IVR also was known as Interactive Voice Response is an automated telephony system that allows interaction with callers that call into the helpdesk hotline, gathers basic information and requests from the caller before it routes the calls to the appropriate helpdesk officers. The IVR system uses the functions that combine the inputs of voice telephone and the touch-tone keypad selection to provide the correct responses to the caller in the form of voice, email, callbacks and other contact methods back to the callers.
It is widely used by all the call centres nowadays as it is simple and effective to use and helps to reduce cost and boost efficiency for the company.
IVR systems allow the company’s customer service department to record customized greetings and messages which can be either pre-recorded or voiced by the selected helpdesk agents when the customers call the company. This, in turn, will ensure that the callers will have a more personalized experience when they called the hotline.
IVR systems also help the company to collect relevant information about their customer’s needs and requirements which in turn will transfer callers to the most appropriate agent or department depending on their input from the IVR. Thus when the calls are directed to agents using the IVR technology, the probability that they will be transferred to the wrong agent or department will be greatly reduced.
One other advantage of using IVR systems is that it allows the callers to solve their own issues and obtain the information they required without speaking with an agent as long as they select the right options via automation. It also allows the department to prioritize the calls based on the caller’s value. Which means that when a high-value customer calls in, the IVR system will route them to the agent in the fastest response time possible to the most qualified helpdesk officers to attend to their needs. In events when all the officers are busy handling the calls, the customers will be directed to the front of the waiting queue to be attended by the next available officers. In this way, the company will never lose a high-value customer due to the poor customer service response.
In general, IVR systems allow companies to handle high call volumes easily as callers making incoming calls will be automatically directed to the helpdesk officers or department whom is most capable to attend to their needs and allows them to wait in a queue when all the officers are busy. Most IVR systems allow the callers to have additional options to leave their contact number during busy hours which the officers will return their call within a set time frame rather than the callers waiting in queues which can be more than one hour.
Thus most new or SMEs (Small and medium enterprise) companies will use IVR systems for their call centers to make their company’s customer service department more professional and If the company have a few people to run the operation, they can configure the IVR prompts to allow callers to talk the company’s sales, customer service, marketing or technical support, etc.
Thus regardless of which department the caller has chosen, they will be routed to the person-in-charge to answer all of the calls. Thus with an IVR system in place, most customers will be impressed with the company’s professionalism and performance.