the paged person.

Outbound Calling

IVR systems can be used for outbound calls, as IVR systems are more intelligent than Dialler systems, they can recognise different line conditions.

• RNA Ring No Answer
• Answered by Voicemail or Answering machine (In thse circumstances they can leave a message)
• Fax Tone (IVR can leave a Fax Message based upon a TIFF Image)
• Answer (IVR can tell the customer who is calling and ask them to wait for an agent)
• Recognise Divert messages and abandon call.

IVR uses Call Progress Detection to monitor Line conditions, and report to the IVR Database.

Technologies Used

DTMF signals (entered from the telephone keypad) and natural language speech recognition interpret the caller's response to voice prompts.

Other technologies include the ability to speak complex and dynamic information such as an e-mail, news report or weather information using Text-To-Speech (TTS). TTS is computer generated synthesized speech that is no longer the robotic voice generally associated with computers. Real voices create the speech in tiny fragments that are spliced together (concatenated) before being played to the caller.

An IVR can be utilized in several different ways:

   1. Equipment installed on the customer premise
   2. Equipment installed in the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network)
   3. Application service provider (ASP).
   4. Virtual Hosted IVR

A simple voicemail system is different from IVR in that it is person to person whereas an IVR is person to computer. IVR voiceforms can be used to provide a more complex voicemail experience to the caller. For example, the IVR could ask if the caller wishes to hear, edit, forward or remove a message that was just recorded.

An automatic call distributor (ACD) is often the first point of contact when calling many larger businesses. An ACD uses digital storage devices to play greetings or announcements, but typically routes a caller without prompting for input. An IVR can play announcements and request an input from the caller. This information can be used to profile the caller and route the call to an agent with a particular skillset. (A skillset is a function applied to a group of call-center agents with a particular skill.)

Interactive voice response can be used to front-end a call center operation by identifying the needs of the caller. Information can be obtained from the caller such as account numbers. Answers to simple questions such as account balances or pre-recorded information can be provided without operator intervention. Account numbers from the IVR are often compared to caller ID data for security reasons and additional IVR responses are required if the caller ID data does not match the account record.

Outsourcing vs. Contact Center Automation

Contact Centers are very expensive to run, and can be seen as a drain on companies' operations. Contact Centres are usually seen as Cost Centres, however the ability to upsell services and products can reduce operational expenditure.

Methods of reducing Contact Center running costs include outsourcing and automation. Outsourcing to other countries can reduce operational expenditure by as much as 30%, however, differences in culture and language can prove problematic for customers, whose dissatisfaction can lead to customer complaints and loss of business. Also if is more difficult to upsell to customers from foreign Contact Centres.

Automation in a Contact Center can also reduce operational expenditure by around 30% though the introduction of technologies such as customer profiling, CTI, and IVR using speech recognition. The use of automation in the contact center promotes efficiency, allowing contact centers to be located in the country from which the call is originated. Customer satisfaction can be monitored by the use of customer survey applications. The information from survey applications can be used to improve customer service.

Unified Communications in the SIP Contact Centre

With the introduction of SIP Contact Centers, Automation has finally come of age. Calls arriving at a SIP contact Centre must now be queued against a SIP IVR system. Call Control in a SIP Contact Centre is controlled by VXML scripting which is an extension of the language used to write modern IVR Applications. As calls are queued in the SIP Contact Centre the IVR system can provide Treatment, Automation, Wait for a fixed period, or play music. Inbound Calls to a SIP Contact Centre must be queued or terminated against a SIP end Point. In addition SIP IVR systems can be used to replace agents directly by the use of BBUA (Back to Back User agents).

Future

The future will undoubtedly see IVR making large steps forward through innovation and convergence. Speech recognition is being improved all the time, IVRs provide 24/7 service to those that require it and the process itself is much safer than going through a live agent when it comes to banking and divulging personal data or information. The more development, the more adapted the IVR system will become, as well as being available, cost effective and a means of cutting out the ever common problems caused simply by human error. Currently, IVRs are serving more customers than all fast food and coffee chains combined. Analysts such as Datamonitor estimate that 35,000 call centers worldwide deal with 65,000 calls every day, something which is expected to increase further for the next 20 years.

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