Interactive voice response
Encyclopedia
Interactive voice response (IVR) is a technology that allows a computer to interact with humans through the use of voice and DTMF keypad inputs.
In telecommunications, IVR allows customers to interact with a company’s database via a telephone keypad or by speech recognition, after which they can service their own inquiries by following the IVR dialogue. IVR systems can respond with prerecorded or dynamically generated audio to further direct users on how to proceed. IVR applications can be used to control almost any function where the interface can be broken down into a series of simple interactions. IVR systems deployed in the network are sized to handle large call volumes.
IVR technology is also being introduced into automobile systems for hands-free operation. Current deployment in automobiles revolves around satellite navigation, audio and mobile phone systems.
It has become common in industries that have recently entered the telecommunications industry to refer to an automated attendant
as an IVR. The terms, however, are distinct and mean different things to traditional telecommunications professionals, whereas emerging telephony and VoIP professionals often use the term IVR as a catch-all to signify any kind of telephony menu, even a basic automated attendant. The term voice response unit (VRU), is sometimes used as well.
, invented an approach to recognition based on a statistical concept called the Hidden Markov Model
. The Baum–Welch algorithm is used to find the unknown parameters of a hidden Markov model.
In 1961, Bell System
developed a new tone dialing methodology. Bell unveiled the first telephone that could dial area codes using DTMF technology at the Seattle World Fair in 1962. DTMF telephones enabled the use of in-band signaling, i.e., they transmit audible tones in the same 300 Hz to 3.4 kHz range occupied by the human voice. The blueprint for IVR was born.
Despite the increase in deployment of IVR technology in the 1970s to automate tasks in call centers, the technology was still complex and expensive. Early speech recognition systems were DSP technology based, and were limited to small vocabularies. However, by the 1980s a number of new competitors entered the market and uptake of IVR technology started to increase. As speech recognition software developed the technology changed from DSP
to a client/server
architecture.
As call centers began to migrate to multimedia in the late 1990s, companies started to invest in Computer Telephony Integration
(CTI) with IVR systems. IVR became vital for call centers deploying universal queuing and routing solutions and acted as an agent which collected customer data to enable intelligent routing decisions.
In the subsequent decade, speech recognition started to become more common and cheaper to deploy. This was due to increased CPU
power and the migration of speech applications from proprietary code to the VXML
standard.
, televoting
, and credit card
services. Companies also use IVR services to extend their business hours to 24/7
operation.
The use of IVR and voice automation enables a company to improve its customer service and lower its costs, due to the fact that callers' queries can be resolved without the need for queueing and incurring the cost of a live agent who, in turn, can be directed to deal with more demanding areas of the service. If the caller does not find the information they need, or requires further assistance, the call can then be transferred to an agent. This makes for a more efficient system in which agents have more time to deal with complex interactions: for example, customer retention, up selling, cross selling and issue resolution. This way, the customer is more likely to be satisfied with a personalized service and the interaction is likely to be more fulfilling and rewarding for the agent, as opposed to dealing with basic inquiries that require yes/no responses, such as obtaining customer details.
Call centers use IVR systems to identify and segment callers. The ability to identify customers allows services to be tailored according to the customer profile. The caller can be given the option to wait in the queue, choose an automated service, or request a callback (at a suitable time and telephone number). The system may obtain caller line identification (CLI) data from the network to help identify or authenticate the caller. This is currently available for about 80% of inbound calls. Additional caller authentication data could include account number, personal information, password and biometrics (such as voice print).
When an IVR system answers multiple phone numbers the use of DNIS ensures that the correct application and language is executed. A single large IVR system can handle calls for thousands of applications, each with its own phone numbers and script.
IVR also enables customer prioritization. In a system wherein individual customers may have a different status the service will automatically prioritize the individual's call and move customers to the front of a specific queue. Prioritization could also be based on the DNIS and call reason.
Smaller companies and start-ups can also use an IVR system to make their business appear larger than it is. For example, a caller never needs to know that their Sales and Support calls are routed to the same person.
In addition to interacting with customer information systems and databases, IVRs will also log call detail information into its own database for auditing, performance report, and future IVR system enhancements.
