What is an Interactive Voice Response (IVR)?

UNIVERGE BLUE ENGAGE IVR

What is an Interactive Voice Response System (IVR)?

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is an automated telephony system that interacts with callers, gathers information, and routes calls to the appropriate recipient. Some customers have more straight-forward concerns to address (e.g. checking an account balance or paying a bill), so the Contact Center IVR helps these customers self-serve without using up the time of a live agent. And when a customer’s problem extends beyond the dynamic menu, the IVR system can quickly lead the caller to the most relevant agent available.

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Key features of IVR

Streamlined IVR Deployment

Design IVRs that have everything you need, via a user-friendly toolkit that walks you through the process step by step. You can use Easy-IVR for new or existing IVRs. With an intuitive interface, guided workflow, and in-context tips, EasyIVR delivers greater ownership for Partners, reduced onboarding effort for customers, and faster time to billing.

CRM Integration

CRM integration helps agents personalize and better resolve customer calls using computer-telephony integration (CTI) screen pops. With integration for Salesforce and most CRM platforms available, the caller information your agent needs becomes automatically available right on their screen.

IVR Data & Call Info

Compiles call statistics on a queue-by-queue basis including total calls queued, handled, abandoned, voicemails, callbacks, min-max and average wait times, talk times, and wrap times. If needed, identifying data from the IVR system (account number, job number, etc.) can be associated with the call.

Outbound IVR Notification

Automated outbound IVR callouts can connect users to a queue to speak to an agent and can be scheduled to ensure you reach customers at a non-disruptive time.

Multi-Lingual Support

UNIVERGE BLUE ENGAGE’s IVR system includes multi-lingual support without the need for additional work or set up. I.e. Instead of setting up three individual call-flows for Spanish, French, and English, one call flow can work for all of them.

Private Data Collection

If a user doesn’t want their credit card information to be heard directly by an agent, the UNIVERGE BLUE ENGAGE system allows the agent to transfer that person to an IVR menu to input the information. The agent is kept up-to-date on the caller’s progress, and when input is finished the caller returns to the agent uninterrupted.

IVR Technology and Industry Specific Use Cases

IVR & Banking

Surprisingly, as online channels have emerged, banking customer satisfaction has decreased. That’s why many banking institutions have become reliant on hosted IVR technology for customer engagement. IVR supported telephone banking allows customers to check balances and transaction histories as well as to make payments and transfers. And not only can financial institutions more effectively interact with customers, but they can also extend business hours to a 24/7 operation.

IVR & Medical

IVR systems allow callers (patients) to obtain data relatively anonymously. Hospitals and clinics have used IVR solutions to help callers receive anonymous access to test results. This is information that could easily be handled by a person, but the IVR system is used to preserve privacy and avoid the potential embarrassment of sensitive information or test results.