Story Time Through IVR

While the most common use of IVR is for customer service and call routing, some companies are utilizing the technology for entertainment purposes.  Indian cellular provider Reliance Mobile has introduced a children's story telling IVR system.  Through the system, a user can select from many of India's most famous folk tales narrated in one of ten common languages for a small per minute fee.  In addition, a subscriber can select one of the stories as a caller tune for their phone.  Caller tunes play a specific song or track rather than a ringer when someone is trying to connect with a user by phone.  This serves as a form of entertainment for the caller, like on-hold music, while the connection is being established.

Although it may seem like a rather unimportant product, this and others like it are examples of non-traditional uses of IVR systems and their ability to generate revenue.  In the United States, IVR has been employed for some entertainment purposes but not to the extent that it has been applied in European and Asian countries.  This specific type of product might not work in the US, but a variation of it could be a hit with certain customers and/or demographics.  It's hard to gauge the market for IVR-as-entertainment in the US but for now it appears to be a potential opportunity for development in India.  Development of these types of IVR applications will help diversify the industry and allow it to live longer in a world where disruptive technology can change the world overnight.

Smart Grid IVR

In a world where population and resource demands are rising, utilities providers are experimenting with new technologies to help reduce energy usage and costs for consumers.  One such method in development is the smart grid.  The smart grid creates a method of remote monitoring and control of utilities allowing usage of high energy consuming devices to occur when utility prices are at their lowest rates during a given day.  Likewise, it would remotely turn off selected appliances at peak times to reduce energy demands and save the consumer money.  As smart grid systems are tested and implemented, there will be an unavoidable increase in the communication between consumers and utility companies.  IVR is poised to be the primary tool for such communications.

Jon Arnold of Intelligent Communications Partners recently wrote about Nuance Communications' efforts to deal with what will undoubtedly be an influx of inquiries by consumers.  Of course utilities have relied on IVR in their call centers as a means to reduce the load on human operators.  However, changes to utility grids will, at least initially, elicit more calls and issues from consumers.  Nuance has been hard at work on an outbound IVR service called Proactive Notifications designed to inform customers about the many topics related to the smart grid.  For example, informational alerts would be sent explaining downtime for certain appliances during peak energy periods.  However, there is a fine line between too little and too much information.  As a result, much work is being put into determining what and how much consumers will want to know about the smart grid.  This way, inbound calls will not increase so much that the call center is unable to handle the influx.  Implementation of smart grids are in early development stages in most parts of the world, but as they become more of a reality, IVR will surely play a significant role.

Country Music Marthon Runs by UniDig Offices of Music Row

Literally!

With a threat of severe weather and tornadoes on our tails 30,000+ turned out for the 2010 Rock n' Roll Country Music Marathon and 1/2 Marathon.

The course takes the runners, including moi, by some of Nashville's must see sites including a full scale Parthenon, the honky tonks on Broadway, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, the Country Music Hall of Fame and somewhere around mile marker 9 the offices of Universal Digital Productions!

I can't tell you how amazing it is to be out there with so many other runners and being supported by all the spectators. Check out this great video I found that showcases that very thing!





Executive Producer
Universal Digital Productions Inc.

Golden Rules of Self-Service

There is, and perhaps always will be, an ongoing debate about the effectiveness of customer self-service through IVR systems.  A simple web search will return countless anecdotal accounts of frustration and trouble with IVR self-service solutions.  However, most consumer research indicates the opposite.  In addition, customer satisfaction data collected by companies further indicate a general acceptance of the technology by a majority of consumers.  These results raise the question: what is it about IVR systems that elicit such varied user perceptions?

ClickFox recently conducted a survey asking participants about their preferred method of interactions with their banks, cable/wireless providers, utilities and insurance providers.  The results indicate that most customers prefer to use self-service to resolve simple tasks like paying bills or checking account status, but would rather human interaction for more complex tasks such as filing claims or seeking technical assistance.  Of course these results also show that there will always be a place for human customer service operators but there is room to increase self-service and customer satisfaction at the same time. To implement an effective system, developers must take consumer demographics into account and consider how their range of customers will respond to certain types of self-service interactions.  By avoiding common mistakes in development, companies can also avoid negative attention on the web and social media sites.  1to1 Media suggests that there are five golden rules that will help increase self-service interactions while concurrently improving customer satisfaction.  Using best practices, knowledge bases and end-user analysis in IVR development can result in cost-savings and customer retention.

Proper Pronunciation of Nguyen

I'm convinced that one of the reason's people hate cold calling isn't because of rejection. I think we're really afraid of getting caught pronouncing the name wrong.



At Unidig we frequently record proper nouns for IVR applications. And whether we're recording a person's name, location or business - technology certainly gives us an edge we didn't have a few years ago. A partner recently said to me; "what did we do before You Tube?"

At UniDig we use You Tube and other online searches to find the proper pronunciation of a lot of local words and terms we may not be familiar with. Recently we recorded a project with the name Nguyen. It is a very common name in the states of California and Washington. As language enthusiasts, it is interesting to hear how different the name can sound depending on the Vietnamese or American accent used in the recording.

Here is the one we went with:





Executive Producer
Universal Digital Productions Inc.

Build a Better IVR Script

Without a doubt, IVR systems have become part of standard operating procedure for most businesses.  Improvements in technology and lower costs have made their implementation easy and affordable for any size business from multimillion dollar companies to at-home businesses of only one employee.  But an IVR system is only as good as its script.  Careful crafting and testing of scripts is essential for an effective and user-friendly IVR system.  Without an easy to understand script, an IVR system can be hard to navigate and/or cause a customer to become frustrated.  A good IVR system starts with a good script.

Craig Borysowich of Toolbox for IT has written an excellent summary of the method for creating, testing and implementing an IVR script.  A good script starts with clear objectives.  Without specific goals, implementing an IVR system is a waste of time and money.  It's also important to clearly identify the type of application(s) that will be employed in the system (e.g. data-capture, transaction processing, etc.).  The work flow of the system is critical.  Borysowich recommends applying Human Factors Analysis techniques to make the system logical, efficient and user-friendly.  The text of the script should be clear and concise when spoken so that it can be easily understood by customers.  Perhaps the most important step that is also probably often overlooked is usability testing.  Pilot programs should be run with actual customers to test the systems and their feedback must be used to revise the script.  Several cycles of testing should be performed where feasible to have a very refined script before it is rolled out for general use.  Using this type methodology will catch customer satisfaction issues before they happen on a large scale and the end result will be an efficient and useful IVR system.

UniDig Launches New Partnership Driven Website

We are thrilled with our new website still located at www.unidig.com

I approached Gwen Canfield, owner of Creative Instinct to design a website for us that promoted and enhanced the partnership we have with each of our clients. It's this partnership that ensures we return the best quality product and is the secret of our success.

Creative Instinct offers full service visual branding and web design services enhanced by top notch customer service! With a focus on the medical industry Gwen allowed her incredible listening skills to really hear our needs and not only met them but exceeded them... not to mention learn about a new industry. If you're in the search for an updated or new design, Gwen Canfield and Creative Instinct come highly recommend from us!



Executive Producer
Universal Digital Productions Inc.