IVR Deconstructed

An important decision that you have to make in the process of implementing an IVR solution is whether to host the system yourself or to take advantage of hosted IVR services.  We help our clients with this all the time and thought we should share it with everyone.  While the ultimate decision is yours, here is a list of reasons why we prefer the Hosted IVR option:

1.   With the economy in trouble, the biggest decision maker these days seems to be the bottom line – opting for an in house system will require you purchase the necessary hardware (and it’s not cheap!) while you could simply pay monthly IVR hosting fees and avoid the large upfront expense. This changes the expense from a CapEx to an OPEX.

2.    Don’t forget the cost of managing and maintaining a system too.  With hosted IVR, that’s taken care of.
3.    Consider the limitations of an onsite system: you would have to upgrade your system to accommodate more simultaneous calls, and usually you don’t know you need an upgrade until it’s too late.  IVR hosting allows you to handle unexpected spikes in call volume with ease.

4.    Speaking of upgrades, in order to create the very best user experience possible you need to stay on top of the latest speech technology.  Plum’s hosted IVR hardware gets updated as soon as a new technology is proven – that our business.

5.    Do you cringe at the mere mention of catastrophic failure?  Relax, Plum’s IVR hosting service has you covered with a fully redundant disaster recovery system between three data centers.  Just think of all the sleepless nights in the server room you’ll save.

So, there are clear advantages to opting for hosted IVR.  Whether you’re motivation is financial, technical, or you just want the peace of mind that comes from knowing the system is in the capable hands of experts, IVR hosting is just a better way to go.

There are many options to consider when implementing IVR.  One of those big decisions is whether or not to leverage hosted IVR as opposed to having in-house systems.  There are advantages to both, but we feel that utilizing the Plum IVR Hosting Suite is a great, cost-effective solution for small and medium businesses that may not have the capital or expertise to host an IVR system themselves.

Hosted IVR is basically us taking care of everything for you.  Your application is hosted on our secure servers.  It’s administered seamlessly, meaning that your callers won’t know the difference between calling an in-house system or calling a hosted IVR application.  Here are some of the advantages to choosing this option:

•    Less Hassle – let’s face it, managing telephony servers and dealing with telecommunications companies is time consuming and frustrating.  Hosted IVR removes all the hassle associated with insuring your IVR applications are taking calls 24×7.

•    Easier Entry – IVR hosting allows companies who are considering interactive voice response but can’t afford the startup costs an opportunity to get in the game.

•    No Maintenance – hardware breaks down… it’s inevitable.  Let our experienced technicians handle the regular maintenance of your IVR system

•    Reliability – If you’ve only got your in-house system and it does go down, you’re scrambling to fix it.  With hosted IVR, there’s an entire server farm running applications and there’s redundancy between several geographically dispersed data centers.

•    Technology – what happens in 5 years when your gear is underpowered maybe even obsolete?  It’s our business to stay up to speed on the latest technologies.  You’ll benefit from our need for the newest and shiniest toys.

•    Scalability – you also might need to upgrade an in-house system because of the growing needs of your business.  Again, if you’re letting us host your IVR that process is much easier.

•    Support – get some peace of mind knowing that your system has 24-7 monitoring and support services available.

We could go on, but that’s a pretty good case for considering IVR hosting with Plum Voice.  If you would like to know more, please contact us and set up a free consultation.  We’ll help you make this important decision.