The Role of an IVR System in Call Center Operations
IVR systems, or Interactive Voice Response, were designed to maximize the time agents spend on the phone with customers. The idea is that preliminary information is collected via a voice response system, so that by the time an agent gets on the line, they have some context pre-loaded into their system from the answers the caller gave to the IVR.
For example, if you are calling a bank, you may be greeted by an IVR. The IVR asks what you are calling about, and gives you several options that may include “check my balance”, or “transaction history”. If you answer “transaction history”, by the time you reach an agent, they will know that you are not interested in your balance, and they can help to get your issue resolved faster. Without that IVR, an agent would have to gather all of that information on their own, and would wind up spending more time on the line with each caller.
IVRs are crucial to call center operations, since they make calls more efficient. The agents working in a call center are in high demand. The goal is to get them on the phone with as many people as possible, so that they may resolve as many issues as possible. Hypothetically, let’s say that an IVR saves one agent 15 seconds per call. If that agent handles an average of 50 calls per day, then that IVR saves them 900 seconds, or 15 minutes every single day. That adds up to an hour and fifteen minutes a week, 5 hours a month, and up to 60 hours a year! That is more than a full week of work. Imagine how many additional callers could be assisted in that time.
At VCareTec, we have the ability to set up IVRs for all of our clients. Here is what that process looks like:
Once you come on as a client, we take some time to meet with you and understand your business. Our goal is to provide service at such a high level that your callers do not even realize they are speaking with a third party.
Once we understand what issues your callers may have, we propose an IVR question tree based on your business.
We work with you to perfect the IVR question tree. If you elect not to have an IVR, we can accommodate that too, though we always suggest using them.
We train our agents on your business and the IVR callers will be interacting with.
We roll out the IVR and start taking calls on your behalf!
Before you decide whether or not to go with an IVR, it is important to review the benefits:
IVRs save time. We have covered this extensively already, but it bears repeating. IVRs make calls with your callers quicker and more efficiently.
IVRs save you money. We only charge our clients for the time that our agents are on the phone. If the caller spends time providing information via an IVR, that is less time that they are on the phone with an agent and therefore less time is added to client bills.
IVRs lead to more one-call resolutions. At VCare Tec, our goal is to resolve client issues in just one call. With an IVR, calls go smoother once the caller reaches the agent, increasing the chances of a speedy resolution.
Contact us today to set up IVR call center support for your business..