IVR Full Form

IVR is used for the purpose of business in phone systems, where it provides an automated voice record and interacts with the customer by making them choose from the menu offered through the keypad system. Customers are asked to answer via the keypads, considering specific keys for specific answers. On the basis of the keys pressed by the customers, their response is analyzed and further steps are taken as per the convenience of the customer. In the cases of severe needs, IVR passes the phone route to “a human agent” for interacting and solving the problems faced by the customers.

Tools required by IVR to work properly

IVR is found to work with the implication of its own software known as the IVR software. This software is isolated from the platform of main communication. It requires its own hardware set, as well as telephone service. In order to pull the relevant information, there is a need for a database, as well as a well-maintained server system.

Features of IVR

Multilingualism

IVR focuses on interacting with its customers in different languages in accordance with the customers’ convenience. It provides the option of choosing a convenient language for the customers in order to make them feel free to communicate with the IVR communicative agents. In this regard, it records the customer service tone in different languages and saves it in a computerized format. This is done in order to avoid the chances of any misinterpretation between the customer and the system agent representing the concerned company.

Callback and Feedback offers

In the cases of any system error or network issue, IVR provides the customers with the option of calling back the customer care services within a very short period of time. This helps the customers to keep faith in the concerned company and convey their problems freely to the agents. Moreover, IVR also asks for the feedback of the customers regarding the customer care services. This enables the company to analyze the level of customer satisfaction, as well as take further actions in order to rectify the flaws.

DTMF tones

These are touch tones, which provide the customers an option of choosing the number, as well as letter keys in order to convey their answers to the questions asked by the IVR systems. These questions of the IVR prompts are pre-recorded and each question is depicted with a specific tone at a specific pitch. These tones, as well as customers’ answers, are evaluated by the IVR system, and the system processes according to the analysis.

Speech Identification

IVR collects the desired information by identifying the speech or voice of the DTMF tones, as well as the responses of the customers against the system’s questions. This identification leads the company to gather information with more specificity.

Artificial Intelligence

This sector utilizes the “Natural Language Processing” (NLP) in order to recognize the phrases, as well as keywords from the customers’ responses to the “call menu prompts” that are pre-recorded. Speech Identification, as well as Artificial Intelligence work hand in hand in order to resolve the problems conveyed by the customer as soon as possible.

Automation

The final step of the IVR process is executed by the Automation process. In addition, this technique allocates the customer via the present path of the call, enabling them to associate with a representative or access the desirable information. Automation forwards the call to the correct place and terminates the requirements of live agents to forward calls manually.

Advantages of IVR system

Knowledgeable Agents

The IVR system automatically gathers the customers’ information with more specification and accuracy. It is then found to direct the gathered information to its agents in order to provide specific solutions to the customers. In this regard, the agents are hired on the basis of their skills and ability to analyze a problem from multiple directions. The efficiency of the agents is responsible for providing productive services.

Call Prioritization

The information gathered from the IVR systems enables the agents to prioritize the right time to take specific calls. On the basis of the complaints mentioned by the customer, agents analyze the intensity of their problems and take the calls according to the intensity of the problems.

Saving unnecessary costs

IVR is effective in saving the concerned company’s expenses in many ways. The cost of hiring a “live receptionist” is saved by the utilization of the IVR system. The automated tones are instead recorded in many languages and are used at the time of customer care services. Moreover,  the IVR system is also effective in providing self-services to the customers for some specific issues, which saves the costs of employing more agents.

Conclusion

On the basis of the discussion, it is concluded that IVR is a service provided to the customers in order to help them out with the solutions to their problems through automated voice tones. This system works via speech identification, as well as pad dialing, and hence is considered to be an easily handled system to the customers. On the other hand, the long waiting times are combated with the utilization of the IVR technique. Hence, it is concluded that IVR is effective in saving time, as well as the expense of the customers, and improving the brand image of the concerned company before the customers.