Almost everyone is aware of IVR ( Interactive Voice response System) being used to listen information over phone as well as lodging complaints about utilities. Recently, NTS (IVR Service provider in India) has implemented an interesting hosted IVR solution for Find My Info International, where vital information about a person running into an medical

Find My Info - Using IVR for Medical Emrgencies

This is an web based simple application which helps people organise their critical information so that it can be retrieved by logging to website or dialing a phone which ever is available. Find My Info provides wearable accessories like pendent, wristband which are engraved with CODE and PIN unique tot that individual along with the IVR number and website address. This CODE and PIN can be used to retrieve vital medical information of the individual.

The IVR service is provided by NTS on its hosted platform which accesses information from Find My Info server using secure and encrypted API online in real time. The caller has to call the number, enter the CODE and PIN and the corresponding critical medical information like blood group, emergency contact number along with relation.

Find My Info Accesories

The caller has also an option to download the information to his mobile number, in case he is dialing from a mobile.

As Find My Info describes, “increasing number of people need to go out of the home for work, study, business, leisure or other activities for short or prolonged periods. As soon as you leave home, you become vulnerable, and start to deal with many unwanted and unfavourable situations, knowingly or unknowingly, out of your instincts – all by yourself.

Unfortunate emergency situations may suddenly come in your way, externally or internally, impairing your ability to communicate to others – who are trying to assist. Accidents, sudden medical conditions may strike even to the most healthy and diligent person – while our children, adventurous youngsters, elderly loved-ones, and family members with physical or mental impairment have greater vulnerability. We cannot emphasize less, the invaluable benefit of this service to reunite lost children with their families.”

This is very useful IVR application as well as unique service where IVR is playing a role of life saver!

I recently spent some vacation time in Washington D.C. which naturally involved squeezing in as much of the Smithsonian as possible in a short period of time. While I was there, reading about the different exhibits, one thing I saw at quite a few locations really jumped out at me: cell phone audio tours.

Quite a few exhibits had signs or placards up with a phone number and “extension” that you could call from your cell phone to listen to more information about that particular display. These signs everywhere from inside the different Smithsonian buildings to the National Botanic Garden. With my nerdy side shining through, I couldn’t help but think, “What a wonderful application for an interactive voice response system!” Everyone these days carries a cell phone with them, and these call-in numbers give anyone who is interested the opportunity to hear more about the displays that interest them straight from the source, whether it is a recording made by the artist or the curator or gardener.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) has a way of sounding very complicated, and that is largely because it is such a powerful and dynamic technology that the possibilities alone can be a bit daunting. It is a little bit easier to grasp if we break it down to some of the unique applications that IVR can be used for. In this case, the museum is in essence putting together an information line.
Visitors call the information line, input the number displayed for their current location, and the appropriate audio is played back to them. In other cases, it can be used as an answering attendant to direct incoming phone calls to different extensions, collecting data in an automated telephone survey, or a variety of other tasks.

So while part of me hates to admit that work followed me on my vacation in the form of IVM interactive voice response software, another part of me really got a kick out of seeing this great application for an IVR system at the museum. It’s something to keep in mind if you are looking for a solution to help you share information or your expertise without having to always be available in person.

What is Payment gateway ?

Payment Gateway is an application service provider which can authorise payments for any purchase made by a person using either credit card, internet banking in a website. It is just like POS ( Point of Sale) for either website or any other monetary transaction in a secured way. Main function of a payment gateway is to collect credit/debit card information and process the transaction and provide back the result to the website.

Payment gateway has contributed a lot in growth of e-commerce by facilitating secured mode of credit card transaction online using various secured methods as Software As A Service model. Its working principle is quite straight forward. A payment gateway service provider is an authorised centre for making transaction for credit card companies like VISA, Mastercard, Online Bank transaction etc. When some one purchases any goods on internet in any website, payment gateway acquires credit card or banking details secured way, authorise the payment and return control to the website as per transaction result.

How IVR is being used in payment gateway ?
Recently, IVR ( Interactive Voice Response) System is also being used for making payments using phone as providing credit/debit card information using DTMF is easy and can be done on the move without any computer and internet connection.

In most of the IVR payment gateway systems, the banking or credit card details are stored by payment gateway company in a secured way and the transaction is completed with a simple 5-digit or 6 digit numeric password commonly known as PIN( Personal Identification Number). Keeping credit/debit card stored in the payment gateway makes the payment process much quicker as the user does not need to enter card details again and again for each transaction.

