Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is a phone technology that allows a computer to detect voice and touch tones using a normal phone call.
A Hosted IVR system is loosely defined as an IVR application that resides on servers in a central location which are accessed from remote locations by a private data connection or via the public internet.
Here is an example of a current hosted IVR application that DOW Networks provides to a customer in Asia (name and country changed for confidentiality purposes).
Customers in the United States dial a toll-free number to learn about advertised travel packages. The toll-free number is carried over the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to the DOW Networks Operation Center where the servers and software applications for the Hosted IVR solution reside. There, the Hosted IVR picks up the call and plays the welcome message.
Customers are given voice menu options (simplified here for display purposes) and based on their selection are connected to the correct call queue in the Malaysian call center.
The calls are transmitted to the Malaysian call center over an International Private Leased Circuit (IPLC) and/or the public internet based on client choice. Many customers use an IPLC as a primary route and the public internet as a secondary route for redundancy purposes.
Within the Malaysian call center, the call queues have been pre-configured so that when Agents log in via the software application, they log into a URL to register to the correct call queue. While agents may have hard phones, DOW Networks can also provide the agent with a soft phone client on their desktop and headset to plug into the PC.
Advantages of Hosted IVR
- Because the system is hosted on DOW Networks premises and shared between many users it can provide sophisticated services at low cost.
- It reduces expenditures the customer does not have to purchase servers, telephony gateways, software, etc. but can instead take advantage of the existing DOW Networks infrastructure.
- Quick deployment; easy scalability.
- Customers do not need to become telecom experts, freeing them to concentrate on their core business.
- Customers benefit from the redundancy provided by DOW Networks – UPS, multiple servers, gateways, network connections.