CTI
allows a contact center or organization to gather information about the caller as a means of directing their inquiry to the appropriate agent. CTI can transfer relevant information about the individual customer and the IVR dialog from the IVR to the agent desktop using a screen-pop
, making for a more effective and efficient service.
IVR may be used by survey organizations for asking more sensitive questions where the investigators are concerned that a respondent might feel less comfortable providing these answers to a human interlocutor (such as questions about drug use or sexual behavior). In some cases an IVR system can be used in the same survey in conjunction with a human interviewer. For example, during the survey the interviewer might inform the respondent that for the next series of questions they will be sent to an IVR system to continue or complete the interview.
and Big Brother
, which can generate enormous call spikes. Often, the network provider will have to deploy call gapping
in the PSTN to prevent network overload.
s to conduct clinical trial
s and manage the large volumes of data generated. The caller will respond to questions in their preferred language and their responses will be logged into a database and possibly recorded at the same time to confirm authenticity. Applications include patient randomization and drug supply management. They are also used in recording patient diaries and questionnaires.
systems, and can use Call Progress Detection to recognize different line conditions as follows:
are used to interpret the caller's response to voice prompts. DTMF tones are entered via the telephone keypad
.
Two main varieties of speech recognition are used in IVR: that based upon predefined grammar
s (used in "directed" dialogues), and that based on statistically trained language models (used in "natural language
" dialogues). Directed dialogues prompt the caller with specific questions or options. Natural language dialogues employ open questions (e.g. "How can I help you?"), are more conversational, and can interpret free-form responses.
Other technologies include using Text-To-Speech
(TTS) to speak complex and dynamic information, such as e-mails, news reports or weather information. TTS is computer generated synthesized speech that is no longer the robotic voice traditionally associated with computers. Real voices create the speech in fragments that are spliced together (concatenated) and smoothed before being played to the caller.
An IVR can be deployed in several different ways:
IVR can be used to provide a more sophisticated voice mail experience to the caller. For example, the IVR could ask if the caller wishes to hear, edit, forward or remove a message.
An automatic call distributor
(ACD) is often the first point of contact when calling many larger businesses. An ACD uses digital storage devices to play greetings or announcements, but typically routes a caller without prompting for input. An IVR can play announcements and request an input from the caller. This information can be used to profile the caller and route the call to an agent with a particular skill set. (A skill set is a function applied to a group of call-center agents with a particular skill.)
Interactive voice response can be used to front-end a call center operation by identifying the needs of the caller. Information can be obtained from the caller such as an account number. Answers to simple questions such as account balances or pre-recorded information can be provided without operator intervention. Account numbers from the IVR are often compared to caller ID
data for security reasons and additional IVR responses are required if the caller ID does not match the account record.
IVR call flows are created in a variety of ways. A traditional IVR depended upon proprietary programming or scripting languages, whereas modern IVR applications are generated in a similar way to Web
pages, using standards such as VoiceXML
, CCXML, SRGS and SSML
. The ability to use XML-driven applications allows a Web server
to act as the application server
, freeing the IVR developer to focus on the call flow. It was widely believed that developers would no longer require specialized programming skills; however, this has been proven to be misguided as IVR applications need to understand the human reaction to the application dialog.
Higher level IVR development tools are available to further simplify the application development process. A call flow diagram can be drawn with a GUI tool and the presentation layer (typically VoiceXML) can be automatically generated. In addition, these tools normally provide extension mechanisms for software integration, such as an HTTP interface to a Web site and a Java
interface for connecting to a database.
In telecommunications, an audio response unit (ARU) is a device that provides synthesized voice responses to DTMF keypresses by processing calls based on (a) the call-originator input, (b) information received from a database, and (c) information in the incoming call, such as the time of day.
ARUs increase the number of information calls handled and provide consistent quality in information retrieval.
Methods of reducing contact center running costs include outsourcing
and automation. Outsourcing to other countries can reduce operational expenditure by as much as 30%, however, differences in culture and language can prove problematic for customers, whose dissatisfaction can lead to customer complaints and loss of business. Also, it is more difficult to up-sell to customers from foreign contact centers.
