Get IVR System for the Hospitality Industry – Deliver Customer Delight Each Step of the Way

Hospitality is a confluence of various services covering travel, accommodation, catering, tourism and it may even include entertainment. Even within each there are several sub-categories. For instance, travel covers surface transport, air and sea. Accommodation includes everything from bed and breakfast to five star stays. Just as there are service lines there are modes of service delivery. Travel operators and hotels may serve customers directly or through a network of agents. Travel agents may have travel as the main line and hotels as the secondary line or vice versa. Then there are tour operators that rely on all these segments when they put together a package for customers. The IVR system plays a pivotal role in helping customers at all points and in all respects of their travel.

The travel agent scenario

 A travel agent who deals with travel facilities like air/road/train/sea transport and accommodation will find that the IVR is the perfect way to tie together the services for easy access by customers. It is easy to configure the IVR solution to offer callers the option of travel booking and/or hotel booking to start with. Once they select an option they are walked through to flight timings and booking options. Once they book travel ticket the IVR offers an option to book a hotel room based on the chosen destination. The next step is to confirm both bookings for which the IVR sends out a text and email message. The final step could be to thank the client and hang up or guide them through to the IVR payment system. The travel agent serves hundreds of customers with just a few agents to take over if a customer desires personal interaction. Employees may leave, go on a holiday or may have finished work for the day. The IVR solution for hospitality works 24 hours a day. Customers are happy that one phone call and a few key presses lead to confirmed tickets and hotel room. It does not end there for the travel agent or the customer. The IVR has plenty in store for customers. 

The next stage 

The happy customer prepares to catch his flight and is pleasantly surprised to receive updates about flight timings and even about the specific gate to enter to get aboard. Once at the destination his first stop will be the hotel. The IVR kicks in again with location and directions on how to get there.  Eventually the guest checks in at which stage another set of IVR options come into play. Not all customers follow the usual route. Some may have to cancel their flight ticket and reschedule, which is another area in which the IVR system assists them. It is the same with their hotel room booking that can be cancelled or rescheduled.  Regardless of whether customers proceed as planned or change schedule life for them becomes a lot easier with the IVR providing solid support 24x7. 

Continuing the journey

While in the hotel the IVR system again provides help for room services, for food to be brought in, for transportation, for wake up calls and for checking out. It is back to the airport to catch the return flight at which stage too the IVR provides helpful reassurance that the flight is on time. 

Travel agents and hotels save precious man hours when the IVR takes on routine functions. In addition every action is recorded which can be the basis for fine-tuned analytics to further improve services. Customers like the fact that they can get the service or information whenever they want. It would be no surprise if they turn into loyal customers when they have such superb IVR support available. 

Source: https://ivrsystemdesign.wordpress.com/2019/12/27/get-ivr-system-for-the-hospitality-industry-deliver-customer-delight-each-step-of-the-way/

How IVR Adds to Growth of Hotel Business in Different Ways

The common concept of IVR is a system for customers to call and try to find a measure of self service. IVR solutions can do more if they are properly designed and adapted to the ecosystem in which they must operate. The hotel industry is a case in point. It has various levels of activities according to the stage of a customer’s journey. From the business perspective too, it has variety in the ways business is conducted. AsteriskService IVR solution both sides and helps hotel business to grow in different ways.

The hotel business

There are thousands of individual hotels in cities across the world and there are hotel chains with branches in different countries. From the business angle the IVR can play a significant role in promoting growth.

• A central service provider, for example AirBnB or OYO, can link together thousands of individuals hotels into a common booking system through the hotel IVR tailored for this purpose. Member hotels can carry out quite a few routine operations through the IVR and the service provider saves money they would spend on employees.
• Hotel chains can automate some procedures through the IVR for their staff members and customers with Hotel IVR solutions from Asterisk.
• Hotels normally have arrangements with agents in which case too the IVR comes in handy to allow agents to check availability of rooms and tariffs.
• Hotels can implement Asterisk IVR Payment Gateway to facilitate inbound payments from customers and from their agents.

Tied to the CRM the IVR delivers a lot of information and helps in carrying out routine tasks without human intervention. Since it is available 24x7 such tasks can be available at all times.

