IVR - Interactive Voice Response

    Key IVR Technologies

VoIP

Voice over IP is a family of technologies, methodologies, communication protocols, and transmission techniques for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over IP networks, such as the Internet.

SIP

Session Initiation Protocol is an signaling protocol widely used for controlling communication sessions such as voice and video calls over IP networks. The protocol can be used for creating, modifying and terminating two-party (unicast) or multiparty (multicast) sessions. Sessions may consist of one or several media streams.

VoiceXML

VoiceXML is the W3C's standard XML format for specifying interactive voice dialogues between a human and a computer. It allows voice applications to be developed and deployed in an analogous way to HTML for visual applications. Just as HTML documents are interpreted by a visual web browser, VoiceXML documents are interpreted by a voice browser.

                              What Is IVR?

IVR - short for Interactive Voice Response - is a technology that communicates with a caller through configurable voice menus and data in real time. Enterprises are increasingly turning to IVR to reduce the cost of common sales, service, collections, inquiry and support calls to and from their company.

In an IVR system, callers are given the choice to select options by pressing telephone keypad or speaking words. Historically, IVR solutions have used pre-recorded voice prompts and menus to present information and options to callers, and touch-tone telephone keypad entry to gather responses. Modern IVR solutions also enable input and responses to be gathered via spoken words with voice recognition.

IVR systems are typically used to service high call volumes, reduce cost and improve the customer experience. An IVR never sleeps, answering calls 24 hours a day every day of the year.

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 need for queueing and incurring the cost of a live agent who, in turn, can be directed to deal with more demanding areas of the service. If the caller does not find the information they need, or requires further assistance, the call can then be transferred to an agent. This makes for a more efficient system in which agents have more time 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 personalized service and the interaction is likely to be more fulfilling and rewarding for the agent, as opposed to dealing with basic inquiries that require yes/no responses, such as obtaining customer details.


        Uses for IVR

IVR platforms are used to deliver the widest variety of IVR applications, including: • Information retrieval
• Telephone surveys
• Emergency notifications
• Virtual receptionists
• Auto-attendants
• Call center automation
• Order status
• Package tracking
• Conferencing solutions
• Audiotext platforms
• Virtual call centers
• Virtual PBXs
• Predictive dialers
• Voicemail services
• Dating chat services
• Voice instant messaging
• Voice verification
• Unified messaging
• Bill reminder
• Bill collection
• Account balance & transfer
• Voice Portals
• Telesales
• Email by phone
• Virtual agents
• Telephone CRM
• Auto attendants
• Call routing
• Call recording solutions
• Audio broadcast services
• Real estate information lines
• Political campaigning
• Political polls