Automation in a contact center can also reduce operational expenditure by around 30% though the introduction of technologies such as customer profiling, CTI, and IVR using speech recognition. The use of automation in the contact center promotes efficiency, allowing contact centers to be located in the country from which the call is originated. Customer satisfaction can be monitored by the use of customer survey applications. The information from survey applications can be used to improve customer service.
in telecommunications has affected how IVR is used.
(SIP) means that point-to-point communications are no longer restricted to voice calls but can now be extended to multimedia technologies such as video
. IVR manufacturers have extended their systems into IVVR (Interactive Voice and Video Response), especially for the mobile phone networks. The use of video gives IVR systems the ability to implement multimodal interaction
with the caller.
The introduction of full-duplex video IVR in future will allow systems the ability to read emotions and facial expressions. It may also be used to identify the caller, using technology such as Iris scan or other biometric means. Recordings of the caller may be stored to monitor certain transactions, and can be used to reduce identity fraud.
(IM) in contact centers is starting to take off. Agents can handle up to 6 different IM conversations at the same time and so agent productivity is increasing. IVR technology is being used to automate IM conversations using existing Natural Language Processing
software. This is different from email handling as email automated response is typically based on key word spotting. IM conversations are different from email as IM is conversational. The use of text messaging abbreviations and smilies requires different grammars to those currently used for speech recognition. IM is also starting to replace text messaging on multimedia mobile handsets and is expected to become more widely used.
IVR applications can also be hosted in the public network, without contact center integration. Services include public announcement messages and message services for small business. It is also possible to deploy two-prong IVR services where the initial IVR application is used to route the call to the appropriate contact center. This can be used to balance loading across multiple contact centers or provide business continuity in the event of a system outage.
Companies have also been criticized for using IVR to reduce operational costs but not offering similar services using agents. Such methods tend to frustrate customers who feel that their right to speak to an agent is being restricted. Examples of services criticized in this way include debt recovery and giveaways (concert tickets, satellite/cable receivers, etc.).
In telecommunications, IVR allows customers to interact with a company’s database via a telephone keypad or by speech recognition, after which they can service their own inquiries by following the IVR dialogue. IVR systems can respond with prerecorded or dynamically generated audio to further direct users on how to proceed. IVR applications can be used to control almost any function where the interface can be broken down into a series of simple interactions. IVR systems deployed in the network are sized to handle large call volumes.
IVR technology is also being introduced into automobile systems for hands-free operation. Current deployment in automobiles revolves around satellite navigation, audio and mobile phone systems.
It has become common in industries that have recently entered the telecommunications industry to refer to an automated attendant
Automated attendant
In telephony, an automated attendant allows callers to be automatically transferred to an extension without the intervention of an operator/receptionist). Many AAs will also offer a simple menu system...
as an IVR. The terms, however, are distinct and mean different things to traditional telecommunications professionals, whereas emerging telephony and VoIP professionals often use the term IVR as a catch-all to signify any kind of telephony menu, even a basic automated attendant. The term voice response unit (VRU), is sometimes used as well.
History
Research in speech technology predated the advent of digital computers. It began with a speech synthesis project at Bell Labs in 1936 that resulted in a device called "the Voder" which was demonstrated at the 1939 World's Fair. A link between speech and mathematics resulted in a breakthrough, in the early 1970s. Leonard E. Baum, and Lloyd R. WelchLloyd R. Welch
Lloyd Richard Welch is a noted American information theorist, and co-inventor of the Baum–Welch algorithm.Welch received his B.S. in mathematics from the University of Illinois, 1951, and Ph.D. in mathematics from the California Institute of Technology, 1958, under advisor Frederic Bohnenblust...
, invented an approach to recognition based on a statistical concept called the Hidden Markov Model
Hidden Markov model
A hidden Markov model is a statistical Markov model in which the system being modeled is assumed to be a Markov process with unobserved states. An HMM can be considered as the simplest dynamic Bayesian network. The mathematics behind the HMM was developed by L. E...
. The Baum–Welch algorithm is used to find the unknown parameters of a hidden Markov model.
