IVR Deconstructed

Callee type detection is a feature of the Plum VoiceXML platform that detects whether a person or voicemail system answers an outbound call from an IVR application.  Callee type detection provides the results of an outbound call by reporting if a person, fax machine, or voicemail answered the phone or if the call received a busy signal, a no answer, or was intercepted by an operator.
Callee type detection makes it possible for developers of outbound IVR applications to build dynamics scripts that act on callee data.  For instance, a developer might want to deliver two separate messages; one that’s presented to a live person and one that’s designed to be left on a voicemail system.  Also, callee type is used as a way to measure the success of an outbound IVR campaign by reporting how many people received a message from the IVR system.

More information about callee type can be found here: http://www.plumvoice.com/docs/hosting/outbounddevguide.htm

In a world where smart phones have permeated many consumer markets, users have access to email on the go at any time.  But what about those millions of people out there that don’t have a smart phone, and still want to have access to email on the go without having to purchase a data plan?  Or what about smart phone users that don’t want to type out more than a sentence or two message from their handheld device?  I myself have an iPhone, and can attest to the fact that writing more than a couple lines of text on the go can be a bit of a headache.  So what is the solution?

An interactive voice response system of course!   An IVR system could be designed that allows users on the go to call in, enter their email account information including password, and give the system access to their personal email accounts.  The system would allow users to call in and hear their emails read to them telephonically.  With the help of Plum Voice’s text-to-speech software, users could draft a response by speaking into the phone.  From there, they could configure their settings in a myriad of ways.  The system could be configured only for inbound calls, so users could call in if and when they wanted to screen their emails.  The system could also be programmed to make an outbound call informing users when they had a new message.  Smartphone users could similarly use the TTS technology to draft response emails, but could eliminate the email reading features since they already have a device that allows them email access.  An interactive voice response system for email reading and responding is a great idea for users in every corner of the market, and I certainly would be excited if such a system were released!

Election season is upon us again, and nationwide, the electorate is being bombarded by television commercials, phone calls, Internet ads, and door-to-door solicitations.  While there are plenty of people reminding us to vote, there are few places where voters can access unbiased, unfettered information on the issues and candidates.  Googling an initiative has been rendered virtually ineffective.  In the height of political season, you are more likely to be taken to a party sponsored website than to the secretary of state’s informational site.  What is a confused voter to do?  This is where an interactive response system could come in handy.  Local, state, and even federal governments could establish IVR systems that could be utilized by all of their constituents. Users on the go could call in, and choose from a menu of choices that would allow them to hear about issues and candidates in a succinct, easy to understand manner.  Users would not have to have television or Internet access, but instead could call this system from anywhere and receive additional information on everything from ballot initiatives to candidate platforms.  A forum like this would be publicly sponsored, and as such, free of advertising.  Users would have access to information up to and through Election Day, and this IVR system would basically act as a telephonic reproduction of the informational ballot books sent out by the state.  This system could even be eco-friendly by eliminating the need for states to send out paper ballot explanations!  An IVR system like this would be a great resource for all voters, and would allow them to access important voting information on the go and from anywhere!

SSL is short for secure sockets layer, and it is a protocol initially developed for transmitting private documents or information via the Internet.  It essentially works through a cryptographic system that secures a connection between a client and a server.  Many websites used this protocol to obtain confidential user information.  Plum Voice supports SSL encryption, and it is used primarily in the survey tool.  SSL encryption provides users with the ability to send encrypted survey links to the participants.  The survey link and survey pages will be encrypted during transmission from user’s account to their respondents.  Survey respondents answers will be encrypted as they are delivered into the analyze section of survey accounts.  If customers request an export, they will be delivered to their computers in an encrypted format.  SSL encryption provides the ability to encrypt real-time data transfers.  In order to stay in compliance with HIPAA regulations, Plum recommends that users utilize SSL encryption.

VoiceXML is the World Wide Web Consortium’s standard scripting language for creating IVR applications.  Plum’s platform software enables the creation of VoiceXML IVR gateways and complete systems.  In conjunction with conventional server hardware, Plum’s platform is capable of running VoiceXML applications 24X7X395 reliability.  The Plum platform software includes a VoiceXML 2.1 compliant interpreter, support for several speech synthesis and speech recognition engines, developer tools, operations and management utilities, and logging and reporting utilities.  The Plum software suite controls a telephony gateway that consists of telephony boards installed in a conventional server running the Linux operating system.  The VoiceXML interpreter, which controls the gateway, may tap into modular plug-ins and resources, typically speech recognition engines and text-to-speech engines, to enable advanced telephony functionality.  Among other features, VoiceXML 2.1 interpreter includes ECMA Script support, robust DTMF recognition with instantaneous barge-in and response, speech barge-in support, recording support, and configurable support for thousands of separate VoiceXML applications simultaneously.