| In telephony, interactive voice response, or | | | | businesses, and can be used in place of more |
| IVR, is a computerized system that allows a | | | | expensive IVR systems. IVR systems are |
| person, typically a telephone caller, to | | | | generally used at the front end of call |
| select an option from a voice menu and | | | | centers to identify what service the caller |
| otherwise interface with a computer system. | | | | wants and to extract numeric information such |
| Generally the system plays pre-recorded voice | | | | as account numbers as well as provide answers |
| prompts to which the person presses a number | | | | to simple questions such as account balances |
| on a telephone keypad to select the option | | | | or allow pre-recorded information to be |
| chosen, or speaks simple answers such as | | | | heard. |
| "yes", "no", or numbers in answer to the | | | | |
| voice prompts. | | | | IVR systems are often criticised as being |
| | | | unhelpful and difficult to use due to poor |
| The latest systems use natural language | | | | design and lack of appreciation of the |
| speech recognition to interpret the questions | | | | callers' needs. A properly designed IVR |
| that the person wants answered. The newest | | | | system should connect callers to their |
| trend is Guided Speech IVR which integrates | | | | desired service promptly and with a minimum |
| live human agents into the design and | | | | of fuss. |
| workflow of the application to help the | | | | |
| speech recognition with human context. | | | | IVR call flows are created in a variety of |
| | | | ways: while older systems depended upon |
| Other innovations include the ability to | | | | proprietary programming or scripting |
| speak complex and dynamic information such as | | | | languages, modern systems are structured |
| an e-mail, news report or weather information | | | | similar to WWW pages, using the VoiceXML or |
| using Text-To-Speech (TTS). TTS is computer | | | | SALT languages. This allows any Web server to |
| generated synthesised speech and is no longer | | | | act as an application server, freeing the |
| the robotic voice people associate with | | | | developer to focus on the call flow. |
| computers. Real voices are used to create the | | | | Developers then also no longer require |
| speech in tiny fragments that are glued | | | | specialized programming skills, as any Web |
| together before being played to the caller. | | | | developer already has all the tools needed to |
| | | | create an IVR call flow. |
| IVR systems can be used to create and manage | | | | |
| many services including telephone banking, | | | | IVR as a technology can be utilized in |
| order placement, caller identification and | | | | several different ways: |
| routing, balance inquiry, and airline ticket | | | | |
| booking. Voicemail systems are different from | | | | |
| IVR systems in that they are a one-way | | | | |
| communication tool (the caller leaves a | | | | 1. Equipment installed and setup on the |
| message), whereas IVR systems attempt two-way | | | | customer premise |
| interaction with the caller. Automatic call | | | | |
| distributor (ACD) systems are often the first | | | | 2. As an Outsourced Solution Provider |
| point of contact when calling many larger | | | | (OSP) |