BY CAROL DRZEWIANOWSKI
Assistant Editor, CTI magazine

IVRs In Action: Please Press One

"Hello and welcome to the Springfield Police Department Resc-U-Fone. If you know the name of the felony being committed, press one. To choose from a list of felonies, press two. If you are being murdered or are calling from a rotary phone, please stay on the line."

Fans of the television show The Simpsons will probably recognize the above greeting from the episode in which Bart breaks his leg. Immobilized, he passes time spying on his neighbor, Ned Flanders. When Bart's spying leads him to suspect Ned has homicidal tendencies, he calls the Springfield police department and encounters the tongue-in-cheek IVR message above.

While this is certainly a satirical look at Interactive Voice Response (IVR) services (The Simpsons is a cartoon, after all), in the real world, IVRs are valuable business tools, with a near-universal presence. An IVR system models the actions of a customer service representative accessing information from a computer terminal and speaking the requested information back to a caller over the telephone. You're almost certainly using IVR systems on a regular basis: when you call to check your bank account balance, dial your favorite cinema to hear the evening's movie times, or call a parcel service to track a package you're expecting. Of course, the IVR can also route your call to a service agent.

According to Frost & Sullivan, in 1997 North American IVR services generated revenue in excess of $2 billion, with a revenue growth rate of 25 percent. Periphonics is one player in this growing space: The company develops, markets, and services products for computer-telephony integration (CTI), including IVR technology. Recently, Periphonics announced two new deployments of its IVR technology.

WHAT TIME IS MY FLIGHT?
You're scheduled to fly from New York to Kuala Lumpur on business, but outside the sky has opened with torrential downpours, thunder, and lightening. You'd like to know whether or not your flight is still on time, before you leave for the airport. No problem -- an IVR can get you a quick answer.

As part of a commitment to a program to upgrade customer services, Cathay Pacific Airways has installed a VPS/is (Voice Processing Series Information Server) 7500 IVR system from Periphonics at its new Hong Kong headquarters. The new system is an upgrade to two Periphonics VPS/VAS systems that the airline had been using to run its flight scheduling application.

The Periphonics VPS/is IVR system combines high-performance RISC processor technology with industry-standard open architecture. Based on the Sun SPARC processor family, the VPS/is operates in an open UNIX software environment. A flexible solution, The VPS/is can be configured for small (4 to 24 ports), mid-size (8 to 128 ports), or large-scale installations (up to 960 ports). Multiple systems can be networked to handle thousands of telephone ports. Designed for today's network-centric computing, the system supports current and emerging distributed processing standards.

For Cathy Pacific customers, the VPS/is 7500 provides flight arrival and departure times, gate numbers, confirmation of reservations and seating, and automated notification of flight cancellation. The IVR provides services to employees and potential employees, as well. New applications that were recently implemented include crew scheduling, flight attendant recruitment, and ground staff recruitment applications. In addition, the system provides up-to-date job vacancy information for callers interested in Cathay Pacific career opportunities. The IVR provides the procedure to apply for a position, and supplies entry requirements and other relevant information. Callers can even request a fax-back of position details and requirements so they don't have to write down every bit of information as they hear it on the phone.

WHEN IS MY NEXT DELIVERY?
Airlines are not the only industry benefiting from Periphonics' services, though. McKesson Water Products, a bottled-water company with headquarters in Pasedena, Calif., completed installation of a second VPS/is 9500 system from Periphonics. McKesson's regional bottled water services Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, Washington, and parts of the mid-Atlantic region. With 13 bottling facilities and 50 branch distribution facilities, McKesson needed a tool to better manage the more than 10,000 calls its call center handles daily.

According to McKesson customer service manager Beth Weaver, "The company has employed IVR technology to ease out customer service call-load for a number of years now. Because our original IVR system did not readily support the ability to modify and add applications, we decided to consider replacement system options."

As voice processing requirements increase, the Periphonics VPS/is systems' building-block design readily accommodates new feature and performance upgrades through incremental enhancements. This saves companies money because they can add applications as they need them, without having to buy another system.

"Of the three companies invited to participate in the process, we chose the Periphonics solution as it offered the best technology for our needs, the best references, and it was competitively priced," said Weaver.

All inbound toll-free calls come through the customer service center. These calls include account inquiries, billing questions, credit card payments, requests for additional water or skipping a delivery, additional product requests, service questions, and product information requests.

This is a lot of information that needs to be handled efficiently. "[Periphonics' system] currently handles a significant percentage of our call load without the need to involve customer service representatives. We expect to increase the volume of calls handled by the system by simply fine tuning the applications," said Weaver.

As the advertising slogan goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. IVRs are often the first contact customers have with a company. Regardless of its cartoon status, the Springfield Police Department's Resc-U-Fone greeting reminds how poorly executed an IVR system can be.

For Cathay Pacific and McKesson, however, Periphonics' IVR systems are increasing the number of calls processed per hour, getting customer questions answered quickly, and freeing agents for other customer relations functions. Most importantly, these companies' customer satisfaction is increasing, which is an important issue for competitive industries. Keep your customers happy, and they'll keep you happy.

Carol Drzewianowski welcomes your comments via e-mail.