In 1961, Bell System
Bell System
The Bell System was the American Bell Telephone Company and then, subsequently, AT&T led system which provided telephone services to much of the United States and Canada from 1877 to 1984, at various times as a monopoly. In 1984, the company was broken up into separate companies, by a U.S...
developed a new tone dialing methodology. Bell unveiled the first telephone that could dial area codes using DTMF technology at the Seattle World Fair in 1962. DTMF telephones enabled the use of in-band signaling, i.e., they transmit audible tones in the same 300 Hz to 3.4 kHz range occupied by the human voice. The blueprint for IVR was born.
Despite the increase in deployment of IVR technology in the 1970s to automate tasks in call centers, the technology was still complex and expensive. Early speech recognition systems were DSP technology based, and were limited to small vocabularies. However, by the 1980s a number of new competitors entered the market and uptake of IVR technology started to increase. As speech recognition software developed the technology changed from DSP
Digital signal processor
A digital signal processor is a specialized microprocessor with an architecture optimized for the fast operational needs of digital signal processing.-Typical characteristics:...
to a client/server
Client-server
The client–server model of computing is a distributed application that partitions tasks or workloads between the providers of a resource or service, called servers, and service requesters, called clients. Often clients and servers communicate over a computer network on separate hardware, but both...
architecture.
As call centers began to migrate to multimedia in the late 1990s, companies started to invest in Computer Telephony Integration
Computer telephony integration
Computer telephony integration, also called computer–telephone integration or CTI, is a common name for any technology that allows interactions on a telephone and a computer to be integrated or coordinated...
(CTI) with IVR systems. IVR became vital for call centers deploying universal queuing and routing solutions and acted as an agent which collected customer data to enable intelligent routing decisions.
In the subsequent decade, speech recognition started to become more common and cheaper to deploy. This was due to increased CPU
Central processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
power and the migration of speech applications from proprietary code to the VXML
VoiceXML
VoiceXML is the W3C's standard XML format for specifying interactive voice dialogues between a human and a computer. It allows voice applications to be developed and deployed in an analogous way to HTML for visual applications. Just as HTML documents are interpreted by a visual web browser,...
standard.
Typical uses
IVR systems are typically used to service high call volumes, reduce cost and improve the customer experience. Examples of typical IVR applications are telephone bankingTelephone banking
Telephone banking is a service provided by a financial institution, which allows its customers to perform transactions over the telephone.Most telephone banking services use an automated phone answering system with phone keypad response or voice recognition capability...
, televoting
Televoting
Televoting, telephone voting or phone voting is a method of decision making and opinion polling conducted by telephone. Televoting can also extend to voting by SMS text message via a mobile cell phone.- Broadcast contest televoting :...
, and credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
services. Companies also use IVR services to extend their business hours to 24/7
24/7
24/7 is an abbreviation which stands for "24 hours a day, 7 days a week", usually referring to a business or service available at all times without interruption...
operation.
The use of IVR and voice automation enables a company to improve its customer service and lower its costs, due to the fact that callers' queries can be resolved without the need for queueing and incurring the cost of a live agent who, in turn, can be directed to deal with more demanding areas of the service. If the caller does not find the information they need, or requires further assistance, the call can then be transferred to an agent. This makes for a more efficient system in which agents have more time to deal with complex interactions: for example, customer retention, up selling, cross selling and issue resolution. This way, the customer is more likely to be satisfied with a personalized service and the interaction is likely to be more fulfilling and rewarding for the agent, as opposed to dealing with basic inquiries that require yes/no responses, such as obtaining customer details.
Call centers use IVR systems to identify and segment callers. The ability to identify customers allows services to be tailored according to the customer profile. The caller can be given the option to wait in the queue, choose an automated service, or request a callback (at a suitable time and telephone number). The system may obtain caller line identification (CLI) data from the network to help identify or authenticate the caller. This is currently available for about 80% of inbound calls. Additional caller authentication data could include account number, personal information, password and biometrics (such as voice print).
When an IVR system answers multiple phone numbers the use of DNIS ensures that the correct application and language is executed. A single large IVR system can handle calls for thousands of applications, each with its own phone numbers and script.
