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What is Interactive Voice Response (IVR)?
Home » Information Technology » Interactive Voice Response » What is Interactive Voice Response (IVR)?“For a customer-service representative, please press one.” You’ve heard similar phrases thousands of times, but do you know the word for it? Interactive voice response (IVR) systems are telephony software applications that accept a combination of voice input and touch-tone keypad selection to provide callers with appropriate responses. Put simply: It’s the technology that facilitates interaction with telephone callers. IVR applications use pre-recorded prompts, menus, and keypad logic to help callers access relevant information. Modern IVR systems often gather information by way of voice recognition as well as record voice input for later processing. With computer telephony integration (CTI), IVR software can relay calls to company representatives who view the caller’s data at a display.
IVR is typically part of a larger communication system. Businesses rely on IVR to help lower the cost of sales, customer-service, technical-support, and bill-processing calls. These systems help companies exchange information efficiently and reduce the need for clerical processing. For example, IVR systems have probably helped you retrieve credit-card balances, flight numbers, product details, shipping information, and movie times. IVR solutions are also increasingly being used to place outbound calls that deliver time-sensitive information regarding overdue bills or upcoming appointments, for example.
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