Interactive voice response: The on-ramp to the information superhighway

The lifestyle of today's workforce is driving changes in the way companies serve their customers. Because time is at a premium, customers define quality by how quickly business concludes a transaction. Access becomes more critical as the "information superhighway" takes shape and even more information is available and required for competitive advantage.

Convenient access to information is the key to the very survival of a business, and customers are anxious to help by serving themselves. Interactive voice response (IVR) is at the center of the most ubiquitous system today, the telephone network. IVR uses technologies such as voice messaging, voice processing, voice response, audiotex, text-to-speech, speech recognition, and facsimile servers as an interface, or "on-ramp" to the information superhighway.

WHY INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE

The opportunity to build productive applications that serve the caller's needs is the business goal. Do customers want the service to be available 24 hours a day? Will the market grow if systems are designed to speak multiple languages? Do you have markets in other countries? Will callers need written confirmation? Will callers prefer to "talk" directly to the application? How much time do callers spend on specific tasks?

IVR applications are effective at handling routine, anticipated events, while human agents can be versatile and override rules if necessary. When a "live" agent is needed, the IVR can pass collected information with the call. After resolving the caller's problem, the agent can pass the caller back to the automated application midstream, and train the caller to use the system better next time. Teamwork between IVR, live agents and callers yields optimum call handling. The following subject areas address the components and techniques employed in advanced IVR applications.

STANDARD TOUCH-TONE ACCESS

IVR systems can be stand-alone, integrated with telephone systems, or integrated with both telephone and data systems. Designers, therefore, need familiarity with both voice and data in the installation environment. Likewise, capacity planning requires knowing the anticipated number and duration of calls. If the IVR application is replacing existing voice response systems, accurate projections of call volumes can be established. But when the initial application includes functions previously done by humans, accurately determining port capacity is more of an art than a science. Certain applications, when converted to IVR, generate new calling patterns. Intimately knowing your callers' requirements is most helpful.

The IVR planning organization should consist of end-user departments, groups representing callers, the telecommunications manager, the MIS manager, and any others who will be affected by the IVR deployment because the goal of IVR applications is to meet all business requirements. At the same time, modules must be designed for easy growth and reusability. This also helps provide reliable applications with a uniform feel, and faster time to market.

In developing applications, planners should:

* Keep verbiage simple, and document voice scripts with block diagrams for group discussions;

* Offer no more than five choices on a menu;

* Consistently standardize global functions, such as "0" for operator or "9" for help, throughout all applications;

* Let experienced users interrupt prompts, or select an option for abbreviated scripts;

* Conduct focus groups to understand how callers interact with the system;

* Design applications to generate short calls conveying the maximum information and continue to refine them.

COMPUTER-TELEPHONE INTEGRATION

Computer-telephone integration (CTI) can enable IVR intelligent answering. The IVR launches changeable scripts based on who's calling and why. CTI also enables coordinated voice/data transfer, to simultaneously pass the voice call and data associated with the call from IVR to a live agent and vice versa. The IVR collects information through automatic number identification (ANI) and dialed number identification service (DNIS) and passes this information to the computer system, which pulls up the appropriate screen for the next available agent.

Planning CTI requires involvement of the telecommunications and information systems (IS) provider, and the legal department. Telecommunications providers make sure the system has the appropriate control links. IS must assure that the host links and the host database are appropriately designed for compatibility. Also, a legal review is necessary to assure that caller identification information can be used in business applications.

Proper design allows callers to efficiently and effectively serve themselves. Companies differentiate their services through intelligent answering, and coordinated voice/data transfer, which yields more efficient and professional call handling. Once callers become accustomed to enhanced service, it becomes a competitive asset for the provider.

There are limits, however. Answering calls immediately with the caller's name has proven to shock callers, and should be avoided. The time saved in automatically transferring the call and data is often lost explaining to the caller how the agent came to know his or her name! It is better to ask the caller's name and confirm that you have the appropriate record on the screen.

INTEGRATED DATABASE APPLICATIONS

Database systems add value by collecting information on customer preferences external to the IVR application. Sophisticated relational database products can be integrated to IVR applications through open programming interfaces. Moreover, existing MIS skills can be used for enhancing IVR applications.

By relating the IVR to databases, calls can be uniquely handled based on the time of day, day of week, holiday schedule, etc. The system might also access DNIS to determine the purpose of the call. For example, for the 1-800 sales number, the IVR answers with the sales script; for the 1-800 service number, the IVR answers with the service script. This eliminates menus, saves time on the call, makes the system easier to use and allows for more efficient utilization of IVR telephone ports.

