IVR

Interactive Voice Response or IVR solutionsare popular amongst contact centres that don’t have enough agents to manage high call volumes.

Having an automated system to distribute your calls for you is not only highly efficient, but it saves money and allows your customer to self-service to your chosen degree.

It is crucial to bear in mind that customers contacting a call centre are usually looking for a solution to a problem, and want this resolved as quickly as possible. Long winded IVRs that fail to offer a solution can frustrate your customer, and frustrated customers may not return.

As the first point of contact for your customer, finding the right company to tailor an automated system that benefits you – and them - is the most important factor when searching for an IVR solution.

As a telecoms company, here at Elite we ring businesses every day and find that there’s a definitive divide with Interactive Voice Response services.

Those with good IVRs, and then there’s those who might as well just jump ship and take all their money with them. A bad IVR service can severely compromise your customers.

If you are experiencing complaints or lost calls, it’s important that you redefine your IVR. Following this, you should constantly tend to your IVR, asking your customer’s feedback regularly and adapting to consumer needs.

This will guarantee a happy experience for your customers, and substantially save costs for your business.

Last weekend Elite Telecom organised a charity fun-day and auction dinner for When You Wish Upon A Star, raising more than £6,000.

Haley Cassidy, who organised the event and works as an account manager at Elite Telecom, commented: “We’re really grateful to everyone who turned out and took part in the day. We raised a fantastic amount of money for a very worthy cause.

“It was a brilliant day that helped raise awareness of the work When You Wish Upon A Star do.”

When You Wish Upon a Star is a national charity which helps children with life threatening illnesses and their families by granting wishes. Since forming in 1990 they have granted the wishes of over 14,500 children but are funded entirely by voluntary contributions.

Following on from the huge success of the charitable event, Elite Telecom look forward to future fundraising ventures as well as providing sponsorship for When You Wish Upon a Star on a yearly basis.

Elite Telecom is the UK’s leading business telecoms provider, offering services such as interactive voice response, call recording, Elite Intelligent Queuing and CardGuard technology.

For further information, visit www.elitetele.com or call 0844 875 8880.

The advancement of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) has grown at such a rate that small companies have grown into huge organisations, allowing for the technology to be used across a worldwide scale.  Employed by numerous police authorities as well as military agencies, the successful elements behind IVR have become such an essential part of everyday activity that it has gone from being a mere application to boost productivity but a key factor in identifying fraudulent activity.

With several businesses enforcing biometrics such as fingerprinting and eye scans as part of their identity checks, IVR is commonly being used for its voice recognition tool – proving to be a cost and time effective solution in reducing security breaches.  Purchases nowadays are more likely to be done over the phone or online, and by applying an efficient IVR system into the payment scheme, not only does your business gain enhanced security but also cuts costs in workforce – saving time and money for both parties.

The technology behind IVR’s voice biometrics is simple; duplicates of the vocal tract’s characteristics are created, and every individual noise made through the body’s voice box produces a unique sound that can be analysed and stored for future recognition.

Reduce the risk of fraud within the workplace by implementing a competent IVR strategy and recognise the benefits at Elite Telecom today – we’re waiting for your call.

In the modern age of such advancements in technology, businesses who don’t update their telecoms regularly could risk being severely left behind.

Incorporating the relevent call handling solutions suited to your business is easy with Elitetele.com, as we do all the hard work for you (and then the technology does the rest).

Pieter de Villiers of De Villiers, Bester and Associates, speaking at the 'Leveraging the Contact Centre' executive forum at the Southern Sun Grayston in Sandton has pointed out that few companies have picked up on this idea of using telecoms to expand – by incorporating technology to automate call handling and improve service.

He stated that contact centres should move away from people-centred operations and move to automated, cost efficient systems instead. Interactive Voice Response - or IVR - is a perfect example of this automated expansion.

“Contact centres should not forget that in most cases they are dealing with customers who are very frustrated and need their problems to be solved promptly.

“Contact centre operators should also know that nowadays customers are obsessed with self-service. Modern customers are obsessed with the 'self' concept where they can do everything on their own,” he said.

IVR

Call Queuing

We think Lisa Marquez summed it up spectacularly well when she said to TMCnet;

“In the past, IVR systems were limited and could often be frustrating for customers. Today, though, the technology is advanced enough that the experience can be as good if not better than conversations with customer-service representatives….It’s all about the connection.”

IVRs are the wonder tool screeching across the telco globe, attempting drastically to improve its bad reputation for unfriendly customer experiences.

We’ve always said that with the right IVR solution your company can benefit by saving costs, cutting time, and consistently answering calls. Elitetele.com constantly try to adhere to such customer-orientated organisations, showing them just how an IVR service can effectively sieve your customers and answer problems quicker.