IVR also enables customer prioritization. In a system wherein individual customers may have a different status the service will automatically prioritize the individual's call and move customers to the front of a specific queue. Prioritization could also be based on the DNIS and call reason.
Smaller companies and start-ups can also use an IVR system to make their business appear larger than it is. For example, a caller never needs to know that their Sales and Support calls are routed to the same person.
In addition to interacting with customer information systems and databases, IVRs will also log call detail information into its own database for auditing, performance report, and future IVR system enhancements.
CTI
Computer telephony integration
Computer telephony integration, also called computer–telephone integration or CTI, is a common name for any technology that allows interactions on a telephone and a computer to be integrated or coordinated...
allows a contact center or organization to gather information about the caller as a means of directing their inquiry to the appropriate agent. CTI can transfer relevant information about the individual customer and the IVR dialog from the IVR to the agent desktop using a screen-pop
Screen pop
In call centers that provide integration between a telephone system and an agent's desktop , a screen pop is a window or dialog box that autonomously appears on the desktop, displaying information for a call simultaneously sent to that agent's telephone....
, making for a more effective and efficient service.
IVR may be used by survey organizations for asking more sensitive questions where the investigators are concerned that a respondent might feel less comfortable providing these answers to a human interlocutor (such as questions about drug use or sexual behavior). In some cases an IVR system can be used in the same survey in conjunction with a human interviewer. For example, during the survey the interviewer might inform the respondent that for the next series of questions they will be sent to an IVR system to continue or complete the interview.
Voice-Activated Dialling
Voice-Activated Dialling (VAD) IVR systems are used to automate routine enquiries to switchboard or PABX (Private Automatic Branch eXchange) operators, and are used in many hospitals and large businesses to reduce the caller waiting time. An additional function is the ability to allow external callers to page staff and transfer the inbound call to the paged person.Entertainment and information
Some of the largest installed IVR platforms are used for televoting on television game shows, such as Pop IdolPop Idol
Pop Idol is a British television series which debuted on ITV on 6 October 2001. The show was a talent contest to decide the best new young pop singer in the United Kingdom, based on viewer voting and participation. Two series were broadcast - one in 2001-02 and a second in 2003...
and Big Brother
Big Brother (TV series)
Big Brother is a television show in which a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from the outside world but continuously watched by television cameras. Each series lasts for around three months, and there are usually fewer than 15 participants. The housemates try to win a cash...
, which can generate enormous call spikes. Often, the network provider will have to deploy call gapping
Call gapping
Call Gapping is a load control method for throttling telephone traffic on a telephone network when the network is overloaded.Call gapping works by blocking calls for a determined period of time . After the period of time passes, another call is allowed through...
in the PSTN to prevent network overload.
Anonymous access
IVR systems allow callers to obtain data relatively anonymously. Hospitals and clinics have used IVR systems to allow callers to receive anonymous access to test results. This is information that could easily be handled by a person but the IVR system is used to preserve privacy and avoid potential embarrassment of sensitive information or test results. Users are given a passcode to access their results.Clinical trials
IVR systems are used by pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizationContract research organization
A contract research organization, also called a clinical research organization, is a service organization that provides support to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in the form of outsourced pharmaceutical research services...
s to conduct clinical trial
Clinical trial
Clinical trials are a set of procedures in medical research and drug development that are conducted to allow safety and efficacy data to be collected for health interventions...
s and manage the large volumes of data generated. The caller will respond to questions in their preferred language and their responses will be logged into a database and possibly recorded at the same time to confirm authenticity. Applications include patient randomization and drug supply management. They are also used in recording patient diaries and questionnaires.
