IVR in 2010 and Beyond

Aspect recently sponsored a benchmarking survey to study IVR and voice self-service usage as well as future implementations of the technology and it's good news for the industry. The survey suggests that both large and small companies see the benefit and need for voice self-service applications. Of the more than one hundred global contact centers surveyed, more than three-quarters already employ IVR systems as part of their business. Among the companies that do not yet use the technology, almost 40% plan to adopt it in the next year and nearly one-quarter more are planning to do so in the next two years.

The survey also indicates that the top three goals for 2010 are to improve customer experience, improve productivity while controlling expenses and preserve existing revenue streams. As IVR has become accepted by companies and consumers alike, there have been moves to improve overall customer experience and functionality of the systems. Awareness of this and other important goals should help drive the industry forward over the course of the next year and beyond. Self-service appears to be the future of the industry and continued customer acceptance will help the industry continue to grow in 2010.

IVR Popularity

Since IVR was first introduced as a customer service tool, there have been many detractors. However, a recent survey indicates that the tide has turned and customers have accepted IVR and, in some cases, even prefer it to live operators. Speech-enabled self-service IVRs have become so commonplace that many consumers report that they prefer to use such systems for simple tasks such as checking account balances, flight statuses or shipment tracking. The survey results show that more than 50% of participants reported a preference for speech-enabled IVR for most simple transactions.

The survey also suggests a positive consumer response to proactive IVR systems. Such systems are being used to place courtesy calls to customers as reminders of appointments or other important upcoming activities. Of course there is nothing new about the practice of proactive calling, but customer acceptance of the technology is improving along with the general trends in IVR acceptability. Despite all the positive marks for IVR systems, there is room for improvement. Although customers appreciate the ability to handle simple tasks themselves, they still want the option to easily bypass the IVR to speak to a live operator. Respondents also said that improving speech recognition and accuracy would greatly improve their calling experiences. Overall the results of this survey are very positive but continual improvement and meeting customer expectations will result in increased business for everyone involved in the IVR industry.

Monitoring the Situation with IVR

For many years IVR has been used as a tool by businesses to route calls from customers to appropriate departments and employees. Recently, IVR has been been utilized to disseminate information from businesses to customers and employees alike. With the advent of the text messaging, email and the internet, IVR has lost some of its uniqueness as a large scale communication tool. However a mere 25% of the world is connected to the internet severely limiting its reach. Cellular phones, on the other hand, are used by more than half of the world's population. This fact alone will keep IVR an important technology for years to come.

High in the Himalayan Mountains of Asia sits the Kingdom of Bhutan. The economy of the mostly rural country is dominated by farming. Every farmer's livelihood is dependent on his ability to find the best market price for his harvests. At one time, finding the best market prices was difficult, but thanks to the integration of cellular phones and IVR into their lives, tracking prices is easier for farmers than ever before. A farmer need only call the hotline and select his language to get up to date information on where he can sell his produce in order to maximize his profits. Although such a system seems commonplace here in the United States, there are emerging markets like Bhutan all over the world where IVR is only now being implemented.