ANI can also trigger a database to determine who's calling, and if recognized, indicate how often the person uses the system, and his or her preferences. Control of applications through external databases is the most effective weapon for dynamically customizing systems to callers' requirements. Relational databases can have unlimited triggers to evaluate caller requirements and decide which script answers the call. Again, this results in shorter calls, more customer satisfaction, and more efficient channel utilization on the IVR system.

SPEECH RECOGNITION

With speech recognition, the caller's spoken voice is used for input. Speech recognition can make IVR simpler to use and may be more effective than live agents for applications where multiple languages are spoken. When properly prompted, a caller response is correctly recognized more than 95 percent of the time. It is effective for information such as numbers, days of the week, months of the year, colors, styles, departments, employee names, etc. Recognition systems can be trained to understand provider vocabularies as well.

If a caller needed a dealer in his or her state, instead of a standard IVR application limited to five choices per menu, it would take a many as 13 menus of prompts to cover the 50 states (e.g., "If the state is Alabama, press 1; if it is Alaska, press 2; if it is Arizona, press 3; if it is Arkansas, press 4; none of the above, press 5," and so on). With speech recognition, the prompt could be, "Speak the state you desire at the beep." The IVR then matches the caller' s spoken input with the speaker-independent templates for the 50 states. The shorter calls result in lower network costs, more efficient IVR port utilization, and higher caller satisfaction.

In planning, exploit the capability to accept connected digits, train the system to understand new words, and spot words in a phrase. Carefully worded prompts help ensure that the callers speak recognizable input. Directed to understand multiple languages, it can serve to expand your markets.

TEXT-TO-SPEECH

Many information services are becoming available, and callers want access to them. These on-line services commonly provide access to forums, databases and e-mail that is stored in text format. Although these systems are usually accessed from a data terminal, text-to-speech technology offers alternative access by voice.

When up-to-the-minute on-line information is valuable to the caller, but not practical to deliver via recorded human voice, text-to-speech is an effective alternative. Properly integrated, text-to-speech can be as accurate and intelligible as the average human operator. Systems with a lot of first-time callers should offer to repeat the information more slowly. To provide time to write down a name or find an address on a map, the system should also offer to pause, spell-out or repeat the information--the same techniques human operators use to be better understood.

Multilingual capability is increasingly important as the American population becomes more diverse and the economy becomes more global. Telephone access opens doors to global markets. Multilanguage applications improve access to other countries and can increase market size.

A pleasant voice is desirable, but not the most compelling factor in implementing text-to-speech. Evaluate text-to-speech on how well it conveys information to callers. The most important criteria are accurate pronunciation and intelligibility. Effective text-to-speech applications read names, addresses, sentences and paragraphs accurately and naturally.

FACSIMILE

Today, facsimile is integral to any plan, including IVR. IVR applications can also provide callers with printed information associated with the telephone call through enhanced fax capability. Two examples are a caller has located the information he or she needs in the IVR application and now needs written confirmation, or a supplier who wants to instantly make brochures available to complement an advertising campaign. In other instances, a company needs a fax-messaging system to complement its voice-messaging and e-mail systems. These applications are all enabled by having an IVR with enhanced fax capabilities.

IVR fax applications reduce postage costs (especially for overnight service), administrative handling costs (to send, receive and file facsimiles), and duplication costs (facsimiles filed electronically and sent to distribution lists). They can also simplify updating costs for documentation and enable instant customer service. A caller can receive stored images with IVR fax-on-demand, or fax messaging. High-end facsimile servers can also allow callers to append voice descriptions, or request their specific account statements from the host. Technologies such as CTI and optical character recognition (OCR) can collect information about the fax or take information off the fax to automatically route incoming facsimiles.

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER

As the information superhighway takes shape, the variety of information sources is exploding. The telephone provides callers with ubiquitous access to information. Complex applications can be simply delivered by phone. Interactive voice response harnesses and delivers real-time information to callers and businesses at a fraction of the cost of live agents.

Tying together technologies such as voice messaging, voice response, audiotex, text-to-speech, facsimile servers, databases and speech recognition with open IVRs offers enormous opportunities. Creative designers, integrators and implementors are now challenged to further exploit IVR to build applications that both satisfy caller demands and improve bottom-line profits.

Author's acknowledgments: Berkeley Speech Technologies for text-to-speech; Devcom Mid-America Inc. for facsimile servers; Intellivoice Communications for voice recognition; Quality Systems Consulting, Specialty Systems, Inc. and Voice Integrators in the areas of application development.

Kelly M. Lumpkin is a senior marketing support representative with IBM Networking Software Division. He has 15 years of experience in voice and data. He works with telephone companies, media, insurance and finance industry customers in the areas of IVR and CTI.

Copyright Technology Marketing Corporation Jun 1994
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