Rethinking the Case for Hosted IVR:
VoIP Impact on Transport Cost Changes the Equation

Hosted IVR has traditionally accounted for just 20-25% of industry volume with a significant limiting factor being transport and transfer costs with their negative impact on outsourcing economics for many mainstream IVR applications. VoIP and the deployment of media gateways to route traffic over IP connections has taken the issue of transport cost completely off the table in the buy vs. build equation for IVR. At the same time, new technologies have created an enormous opportunity for added automation efficiency through speech recognition, voice authentication and advanced back office integration. Leveraging the latest IVR technologies requires both upfront capital investment and a much different skill set than was needed to run in-house DTMF applications. With transport costs no longer an issue, skills and scale for capitalizing on the technologies that can take automated customer care to the next level are the key drivers of a company’s decision to outsource.

At this webinar we’ll review the impact of VoIP on the overall economics of hosting. We’ll demonstrate how this change creates an entirely new market for hosting of “first call” IVR applications. Then, we’ll analyze how the enterprise-wide requirements for leveraging key IVR technologies are changing and can become a critical blocking factor for achieving the next major milestone in voice automation efficiency. We’ll share examples of how various companies have changed their view of IVR outsourcing based on the new economics of transport and the demands of developing and maintaining a state-of-the art solution.

After the presentation, the Webinar will be open for a live Q&A after the presentation. Be sure to have your questions ready!

Presenters:

James Harvey

Vice President
First Data Voice Services

As vice president of Technology, James Harvey provides strategic technical vision for First Data’s voice services architecture and technology implementations. He has guided the design and deployment of an application architecture that supports application interfaces ranging from traditional touchtone to speech-enabled to web and multi-modal. Under his leadership, a powerful notification services capability has been integrated into First Data’s platform to serve increasing client interest in event-driven applications.

Harvey joined First Data in 1998 and has served in a number of technical management roles at the company. Harvey has extensive industry experience, having served as CTO at Prairie Systems, and in various management and technical roles at Northrop Grumman, Data Transmission Network and Transaction Systems Architects.

Harvey holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Nebraska.

Dan Miller

Sr. Analyst and Founder
Opus Research

Dan Miller has over 25 years experience in marketing, business development and corporate strategy for telecom service providers, computer makers and application software developers. Dan founded Opus Research in 1985 and defined the “Conversational Access Technologies” marketplace by authoring scores of reports, advisories and newsletters addressing business opportunities that reside where automated speech leverages Web services, IP-Telephony, mobility and enterprise IT infrastructure. He has held management positions at Atari/Warner Communications and Pacific Telesis (now AT&T).

Dan received his BA from Hampshire College and an MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and is also quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Wired.com, CommWeb and elsewhere.

Erik Linask

Associate Editor
Technology Marketing Corporation

In addition to his work with TMC’s IP Communications publications, Erik is a contributor to TMCnet. Prior to joining the TMC team, he was Managing Editor at Global Custodian, a global securities services publication, where he also managed the magazine’s survey research. Erik began his professional career at management consulting firm Leadership Research Institute.

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