At Your Service - With IVR

Consider a situation where you call Vodafone and there is no instruction manual at their end. The hazard of waiting for a human response and then going through the long process of getting your call transferred from one person to another to solve a simple query could give the customer a shudder. In a very sure and subtle manner, IVR has become an integral part of how we interact and this fact is certainly not being overlooked by enterprises and vendors.

The King Customer

Enterprises are susceptible to increasing customer demands today and recognise that the needs of the customer have changed over time. Elaborating on the new age customer, Ted Bray, director, Voice Platform Solutions, Asia Pacific, Genesys, says, “Customer expectations are rapidly increasing in India, in terms of what customers are expecting from the businesses they work with. Today, companies are more focused on how they leverage solutions like IVR. Also, they seem to be concerned that the IVR they use should not upset customers i.e. IVRs should be pleasant, intelligent, and that customers should perceive doing business through IVRs as beneficial.”

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Samir Gulve, managing director, Avaya India, says, “It is definitely a key channel but not an answer to everything. In many cases, there is a need for live human agents in complex situations. With the increasing adoption of broadband, those channels are also growing. On screen-based channels, you get to digest more information. IVR will continue to play the role of the lowest common denominator though.”

With the economic slowdown tugging at everyone’s shoulder, enterprises are more focused on retaining old customers rather than gaining new ones. This means they have to be increasingly sensitive to the needs of their customer. Bray says, “Businesses are expected to provide better, faster and more available customer service, which is driving the adoption of innovative solutions. They are finding that they can use IVR to do a better job than a live person. An IVR can take immediate decisions on what to do about a certain call. Especially during recession, customers are resonating better if a great customer experience is offered.”

CIO Take

In spite of whatever may be the take of vendors on IVRs, CIOs have their own way of looking at it. Vikas Gadre, CTO, Tata Chemicals, came up with an innovative way of utilising IVR by connecting it to their ERP system. He says, “During times when most organisations are going for cost consolidation and cost containment, IVR can be really useful. In offices having many regional branches, a lot of volume-added work can be completely eliminated. It is one more step towards achieving cost containment. It eliminates unproductive use of manforce.”

Rajendra Sawant, CTO, Adventity is counting on Web-based IVR. “Web-based IVRs are very much in demand lately due to the availability of Wimax and higher bandwidth. We are planning to implement it in the near future in phases based on customer response.”

Future Trends

Being in an age of convergence, we cannot ignore the possibility of what IVR’s integration with technologies like UC and 3G can achieve. However, it all boils down to easing the customer experience. Gulve says, “IVR is meant more as a self-service mode, but if there is a specialised need and a human agent is required, to find that agent irrespective of what platform is being used, UC will play a big role. UC can drive a huge chunk of mobility-based interaction.”

Bray says, “The customer does not classify it as UC; the customer just classifies it as customer experience. Though it is an important classification for vendors and analysts, the customer is not bothered about the backend.” Thus, integration can help in enhancing the customer experience by combining multiple channels. Further, with 3G being introduced in India, the sky is the limit to explore communication possibilities.

Bray adds further, “Retail customers are focused towards creating an emotional experience for their consumers when they walk in through the front door of the retail outlet. It is called as the ‘intelligent customer front door’. A lot of voice branding can be used to create a personality for the chain on the phone. There is a customer id, which is already created, thus, when a particular customers calls, the retailer knows, which products can he talk about and what sort of service is expected.” IVR is also expected to play a vital role in the way customers are served in the BFSI and telecom space.

New models of delivery for IVR could also drive its adoption in the days to come. Gadre says, “If IVR was available on a SaaS model, many companies would start using it, especially SMEs. The SaaS model could either be made available by developers or telecom companies. If this happens, SMBs can leverage IVR fully.”

On a concluding note, Sawant feels that the future of IVR is in Voice XML (VXML) along with Web-based IVR solutions. Thus, in times of slowdown, when the power of the customer increases manifold, IVR can be that one service cap enterprises can don to face the customer with a smile and keep him happy.