Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems automate interactions with callers and reduce the cost of sales, service and support calls by eliminating or reducing reliance on live agents. IVRs also help improve the customer calling experience.
IVR is used in conjunction with Automated Call Distribution (ACD) systems to identify callers and provide prerecorded voice prompts and menu selections (i.e. "Press 1 for sales, Press 2 for customer service, Press 3 for operator.") Callers activate their selection by using their touch-tone telephone keypad or speech inputs. IVR technology has the following primary functions in a call center:
- Routes calls to the appropriate person, agent or department based on touch-tone or speech inputs
- Identifies / authenticates callers and delivers relevant information to the screen of the agent who will be handling the call (screen-pops)
- Segments and differentiates callers based on their relationships to the company
- Provides the caller with a self-service option
Retrieving information such as bank balances, flight schedules, order status or movie show times from your telephone is possible today because of IVR technology. IVR solutions are being used to place outbound calls to deliver or gather information for appointments, past due bills, and other time critical activities. Next to ACD, IVR is the most prevalent technology in call centers.
IVRs with Asterisk and VoIP
DOW Networks designs and implements IVR systems based on Asterisk and VoIP technologies to deliver a broad range of features and functionalities:
- Hosted IVRs that customers can access via SIP trunking
- Integration with voice mail, "find me" and click-to-call features
- Easily programmable through a graphical user interface (GUI)
- Recordings can be easily stored and attached as wav. files
- Easy integration with reporting and monitoring features of the DOW Networks' ACD systems
IVRs with Speech Technologies
DOW Networks can design and implement IVR systems that use advanced speech recognition (ASR), text-to-speech conversion (TTS) and other technologies that make it easier for the caller to retrieve information rather than forcing them to navigate through a maze of menus. This increases the customer friendliness of your IVR and improves customer satisfaction and customer retention by creating a positive transactional experience for callers.
