IVR Hosting
What is IVR?
The IVR or Interactive Voice Response technology allows a device or computer to detect keypad or voice inputs. This technology is being extensively used in the telecommunications services such as mobile phone users, business enterprises, community services etc. The IVR technology is being introduced in automobiles to allow hands free operation or other services such as navigational support. In this system, an automated voice informs about the directions to any destination through GPS satellite software installed with the IVR system. This technology is used to service large volumes of calls, reduce company’s expenditure and also improve the experience of the customer.
IVR Hosting:
It has been seen that using IVR technology has reduced the time required to satisfy a customer’s query by half as the automated menus allows for better navigation and if the need to transfer arises, certain information regarding the customer’s query has been registered which helps both the customer and the executive. Earlier the IVR systems had to be placed on the premises of the company if the need of contacting any engineer or an executive arises. But with the introduction of web based services and applications, the IVR system can be hosted remotely.
How does it work?
In IVR hosting, the application has full or limited access to the company’s data. When the customer calls and enquires, the IVR system deals with his/her queries. These queries can include product enquiries, disaster recovery, customer reviews etc. Even for critical enquiries, the executives or engineers provide support around the clock to the customers. This wouldn’t result in any loss of business or customer dissatisfaction. These engineers have full access to the information provided by the customer and can offer them with any technical support they require. Hosted IVRs can be very useful for deploying the IVR solutions nationally as well as internationally.
There are many companies which have their hosting services which can provide comprehensive solutions to an enterprise’s customers with little (or more) access to the enterprise’s data. Many people say that there are drawbacks to Hosted IVR such as hosting via another country can cause dissatisfaction to the customer as he/she may experience cultural or language barriers. But, there are many companies in the same company which offer hosting services to small, medium sized or large companies. The hosted IVR services can be particularly helpful when there is a system outage and the calls loading is balanced across multiple contact centers.
Why IVR hosts?
Large businesses can also use multiple IVR hosting services where the primary IVR service can handle the small or easy inquiries, the more difficult inquiries are sent to the other IVR hosts which have more access to the enterprise’s data and the extreme cases are only transferred to the enterprise. This way, the original enterprise’s executives can look over live business and customers instead of handling queries and complaints. The IVR hosting service providers also provide various other helpful features such as multiple grammar and language engines, pricing plans, standard acronyms, call recordings and conferencing (for future help) and only engineering staff instead of call center reps who offer advices from scripts.
Many companies have been criticized if they employ hosted IVRs as the hosts cannot tackle the enquiries as well or aren’t compassionate enough with the customer’s problems. But using IVR hosting has seen to reduce almost thirty percent of the costs as they are professional and employing the professional equipment costs a lot more than employing the services. All that matters is using the best IVR hosted services which invest good staff and infrastructure in their business as well as their client’s.