Marquez, a Marketing Representative for an IVR supplier, further stated; “something that your IVR system MUST do – your IVR system must connect with your client base in an understandable way.”

“The IVR system must be ten steps ahead of your customer, ready to connect personally and professionally.”

Elitetele.com work closely with customers to offer a bespoke IVR system to individual businesses with unique requirements. Interactive Voice Response ensures that all calls are answered, and that customers are put through quickly and efficiently with no complaints about waiting times or faulty software.

Top IVR Tips

An IVR system refers to the automatic voice intending to guide customers through a numerical number system, eventually to a solution to their problem or to an agent fit to deal with the specified call.

Customers do this by tapping in numbers on their phone’s keypad or speaking clearly into the handset. But whilst some companies vouch that it is a saviour for customer satisfaction, having the wrong solution for your business can result in quite the opposite.

IVR telephony has come under fire after a recent report by customer service firm Vocalabs, which stated that Apple, Dell and HP all have complaints regarding their IVR services.

Although, Dell and HP’s complaints were significantly reduced from the previous year, implying that the firms had worked on improving their IVR systems. It was Apple who received the most complaints, up 14% from the year before.

Most issues raised involved irrelevant or repetitive steps, or difficulty reaching an agent.

Top tips from Elitetele.com

We can work closely with you to offer your business a bespoke IVR system that ensures all calls are answered, and that customers are put through quickly and swiftly with no complaints about waiting times or faulty software.

We provide the following tips, before deciding and talking with us what your best solution can be it is vital that you think about the following;

Effective planning and analysing is the key to any successful IVR platform, do you have periods of high call volumes? If so we can help you plan for this.

Know what the purpose of your IVR system is – is it to eventually put them through to a specialised agent? Is it something that can be answered and dealt with by the IVR?



Know what you’re dealing with and how to deal with it – if you are dealing with more sensitive issues such as money or injury claims, offer to put them through to an agent straight away,

We don’t want to offer you customer’s too many options, not only will this annoy your callers by making them wait even further, some people just don’t have the mental capacity to remember nine fully-elaborated options.

If you're satisfied that we know what we're talking about, give us a call, and we can help find an IVR solution specifically for your business needs.

With complaints to their IVR system hitting an all time high, we have a look into what IVR is, and why it is essential that you have an efficient one in place.

If the old notion that the customer is always right is still in effect (and we think that it is) then Apple better do something about their

According to a tech support report by customer experience firm Vocalabs, 66 per cent of Apple customers said they were satisfied with the customer service call they had received.

HP and Dell followed close suit, with 51 per cent for HP and 49 per cent for Dell reporting call satisfaction. And whilst Apple customers further commented that the future looks bleak for and their triumph could be short lived, Dell and HP both scored higher on improving the success rate of their IVR system. 

If you’re asking yourself, well this is all well and good, but what is IVR? Then no fear, IVR is just a fancy-smancy abbreviated word for Interactive Voice Response, which is the automated voice you hear guiding you to the right options when you ring a customer service line.

In fact, 35 per cent of the customers surveyed claimed issues with Apple’s IVR, citing irrelevant or repetitive steps, or difficulty reaching an agent.

However, we think that considering the amount of problems Apple has had with their array of iPhones, iPods, Macs and world dominating robots, we can’t help but think the only reason why their customer call satisfaction is so high, is because they have had a significantly higher volume of customer calls. Agreed?

Top tips for IVR from Elitetele.com

Movers and shakers in the industry often debate whether an IVR is conflicting customers, stating that the average member of the public prefers to speak to a person on the other end, rather than an automated voice.

The only way to really think of an appropriate IVR service is to put yourself into the customers’ shoes (and to listen to what we tell you). From personal experience, we know that people don’t want to be shifting through five IVRs with nine options each time – because this takes time - therefore we think that with the right voicing and scripting, it is beneficial for you to have an appropriate IVR that feeds to an agent.

For those not telecom savvy, IVR is an automated computer telephony integration CTI system which allows businesses to create sometimes, unnecessarily complex menus. The caller can navigate through the menu by pressing their phone keys or delivering spoken commands.



 The point of an IVR solution is to make the phone call easier for your customer, and save them being passed between departments. It also benefits your business, meaning that you don’t have to pay for extra staff as the number of phone calls increase – it makes sure that 100% of calls are always answered, keeping your customers happy and your business, well, in business.

In fact, we've witnessed that most people don’t mind navigating their way through an (uncomplicated) IVR platform, as long as there is someone on the other end waiting to speak with them.

Elite Telecom offers bespoke IVR solutions to any business, compatible with your pbx phone system or even VoIP software. Our tips? Keep it short and sweet, allow your customers to choose the department they want and reward them with human interaction!

For more appropriate tips and advice, or if you think your company will benefit from an Elite IVR solution, contact us today to find out what we can offer you. You won’t regret it.