Outbound calling
IVR systems can be used for outbound calls, as IVR systems are more intelligent than many predictive dialerPredictive dialer
A predictive dialer dials a list of telephone numbers and connects answered dials to people making calls, often referred to as agents. Predictive dialers use statistical algorithms to minimize the time that agents spend waiting between conversations, while minimizing the occurrence of someone...
systems, and can use Call Progress Detection to recognize different line conditions as follows:
- Answer (the IVR can tell the customer who is calling and ask them to wait for an agent)
- Answered by voice mail or answering machine (in these circumstances the IVR system can leave a message)
- Fax tone (the IVR can leave a TIFF image fax message)
- Divert messages (the IVR will abandon the call)
- No answer
Other uses
Other common IVR services include:- Mobile — Pay-As-You-Go account funding; registration; mobile purchases, such as ring tones and logos
- Banking — balance, payments, transfers, transaction history
- Retail & Entertainment — orders, bookings, credit & debit card payments
- Utilities — meter readings
- Travel — ticket booking, flight information, check-in
- Weather forecasts, water, road and ice conditions
Technologies used
DTMF decoding and speech recognitionSpeech recognition
Speech recognition converts spoken words to text. The term "voice recognition" is sometimes used to refer to recognition systems that must be trained to a particular speaker—as is the case for most desktop recognition software...
are used to interpret the caller's response to voice prompts. DTMF tones are entered via the telephone keypad
Telephone keypad
A telephone keypad is a keypad that appears on a "Touch Tone" telephone. It was standardised when the dual-tone multi-frequency system in the new push-button telephone was introduced in the 1960s, which gradually replaced the rotary dial....
.
Two main varieties of speech recognition are used in IVR: that based upon predefined grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
s (used in "directed" dialogues), and that based on statistically trained language models (used in "natural language
Natural language
In the philosophy of language, a natural language is any language which arises in an unpremeditated fashion as the result of the innate facility for language possessed by the human intellect. A natural language is typically used for communication, and may be spoken, signed, or written...
" dialogues). Directed dialogues prompt the caller with specific questions or options. Natural language dialogues employ open questions (e.g. "How can I help you?"), are more conversational, and can interpret free-form responses.
Other technologies include using Text-To-Speech
Speech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...
(TTS) to speak complex and dynamic information, such as e-mails, news reports or weather information. TTS is computer generated synthesized speech that is no longer the robotic voice traditionally associated with computers. Real voices create the speech in fragments that are spliced together (concatenated) and smoothed before being played to the caller.
An IVR can be deployed in several different ways:
- Equipment installed on the customer premises
- Equipment installed in the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network)
- Application service providerApplication service providerAn application service provider is a business that provides computer-based services to customers over a network. Software offered using an ASP model is also sometimes called On-demand software or software as a service ....
(ASP) / Hosted IVR
IVR can be used to provide a more sophisticated voice mail experience to the caller. For example, the IVR could ask if the caller wishes to hear, edit, forward or remove a message.
An automatic call distributor
Automatic call distributor
In telephony, an Automatic Call Distributor , also known as Automated Call Distribution, is a device or system that distributes incoming calls to a specific group of terminals that agents use. It is often part of a computer telephony integration system.Routing incoming calls is the task of the ACD...
(ACD) is often the first point of contact when calling many larger businesses. An ACD uses digital storage devices to play greetings or announcements, but typically routes a caller without prompting for input. An IVR can play announcements and request an input from the caller. This information can be used to profile the caller and route the call to an agent with a particular skill set. (A skill set is a function applied to a group of call-center agents with a particular skill.)
Interactive voice response can be used to front-end a call center operation by identifying the needs of the caller. Information can be obtained from the caller such as an account number. Answers to simple questions such as account balances or pre-recorded information can be provided without operator intervention. Account numbers from the IVR are often compared to caller ID
Caller ID
Caller ID , also called calling line identification or calling number identification or Calling Line Identification Presentation , is a telephone service, available in analog and digital phone systems and most Voice over Internet Protocol applications, that transmits a caller's number to...
data for security reasons and additional IVR responses are required if the caller ID does not match the account record.
IVR call flows are created in a variety of ways. A traditional IVR depended upon proprietary programming or scripting languages, whereas modern IVR applications are generated in a similar way to Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
pages, using standards such as VoiceXML
VoiceXML
VoiceXML is the W3C's standard XML format for specifying interactive voice dialogues between a human and a computer. It allows voice applications to be developed and deployed in an analogous way to HTML for visual applications. Just as HTML documents are interpreted by a visual web browser,...