The customer journey

Asterisk Service Hotel IVR Solution proves invaluable in providing assistance to customers at all stages of their journey.

• Inquiry stage: Hotels do not have to deploy personnel to answer routine queries about rooms, tariffs and other details. These are fed into the CRM and the smart IVR brings up information on demand, 24x7. Customers in the US, for example, can easily find out about hotel rooms and tariffs in Australia.
• The Booking stage: Once customers are satisfied they may progress to the next level, which is the booking stage and use the IVR for choosing a particular hotel in a particular location and booking a room of their choice for one or more days. Hotel IVR with IVR payment gateway may be used at this stage to facilitate immediate payments if a hotel stipulates advance payments.
• Before reaching the hotel: Customers can dial the IVR number to get directions to the hotel. It makes them happy to know they have full support available 24x7.
• In the hotel: While inside the hotel a different set of options come into play in the IVR. Customers can make use of the hotel internal services IVR option to ask for room service, laundry, catering, transport, wake up alarm, prepare the bill and even make payment.
• On checking out: The IVR helps hotels to get valuable feedback from the guest once he has completed payment using the Payment IVR. It helps hotels to find out gaps in service and improve quality that will lead to more business and repeat customers.

Asterisk Service offers custom IVR development services for hotels across the world to help them fine tune services and grow business.

Source: https://ivrsystemdesign.wordpress.com/2019/12/13/how-ivr-adds-to-growth-of-hotel-business-in-different-ways/

How Automated Ticketing System IVR Solution Can Make Your Work Easier

It is so easy, simple, fast, safe and convenient that you will wonder why the automated ticketing system IVR solution did not come around sooner. Who is this automated ticketing IVR for? It is the perfect ticketing system for entertainment industry, events, for travel, for cab and taxi operators, for support centers where a ticket must be generated for each caller. How does it make your life easier if you are in any of these businesses? Read on

What is the ticketing IVR? 

It is a logical and natural extension of the IVR to the ticketing side of business. IVRs have been in use since some time as a self service option. The usual way is for callers to dial a number, listen to prompts and then make the appropriate choice by pressing an appropriate number on their mobile phone’s keypad. The same concept is applied for ticketing. Instead of a paper ticket an e-ticket in the form of a text message is generated and sent to the individual buying the ticket and that gains him a seat on a train or a bus or at an event or at a movie theater. It is that simple. The IVR can also include a secure IVR payment system for cashless transaction or ticket purchasers may be given the option of payment at the time of admission. 

No worries about staff absenteeism

The process of manually booking and issuing tickets is cumbersome and expensive in every way. You have to employ staff to handle ticketing. You must have printed paper tickets or a computer system they can use to enter details of persons making the booking and issue a printed ticket. Just imagine how your ticket booking can be thrown out of gear due to absenteeism by staff members. You lose revenues and you lose reputation too. Opt for Asterisk Service automated ticketing system IVR solution and you are freed from this worry. You do not have to pay salaries to staff and you do not have to allocate resources and space for ticket booking. There is huge savings. 

Convenient, fast and easy for customers

It is inconvenient for customers to physically visit the booking office at the time the booking window opens. It means a disruption of their routine schedule. Tickets may be sold out in which case their effort goes to nothing. Then there are movie tickets or event tickets for which there may be heavy demand. This means people have to first go to the booking office to purchase tickets well in advance and waste more time because they are not guaranteed a ticket at the time the event starts. With the anywhere, anytime booking facility people do not have to waste time to book tickets. They can book well in advance, take their pick of seats and have the assurance of being able to attend the event or view the movie of their choice. 

Delight repeat customers

Take it a bit further. Link the ticket booking IVR to CRM. The CRM captures data and if a person books again they do not have to furnish their details all over again. Customers like this. They simply pick the ticket option and pay or confirm booking. It is done within a minute or so. You have delighted customers thankful to you for offering this mode of ticket booking. You can make use of customer data to send out offers and promotions from time to time and improve chances of ticket sales. 