When credit/debit card details are not stored, then the details has to be entered using DTMF while processing the transaction. Entering 16 digit card number along with expiry date and CVV may be tedious for frequent users, but many people feel secured that way.

In most IVR payment gateways use outbound dialer to process the transaction. As soon as a person makes a purchase, IVR will make an outbound call to the registered phone number ( first level of security), announces the purchase details and asks him to confirm the purchase by pressing a key. When a purchase is confirmed, the user is asked to enter the numeric password ( PIN ) and on correct PIN, the transaction is completed by charging the credit/debit card.

Advantages of using IVR
There are few advantages of using IVR payment gateways. It is supposed to be more secure as ‘phone tapping’ is not as prevalent as online frauds!

Using IVR payment gateway, one does not need a PC and internet connection to make any purchase or making payment. One just needs a mobile phone or telephone number. Since mobile phone or telephone number already is considered proven identity, it may serve the first level of security.

In developing countries like India, where internet and PC penetration is low, IVR payment gateway can help grow e-commerce as owning phone is cheaper than owning a PC and internet connection. Also, internet connection may not be available all places all the time. So, people can use their mobile or land line phones to make payments using IVR payment gateways.

Drawbacks of IVR for payment gateways
Providing credit card details may be a tedious process for first time users. Also, apart from numeric PIN, it does not provide any other security. PINs are transmitted using DTMF which can be easily decoded.

With explosives growth of mobile phones, IVR payment gateway is logical extension for making phones more useful.

We’ve all been stuck on the phone trying to get information from an automated telephone system in a battle against the machine that sometimes seems to be designed specifically to prevent us from finding what we’re looking for. While that almost certainly wasn’t the intent of the automated phone system, poor execution can leave a multitude of customers with a bad taste in their mouth.

A well designed IVR (Interactive Voice Response) phone system can be a valuable resource, but a poorly designed system will only reflect poorly on your organization’s communication and customer service. With that being said, here are a few pointers to help make sure you are designing a good call flow for your automated IVR system:

• Outline the Call Flow for Your IVR
  A flow chart or an outline is the perfect place to start. You really need to take the time to plan out how someone is going to interact with your phone system long before you start creating the actual IVR in your software. Taking the time to plan it all through at the beginning will help you keep the big picture in mind and to avoid creating a long trail of prompts.

• Think Like Your Customers
  Always keep your customers in mind. Why will they be calling the system? Put the options for the most frequently used items at the beginning so they can be accessed quickly and easily. At every step along the way think about how the message will come across from a customer’s point of view.

• Keep It Simple
  Don’t try to do everything. Less is more. With an automated phone system you want to keep the number of key presses to minimum. Trying to do too many things just gives the callers more places that they can get lost along the way. Really think about what options should be available and who is calling in. For example, if you need to offer different services to customers and vendors it might be better to have two different systems rather thane on that does everything, keeping each line simplified and tailored to its purpose instead of trying to do everything on one line.

• Keep Menu Prompts Clear and Concise
  The longer your message, the harder it is going to be for a caller to remember everything that is being said and what they need to do to interact with the system. Be sure to use the same language as your customers, avoiding industry slang and terminology callers might not be familiar with.

• Offer Universal Commands
  Options like pressing the star key (*) to return to the main menu at any point during a call, or an option to repeat a prompt will make it much easier for callers to navigate the IVR system.

• Give the Option to Talk to Someone or Leave a Voice Message
  The goal of an IVR system may be in part to reduce the number of calls that your staff needs to handle, but there will be times when the system does not fulfill a customer’s needs. You need to offer these callers the alternative to either talk to a live person or leave a message for someone to call them back.

• Test, Test, Test, and Test Some More
  Test the call flow every step along the way test the flow. Think of as many possible scenarios as you can and go through the process yourself. Get other people to try it out, too. Never think of your system as being completely done. You need to monitor how well it is working, and make sure that you are offering the right options at the right time. Get feedback from your staff and customers. Designing a good IVR call system should be an ongoing process.

These are just a few of the tips to help you get started on the right foot when you are implementing an interactive voice response system. Taking the time to thoroughly plan out a new IVR call flow, before you even start working with an application like IVM interactive voice response software, can make a significant difference in the final result and is well worth the time and effort.

