IVR (Interactive Voice Response) is a technology that allows a computer to interact with people most often through tone dialing from the phone’s keypad.
IVR is a frequently used functionality in contemporary business communication solutions and an integral part of our solutions for Call Center Software, CRM System, and HelpDesk and Ticketing System.
The capabilities of the IVR technology of the InfoServ systems are many, and the extent to which they will be implemented in a specific customer solution depends entirely on the customer's intentions, industry, and business concept.
"The advice to our customers is to look for BALANCE when determining the desired degree of automation and use of InfoServ's IVR technology."
Our experience with building systems for Automatic Service based on InfoServ's IVR technology is extensive - we have developed automated systems for passive and active banking, systems for checking an account from a water or heat supplier, an automated telephone betting system for the Gambling Industry, an automated system for providing information on matriculation results, and many other projects with diverse degrees of complexity.
The advantages of using IVR technology in InfoServ CRM and InfoServ Call Center solutions are many, and some of the most commonly cited are:
- 24/7 service
- Ability to handle many calls at the same time
- Routing the call according to the choice made by the customer
- Reduces operating costs
- Building a good corporate image
- Improves customer service
- Leads to greater customer satisfaction
IVR capabilities of InfoServ CRM solutions and their applications include:
Greetings IVR
A Greetings IVR is characterized by an initial greeting message, followed typically by a message that the call is being recorded, an operator waiting message, a message when all agents are busy and the call cannot be processed.
Greetings IVRs are preferred by companies and organizations that want to announce who the customer has contacted, to demonstrate the availability and use of specialized communication solutions by the company, but without involving the client with navigating through menus and correspondingly delaying the connection with a live employee.
IVR Menu
The use of IVR menu is appropriate For businesses where there is a division of employee competencies, either based on the type of activity or products and services, in order to direct the customer's call to the most suitable employee according to the nature of his inquiry. This ensures the call is directed to an employee possessing the competences desired by the client.
The most commonly used IVR menus are:
- To select a department/directorate - For example: For Sales Department - please press 1, for Accounting - please press 2, etc.
- To select an interest in a product, service, or activity - For example: For Car service - please press 1, for Spare parts - please press 2, etc.
Multilingual IVR
When the company's clients are both local and foreign, it is appropriate to provide an option for messages in a foreign language in the company's IVR. Usually, such functionality is implemented immediately after the greeting message in the local language, the client is given the option to change the language, for example: "For English, press 1".
IVR with Business Hours
When the company is not open 24/7, InfoServ's IVR is able to monitor what time the call is received and if the call is received outside of the company's working hours and there is no employee available to take it, the customer will be informed about it and they will be provided with information about the company's working hours, and additional information such as company web site, emails address, etc.
Voicemail
Another capability of InfoServ IVRs is to provide an option to the customer, in the event of an inability to be connected to a company employee, to leave a voice message, which can subsequently be played back through the InfoServ system interface and, accordingly, a call can be returned with a thoroughly prepared answer to the customer's question.
Outbound IVR for Voice Announcement
InfoServ systems allow automatic outbound voice calls with the option to use either static or pre-recorded voice messages to notify a large number of customers in a short time, or through IVR to collect feedback. This feature is particularly suitable when a many people need to be surveyed in a relatively short period of time (during a TV broadcast, elections, etc.). For this purpose, an IVR is developed with the survey question and the possible answers, and the person chooses the desired answer using the keypad on their phone.
IVR with Marketing Messages
In InfoServ IVRs, specific places can be defined for our customers to activate and deactivate marketing messages by themselves - for example, a Christmas promotion, announcements about the release of a long-awaited new product, etc. Such announcements are usually placed immediately before the call is being transferred to an employee.
IVR with Technical Issue Messages
Similar to IVRs with Marketing messages, in certain areas of business there is a need to automatically notify customers about a technical problem. Such areas of business are often the utility sector (emergency in the supply of hot water or power failure), the telecommunications sector (loss of telephone or Internet connectivity, loss of TV signal), the financial sector (loss of connection with a partner organization), etc. Typically, when such an event occurs, the company's phones receive a significantly higher than normal volume of calls that cannot be handled due to a lack of human resources. In such cases, customers are satisfied, even if they cannot get in touch with a real person to answer their concerns, at least to hear a message that the company is aware of the problem and it is being worked on. These messages are usually placed immediately after the greeting message, at the beginning of the IVR.
Integration IVR (Passive/Active Operations)
Integration IVRs for passive/active operations are commonly used by businesses in the financial and utilities sectors. These types of IVRs aim to provide quick answers to customer questions about products and services they use, such as account balance, last three credit card transactions, date of next water consumption report, etc. Examples of active operations are: changing PIN code, placing bets in gambling business, increasing credit card limit, etc. For the realization of IVRs with passive/active operations, an integration with the company’s own internal systems is required(often achieved via Web Service integration), so that the necessary information can be extracted and reproduced to the customer.
Customer identification through IVR
The IVR capabilities of InfoServ also include the ability to identify the client based on Personal Number, BULSTAT Unified Identification Code (UIC), Client Number or another identifier provided by the client. Once the client is identified using the information provided by him in the IVR, the InfoServ systems can also display the customer profile in InfoServ based on the customer identification , instead of or in addition to the standard customer identification based on Caller ID. Same as Integration IVRs, this functionality is implemented through integration (often via Web Service) between InfoServ and the client's systems.