IVR is an acronym for Interactive Voice Response. It’s a technology that automates interactions with telephone callers. Basically IVR integrates a company’s telephone and computer system, allowing the computer to become a voice computer. This then transforms a caller’s telephone into a terminal capable of directly accessing information and services.
IVRs answer a query one of three ways - by prompting callers to enter data using the touchtone keypad, by looking up the record in a database and by speaking back information. They can also ask the caller for information, accept the answers as they are entered on the keypad and store the information in a database.
Not surprisingly, many businesses have turned to IVRs as a way to decrease the cost of sales, service, collections, inquiry and support calls to and from their company. IVR solutions enable users to retrieve information including bank balances, flight schedules, product details, order status, movie show times, and more from any telephone. Additionally, IVR solutions are increasingly used to place outbound calls to deliver or gather information for appointments, past due bills, and other time critical events and activities.
If you are a business considering using IVR you will require a few essentials. First you’ll need an IVR platform. You’ll also need the IVR applications, back-end servers, telephone infrastructure and IVR experts to help you with the technology. But, you needn’t look any further than Plum Voice. We offer a combination of our own VoiceXML technology and complete professional services and we deliver telephony automation solutions that enable companies to exceed their goals and streamline their processes.
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