What is Click To Call ?
“Click To Call” normally refers to a website feature where an website visitor asks to talk to webmaster or website representative ( may be even call center) by entering his phone number. So, this Click to Call facility in a website mainly involves establishing a call between a website visitor and a representative or customer service agent. It may involve monitoring of website visitors in real time and dialing the phone number entered by the visitor manually. But using an IVR ( Interactive Voice Response), this process can be automated as well as many intelligence could be put to use!

There are many benefits of having Click To Call feature in an website in its contact us page or any page where a website visitor may need any further assistance ( for example, in e-commerce website while checking out, restaurant site for reservation enquiry etc.). Click to Call facility may reduce call waiting time for both the visitor and website representative as they are called/connected when both are free to talk on phone.

Another advantage of having Click To Call feature is privacy of telephone numbers. Company executives may not need to put their numbers on website. Since Click to Call normally calls both the parties and connect them, company executive may not give out his numbers. Conversation on phone also provides option to discuss customised pricing as well as it may increase visitor confidence.

These in turn may increase lead conversion with better online marketing analysis report.

Click to Call and IVR:

Click to Call feature in website can be thought of outbound IVR which transfers the call to another number as per some configuration.

Here is the flow, how outbound IVR may turn into Click to Call engine for any website, either onsite or hosted.

• Check if any new request from visitor for Click To Call feature. If any new request with valid phone number has arrived, go to step below.
• Check if the website representative or customer service agent is free, then call the visitor number.
• Call the website representative number.
• Connect both the calls.

One may use either call transfer or call bridging for connecting both the calls. In an on premise implementation, call transfer may work during office hours, but in case of hosted IVR platform, it will always be call bridging.

So, if you have already IVR system in your office, you might as well have Click To Call feature for your website which can be used to customer service, enquiry generation and conversion an online marketing analysis.

Happy holidays season and Happy New year 2010 to all readers in general and visitors to IVR Blog during this holiday season in particular.

In case you wanted to read few useful articles about interactive voice response (IVR) system, here is a list of recommended articles :-

1. IVR as CRBT(Caller Ring Back Tone).
2. Choosing a CTI board for your IVR.
3. Choosing right IVR development tool .
4. Usability Tips for IVR Software.
5. Predictive Dialer and IVR.
6. Using Predictive Dialer smartly in Call Center.
7. List of RAD tools for IVR development.
8. IVR for making money .
9. Technical challenges in voice portal.
10. Use IVR as e-commerce portal.

I hope these articles will keep you busy while I will be back next year, 2010!

Without doubt, interactive voice response (IVR) has become the ubiquitous technology in telecommunications applications. IVR solutions have a myriad of uses that are mostly taken for granted, however, the essence of an IVR system is its ability to offer ‘self-service’ for the user, thus it can help to reduce cost and improve the customer experience.

Since introducing the world’s first ‘all-in-one’ voice board in 1998, Aculab has been setting the standard of enabling technology components – e.g., CTI cards – for IVR applications. Whatever your needs for advanced IVR functionality, Aculab has the media processing technology and APIs – voice, fax, call progress, etc. – to drive your success.

Beneficially, Aculab is able to offer a choice; from its range of IP-centric, DSP-based Prosody X boards to its host-based (SoftDSP or HMP) option, Prosody S. And you can use Prosody X for converged or mixed IP/TDM environments, where you still need E1 or T1 PSTN connectivity.

Additionally, Aculab\’s VoiceXML/CCXML interpreter set offers a powerful and scalable design option for platform vendors and service providers alike. It is the fastest, most cost-effective, high performance solution available today, which is an effective combination in any language.

IVR system features and capacities vary depending on the market segments they target. Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) may look to enhance their IP-PBX with an IVR-based auto-attendant using Prosody S, while larger companies will require a Prosody X board-based solution for a hybrid contact centre or voice portal, perhaps also using automatic speech recognition (ASR) and text-to-speech (TTS). Carriers and service providers need IVR to provide a wide range of subscriber messaging and large scale, hosted or VAS and mobile VAS service offerings. And, undoubtedly, TEMs (of all descriptions; Tier 1, Tier 2, etc.) and platform vendors supplying these user communities will also benefit from Aculab’s board and software options.

Check out Aculab at http://www.aculab.com/solutions/IVR-solutions.asp