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 | S.V. Purushothaman, Industry Analyst, Frost & Sullivan You Asked
What are the benefits of using IVR technology in the call center of a contemporary organization? (Part I) | | |
The Expert's Answer
Interactive Voice Response technology or IVR as it is most commonly known is primarily used to automate customer centric business processes and relieve the pressure on live agents handling consumer calls.
IVR systems automate inbound call processing by retrieving information according to the caller's requirements from enterprise databases that are connected to the IVR systems. The IVR system contains hardware and server software that can analyze touch-tone inputs and perform signal processing for speech inputs.
Based on the information entered or spoken by the caller, the IVR system allows the caller to both perform self-service and access the required data, or routes the caller to a particular agent group in the call center equipped to handle such call requests. IVR technology is widely considered to be the most prevalent technology in call centers next to Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) technology.
IVR technology has four primary functions in the call center of a contemporary organization, or an outsourced call center for that matter.
• It routes the calls to the appropriate person or department based on touch-tone or speech inputs
• It identifies and authenticates the caller and subsequently pops up the information on the screen of the agent who will be handling the call using Computer-Telephony Integration (CTI) links.
• It allows for segmentation and differentiation of the callers based on the nature of relationship of the calling party with the business entity. This allows for premium service in call handling.
• It provides an alternate experience for the caller for self-service without having to talk to a human agent.
IVR is a key technology in many call centers in order to reduce costs for a variety of reasons, some of which are outlined below:
• It automates customer interactions with the enterprise databases, thus reducing live agent costs
• It filters the inbound call traffic and smoothes the peaks and troughs in the call center queue, thus adding a degree of predictability to call volume modeling.
• Advancements in speech technology increase the customer friendliness of the underlying IVR system, thus increasing customer satisfaction and customer retention in tough economic times.
Apart from the most basic benefits of IVR in the call center space (outlined above), IVR acts as the foundation for the increasing popularity of self-service. Self-service is the method by which a caller obtains the information he needs from an enterprise database, without having to engage in a conversation with a live agent, unless and otherwise needed. A caller can self-serve himself through an Interactive Web Response (IWR) system too, but the proportion of users who prefer IWR is currently very small.
The driving force behind the usage of IVR for self-service is the number of telephone lines and mobile subscribers in the U.S. With more than 140 million cellular subscribers and more than 250 million residential and business access lines in the U.S, voice self-service has a strong growth base.
Part II
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