Conventional wisdom says that firms that invest in the right technology outperform those that don’t. They’re able to achieve better economies of scale, automate redundant processes and more tightly control customer service. By doing those things, companies can maintain brand value. One way to ensure that customer service interactions are handled in a cost-effective manner [...]
It’s one thing to want a more efficient business, but we can’t do it on the customer’s time or dime. Sure, our IVR systems increase efficiency, for example, but they also improve the customer experience (with a good call flow). “Cost efficiencies are fine, but not at the expense of the customers,” writes customer relationship [...]
Data centers aren’t the only things that prevent downtime in cloud-based systems, but they’re a huge factor. The only way Plum can guarantee 99.999% uptime in our hosted IVR systems is by having multiple, independent yet interconnected data centers. Data centers are kind of a hot topic in cloud-based industries such as IVR, or interactive voice [...]
…continued from Data Center Disaster Protection… Datagram’s data center in New York went down because the basement of the building flooded. Without criticizing Datagram, it’s a perfect example of why redundancy is absolutely essential for data centers. At Plum, we have a ‘you-can’t-have-too-much’ view towards redundancy in the centers, because it’s where we house all [...]
Plum’s headquarters are in Downtown Manhattan, so needless to say the office is still closed after Superstorm Sandy. Luckily, we don’t have any data centers for our hosted IVR systems in Manhattan, just the office. Somehow, Plum’s IVR data centers in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts came out unscathed. But discussion about adding another data center to [...]
What are the components users should look for when comparing and contrasting service-level agreements (SLA) for mission-critical IVR systems and applications? When choosing to outsource technology, it is important for companies to define the level of uptime they require of the product or service. Unless companies have a functional level of expertise in-house, those commissioning [...]
A service-level agreement (SLA) is a clause in a contract that defines the level of both service and support customers can expect to receive for hardware and software system components provided by a vendor. SLAs feature prominently in contracts and agreements between technology companies and their clients. Plum offers users a variety of tiers and [...]
As I’ve written in other posts, some of the emerging IVR markets are in unexpected places, such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East, along with the more obvious European and Asian markets. IVR has seen widespread growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), along with Asia. In Vietnam, for example, the market [...]
Hosted IVR applications, whether they are serving enterprise-level clients or being used on a smaller scale, exist in the cloud. Hardware and infrastructure for hosted IVR systems are housed in world-class data centers located nationally and internationally. These systems are equipped with state-of-the-art features that enable engineers to manage multiple applications in a highly effective [...]
For those interested in implementing or upgrading an IVR solution, there are two principal methods of delivery to choose from: hosted or onsite. Onsite IVR applications are designed and built by a team of Plum’s dedicated engineers. These systems are then deployed and maintained at the provider’s location. Plum offers comprehensive support packages for these [...]