Are you frustrated with the reliability of the auto attendant on your company's phone system?
Are you tired of callers constantly "zeroing out" (dialing "0") to reach the receptionist each time they call your office because your auto attendant is "too difficult to use" or sometimes doesn't connect the caller to the intended party?
Are you sick of callers tying up your receptionist all day with call transfers -- thus defeating the very purpose for which you invested in the auto attendant in the first place?
Maybe it's time to consider a managed auto attendant service such as Parlance Corp.'s nameConnector. This speech-enabled auto attendant service is delivered via the hosted model and thus can be deployed rapidly for low up-front cost. However, unlike other auto attendant services which leave it up to the customer to maintain the system after it has been deployed, Parlance's nameConnector service is fully managed 24-7, meaning each customer's system is continuously optimized for reliability and accuracy.
The problem with most auto attendant services is that they work great once they are first installed, but their performance slowly degrades over time. This is mainly because the accuracy of the directory erodes over time due to employee turnover and other factors. For example, an employee may leave the company or get fired, yet the directory is never updated. Then when customers call and ask for the employee by name, using the auto attendant, they get transferred to the employee's old voicemail, whereupon they leave a message that may stay there for months before someone discovers it - as opposed to having the call automatically redirected to the appropriate person.
This is how important calls are sometimes missed - how business is sometimes lost. The worst part is that some company IT departments aren't even aware that this stuff is going on with their auto attendant system until a major problem comes up.
Another classic example is when an employee's name changes due to a marriage, yet the directory isn't updated to reflect the change. In this particular case it is wise to include in the directory every possible way someone may ask for that person. This way if Sue Jones becomes Sue Smith, it doesn't matter if the caller asks for Sue Jones, Sue Smith, Susan Jones, Susan Smith, Sue Jones-Smith, Susan Jones Smith, Susie Jones, Susie Smith, or Susie Jones Smith - they will reach the correct person no matter what is spoken.
It may take months - it may even take years - but eventually the directory becomes so inaccurate that it practically renders the entire system ineffective. Research from Parlance shows that once an auto attendant system's connection rate drops below 85 percent, user adoption of the system begins to plummet dramatically, and subsequently more callers zero out to the operator for assistance
The challenge is that most organizations average around 20 percent turnover per year. For some it can be much higher. So, for example, if you have 100 employees, that means you can expect to have to update the directory at least 20 times a year just based on average turnover. The unfortunate truth is that most companies don't bother to regularly update their directories: It's a chore which often falls to the bottom of the IT department's "to do" list.
Parlance's auto attendant service, nameConnector, is fully managed from the company's central office in order to keep the directory up-to-date as well as to proactively troubleshoot any issues with the system.
'We have a whole armada of tools -- some manual, some automated -- set in place to monitor our customers' systems and alert us when there are missed connections or improper pronunciations,' said company marketing manager Mark Bedard during a recent interview. 'Anything that will lead to a missed connection we will be looking out for. And then our service engineers review the data and take appropriate action.'
Companies also have the ability to update their directories on their own, via a web-based administrative toolbox. In addition, each customer has an internal 'Registry Administrator' who acts as a liaison between the customer and Parlance. That person is responsible for editing the directory - but Parlance's managed service takes that a step further and serves as a quality assurance mechanism to guarantee better system performance.
Parlance Corp. is so confident in the reliability, accuracy, features and capabilities of its nameConnector auto attendant service that it will let customers utilize the system for a trial period at no risk through its No Obligation Trial Installation. Parlance also welcomes head-to-head comparison trials versus competing solutions, as the superiority of nameConnector is clearly apparent in such circumstances.
Come see why Parlance Corp.'s fully managed auto attendant service boasts a 96 percent customer retention rate. Click here to learn more.
Patrick Barnard is a senior Web editor for TMCnet, covering call and contact center technologies. He also compiles and regularly contributes to TMCnet e-Newsletters in the areas of robotics, IT, M2M, OCS and customer interaction solutions. To read more of Patrick's articles, please visit his columnist page.Edited by Patrick Barnard