Interactive Voice Response Lowers Contact Center Costs
Interactive voice response (IVR) systems handle calls and let callers retrieve information from a database without speaking to an agent. Such automated systems lower contact center operating costs dramatically while increasing customer satisfaction. Although today information previously handled by IVRs are now provided via the internet or smartphone interface (such as account balances, order status, and hours of operation), most businesses begin customer interactions with an IVR interface, even if simply to provide customers with a “wait time” estimate and offer faster automated information retrieval. A “basic IVR configuration” is shown on this page.
Basic IVR Configuration
Adding Speech for Mobile Voice Portals
In a speech-enabled IVR system, callers use the spoken word to interact with the system and obtain information. Such systems are very popular, and are particularly useful for prepaid mobile systems, where they are often called voice portals. Customers can check their account balances from their phones and add minutes if they choose. These sophisticated systems are possible because of the great progress that has been made in automated speech response (ASR) technology, which now allows multi-lingual and multi-dialect systems to speak and understand human callers easily and fulfill their wishes without involving an agent.