, CCXML, SRGS and SSML
SSML
SSML is an acronym, which may stand for:*Speech Synthesis Markup Language, an XML-based markup language for speech synthesis applications.*Spartan South Midlands League, a football league in England....
. The ability to use XML-driven applications allows a Web server
Web server
Web server can refer to either the hardware or the software that helps to deliver content that can be accessed through the Internet....
to act as the application server
Application server
An application server is a software framework that provides an environment in which applications can run, no matter what the applications are or what they do...
, freeing the IVR developer to focus on the call flow. It was widely believed that developers would no longer require specialized programming skills; however, this has been proven to be misguided as IVR applications need to understand the human reaction to the application dialog.
Higher level IVR development tools are available to further simplify the application development process. A call flow diagram can be drawn with a GUI tool and the presentation layer (typically VoiceXML) can be automatically generated. In addition, these tools normally provide extension mechanisms for software integration, such as an HTTP interface to a Web site and a Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
interface for connecting to a database.
In telecommunications, an audio response unit (ARU) is a device that provides synthesized voice responses to DTMF keypresses by processing calls based on (a) the call-originator input, (b) information received from a database, and (c) information in the incoming call, such as the time of day.
ARUs increase the number of information calls handled and provide consistent quality in information retrieval.
Outsourcing vs. Contact Center automation
Contact centers can be expensive to run, and are often seen as cost centers; however, the ability to up-sell services and products to customers can offset operational expenditure, and effectively reduce the average cost per call handled.Methods of reducing contact center running costs include outsourcing
Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the process of contracting a business function to someone else.-Overview:The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider...
and automation. Outsourcing to other countries can reduce operational expenditure by as much as 30%, however, differences in culture and language can prove problematic for customers, whose dissatisfaction can lead to customer complaints and loss of business. Also, it is more difficult to up-sell to customers from foreign contact centers.
Automation in a contact center can also reduce operational expenditure by around 30% though the introduction of technologies such as customer profiling, CTI, and IVR using speech recognition. The use of automation in the contact center promotes efficiency, allowing contact centers to be located in the country from which the call is originated. Customer satisfaction can be monitored by the use of customer survey applications. The information from survey applications can be used to improve customer service.
IP
The increased usage of IPInternet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
in telecommunications has affected how IVR is used.
Video
The introduction of Session Initiation ProtocolSession Initiation Protocol
The Session Initiation Protocol is an IETF-defined signaling protocol widely used for controlling communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol . The protocol can be used for creating, modifying and terminating two-party or multiparty sessions...
(SIP) means that point-to-point communications are no longer restricted to voice calls but can now be extended to multimedia technologies such as video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
. IVR manufacturers have extended their systems into IVVR (Interactive Voice and Video Response), especially for the mobile phone networks. The use of video gives IVR systems the ability to implement multimodal interaction
Multimodal interaction
Multimodal interaction provides the user with multiple modes of interfacing with a system. A multimodal interface provides several distinct tools for input and output of data.- Multimodal input :...
with the caller.
The introduction of full-duplex video IVR in future will allow systems the ability to read emotions and facial expressions. It may also be used to identify the caller, using technology such as Iris scan or other biometric means. Recordings of the caller may be stored to monitor certain transactions, and can be used to reduce identity fraud.
Unified Communications in the SIP Contact Center
With the introduction of SIP contact centers, traditional barriers to automation are breaking down. Call control in a SIP contact center can be implemented by CCXML scripting, which is an adjunct to the VXML language used to generate modern IVR dialogues. As calls are queued in the SIP contact center, the IVR system can provide treatment or automation, wait for a fixed period, or play music. Inbound calls to a SIP contact center must be queued or terminated against a SIP end point; SIP IVR systems can be used to replace agents directly by the use of applications deployed using BBUA (Back to Back User Agents).Interactive Messaging Response (IMR)
As communications have migrated to multimedia so has automation. The introduction of Instant MessagingInstant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
(IM) in contact centers is starting to take off. Agents can handle up to 6 different IM conversations at the same time and so agent productivity is increasing. IVR technology is being used to automate IM conversations using existing Natural Language Processing
Natural language processing
Natural language processing is a field of computer science and linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages; it began as a branch of artificial intelligence....
software. This is different from email handling as email automated response is typically based on key word spotting. IM conversations are different from email as IM is conversational. The use of text messaging abbreviations and smilies requires different grammars to those currently used for speech recognition. IM is also starting to replace text messaging on multimedia mobile handsets and is expected to become more widely used.
