How to better manage a customer service thanks to advanced IVR solutions

A customer service today requires a series of implementations, among which advanced IVR solutions are certainly indispensable, for a better approach to the customer.

When we talk about IVR, many could associate the idea with an obsolete technology rooted in not very current communication systems.
In fact, the development of the latter has accelerated a lot thanks to digital.
Increasingly high expectations in terms of customer-brand interaction and increasingly sophisticated experiences via the web and social media have pushed Interactive Voice Response systems to upgrade and become more efficient in order to offer an increasingly high-performance product.

It is true, digital channels are excellent tools for Customer Service, but the telephone is still an indispensable means today when digital does not fulfill the needs of response.

In this scenario, the most advanced IVR systems can certainly offer intuitive, decisive and reassuring experiences to customers. Let’s see how.

IVR: meaning and applications in customer interaction

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is a simple and flexible tool able to manage the traffic of incoming calls (inbound).

The advantages that this system offers are many both on the Customer side, thanks to the personalization of communication, the anticipation of the caller’s needs, the reduction of waiting times, and on the Company side. In fact, a technologically structured and well-designed IVR system allows you to reduce management costs, maximize the technological investment, route calls to the most suitable agents, offer an extremely flexible and intuitive service.

The IVR can therefore be understood as a virtual responder that can be customized according to the needs of the Brand and the Customer, capable of improving the interaction experience, limiting the costs that a physical switchboard would require.

How an IVR switchboard works

We are talking in effect about a virtual switchboard that accompanies the user, through a series of guided options, to solve problems and get answers.
Specifically, the Interactive Voice Response system interfaces with the telephone network and interacts with commands that can be carried out either through the telephone keypad (DTMF) or through voice commands.

Thanks to this process, the Interactive Voice Response System organises and sorts calls in an automated way, directing them to the most qualified operator, optimising waiting times and ensuring an ideal level of service.
Man-machine interaction, which in the most advanced systems offers an experience very close to that which one might have with a receptionist, also allows doubts and questions to be resolved without human intervention.

Organize management flows through IVR

Designing an IVR process is key to managing customer service at its best.
First of all you need to make sure you create an intuitive and personalized interaction, in this sense it is important to make sure that the application is able to understand the commands and orient the customer correctly.
Another aspect to take into consideration is the “naturalness” of man-machine communication. Having an IVR that integrates Artificial Intelligence ensures smooth, optimised and continuously evolving processes.
Anticipating the customer’s needs, shortening the duration of the interaction as much as possible, solving the needs in a short time are all processes to be studied in a timely manner to manage incoming flows in a strategic and performing way.

The advantages of a new way of understanding the relationship with customers

In a world where smartphones reign supreme and shortcut commands are accessible to everyone, IVR technology guarantees a practical and functional interaction system, ensuring an intelligent and natural self-service experience that can be declined on multiple communication channels.

Omnichannel and innovation in the most sophisticated IVR processes

We have investigated several times the importance of an omnichannel approach as a winning strategy in the relationship with the customer and in this context even the IVR can be part of it.

In fact, there are solutions that allow the transition from an IVR to any other digital tool: for example email, SMS or chat.
In this way the experience is continuous, the customer satisfaction level improved and the cost and time savings increased.

Scalability and cloud

As with other systems, the Cloud offers many opportunities.
Migrating telephone systems to the Cloud means benefiting from at least 7 advantages:

1. Reduce or eliminate maintenance costs;
2. Automate the software update and remotize any type of intervention;
3. Provide the company with a scalable and adaptable service even across multiple locations, based on individual needs. Ideal for both small, medium and large companies;
4. Do not install in-house systems and servers locally;
5. Ensure optimal performance regardless of the incoming volumes;
6. Access the PBX functions at any time and in any place through an internet connection.
7. Last, but not least, ensure data security.

AI, ASR and TTS, the virtual receptionist of the future

The best IVR systems are those that integrate AI or Artificial Intelligence: thanks to its highly sophisticated technologies, AI enables far more advanced levels of understanding and interaction than voice recognition alone.

An example are AI technologies called TTS, also called “speech synthesizers”, or software capable of vocalizing words from text files or ASR or Automatic Speech Recognition, which allow you to identify more or less articulated words and phrases and therefore to recognize voice commands.

Xcally and its Drag & Drop IVR system

Having an IVR today means, to avoid running into complex processes and obsolete technologies, choosing a modern, efficient and immediate system.

XCALLY, the Omnichannel Contact Center Software of the INGO Group, has developed a flexible, customizable, easily integrated IVR application with great attention to usability able to meet the needs of large and small companies.

Thanks to the drag and drop system it is possible to configure your own IVR project: Auto-attendant, Customer Satisfaction Surveys, Call back etc… through a few simple clicks you can customize the technology according to the needs of your Customer Service.