Hosted vs. on-premise IVR
With the introduction of Web services into the contact center, host integration has been simplified, allowing IVR applications to be hosted remotely from the contact center. This has meant hosted IVR applications using speech are now available to smaller contact centers across the globe and has led to an expansion of ASP (Application Service Providers).IVR applications can also be hosted in the public network, without contact center integration. Services include public announcement messages and message services for small business. It is also possible to deploy two-prong IVR services where the initial IVR application is used to route the call to the appropriate contact center. This can be used to balance loading across multiple contact centers or provide business continuity in the event of a system outage.
Criticism
IVR is sometimes criticized as being unhelpful and difficult to use due to poor design and lack of appreciation of the caller's needs. Some callers object to providing voice response to an automated system and prefer speaking with a human respondent.Companies have also been criticized for using IVR to reduce operational costs but not offering similar services using agents. Such methods tend to frustrate customers who feel that their right to speak to an agent is being restricted. Examples of services criticized in this way include debt recovery and giveaways (concert tickets, satellite/cable receivers, etc.).
Companies using IVR exclusively, without offering a live agent as an alternative may be violating certain civil rights for callers with speech or hearing impairments.
See also
- Automatic call distributorAutomatic call distributorIn telephony, an Automatic Call Distributor , also known as Automated Call Distribution, is a device or system that distributes incoming calls to a specific group of terminals that agents use. It is often part of a computer telephony integration system.Routing incoming calls is the task of the ACD...
- Dual-tone multi-frequencyDual-tone multi-frequencyDual-tone multi-frequency signaling is used for telecommunication signaling over analog telephone lines in the voice-frequency band between telephone handsets and other communications devices and the switching center. The version of DTMF that is used in push-button telephones for tone dialing is...
(DTMF) - VoiceportalVoiceportalVoice portals are the voice equivalent of Web Portals, giving access to information through spoken commands and voice responses. Ideally a voice portal could be an access point for any type of information, services, or transactions found on the Internet...
- Automated attendantAutomated attendantIn telephony, an automated attendant allows callers to be automatically transferred to an extension without the intervention of an operator/receptionist). Many AAs will also offer a simple menu system...
- Call WhisperCall WhisperCall Whisper, otherwise known as Call Screening, is a calling feature that often appears on Non-Geographic Telephony systems and hosted inbound call handling software. It involves the playing of a message to the called party when they have answered a call, during which time the calling party...
- Speech synthesisSpeech synthesisSpeech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...
- Automatic number identificationAutomatic number identificationAutomatic number identification is a feature of telephony intelligent network services that permits subscribers to display or capture the billing telephone number of a calling party. In the United States it is part of Inward Wide Area Telephone Service . ANI service was created by AT&T for...
- DNIS
- Speech recognitionSpeech recognitionSpeech recognition converts spoken words to text. The term "voice recognition" is sometimes used to refer to recognition systems that must be trained to a particular speaker—as is the case for most desktop recognition software...
- Natural languageNatural languageIn the philosophy of language, a natural language is any language which arises in an unpremeditated fashion as the result of the innate facility for language possessed by the human intellect. A natural language is typically used for communication, and may be spoken, signed, or written...
- Dialog systemDialog systemA dialog system or conversational agent is a computer system intended to converse with a human, with a coherent structure. Dialog systems have employed text, speech, graphics, haptics, gestures and other modes for communication on both the input and output channel.What does and does not constitute...
- Electronic Patient Reported Outcomes (ePRO)
- The Voder
- VocoderVocoderA vocoder is an analysis/synthesis system, mostly used for speech. In the encoder, the input is passed through a multiband filter, each band is passed through an envelope follower, and the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated to the decoder...