Cancellations are easy too

You may then raise a query as to what happens if buyers wish to cancel tickets they have booked for bus, train or show? It is simple. They get back into the IVR and enter details and then pick the option of canceling. They may then have the option of rescheduling too. In this case again the customer does not need to waste time and effort by physically visiting the booking office. 

Less unsold tickets

Everything goes into your database. Whether it is a booked ticket or a cancelled ticket you have complete records you can analyze in order to improve business. You will see fewer situations where your tickets remain unsold when you have ticketing IVR with CRM that helps you plan and launch campaigns well in advance. Conversely, if there is a heavy rush for tickets the IVR takes on the load whereas booking staff members would be overburdened and would work under pressure. The chances of mistakes also increase, which does not happen with IVR for ticketing. Plus, if tickets are sold out then there is disappointment for those who are in the queue but this does not happen with automated ticketing IVR. 

It is not just events where automated ticketing makes life easier. Customers dial into IVR expecting fast resolution or wish to speak with an agent who may be busy. They do not have to be kept waiting. The IVR issues them a ticket and the agent sees the notification. He calls back according to the ticket number. 

Asterisk IVR for ticketing is easy to use, easily configurable and can plug into CRM with ease. Get it, save money, ease your work and delight customers. 

Source:https://ivrsystemdesign.wordpress.com/2019/11/15/how-automated-ticketing-system-ivr-solution-can-make-your-work-easier/

How IVR Solution Impacts Hospitality Industries For All Round Improvements

Hospitality thrives on customers and giving them an above average experience leads to repeat business. Unified communication does help but the IVR in the chain could be the strongest or the weakest link depending on the type of IVR solution you put in place. It is the nature of hospitality industry that calls for a specialized IVR system in order to achieve the best impact leading to all round improvement in business. 

The inquiry stage 

This is the most crucial stage where a prospective decides one way or the other depending on the response. IVR is the first point of contact where a customer desires as much information as possible without spending a lot of time in key presses. Hotels do need a dynamic IVR configured to deliver information about hotels, branches, rooms, tariffs, amenities and general services. The faster the response and the more detailed it is the more are the chances of conversion. 

The booking stage 

It is not enough to simply allow a customer to book the room of his choice. It must be confirmed with payment, all done through the IVR system that seamlessly transitions the booking to IVR payment in a secure way. Payment may not be absolutely necessary since a customer may pay upon arrival or on departure but a pleasant experience does create a positive impression. 

Intermediate stage 

The customer is on the way and would like directions. He resorts to the IVR system and appreciates it when he receives pointed instructions. During this stage a customer may just as well change his booking or even cancel it in which case it should be smooth and effortless. 

During occupancy 

Once a guest has booked in another set of IVR queries come into play. The guest may need a service such as food delivered to their room, laundry or taxi and then, when they are about to check out they may want the bill prepared and ready. The guest may even be given the option of using the IVR payment to settle the account. The experience during this stage can prove vital to the hotel’s reputation for superior service and customer satisfaction. 

Post checkout

Once again the IVR kicks in and requests the guest’s opinion on his experience. He may receive a thank you note in his mail and offers of coupons to ensure loyalty. 

A guest is likely to become a repeat customer in the future and must feel welcome for which the hotel must have the IVR tied to a CRM. The next time the guest initiates the room booking procedure the IVR instantly recognizes, welcomes and jump starts the booking. 

Hotels may have branches in various countries and naturally they will want the IVR to have intelligent multi-lingual capabilities to offer prompts in the language of choice of the guest. This can be automated by use of country prefix code or offering language selection in the menu. 

As can be seen the IVR solution is pivotal and hospitality industry, in order to get maximum ROI, need a solution that fits in with their needs and delights customers. Asterisk Service IVR for hospitality is tailored to help hotels capture maximum customers and maximum ROIs. 

Source: https://ivrsystemdesign.wordpress.com/2019/11/04/how-ivr-solution-impacts-hospitality-industries-for-all-round-improvements/

How CRM Integrated IVR Works in the Corporate Sector

There is synergy in integration and this applies to the IVR-CRM combine. Corporate sectors have more to gain when they use an IVR solution with CRM at the backend rather than using them as unsynchronized channels. This is what happens when you integrate IVR solution with existing CRM to create a fluidly powerful IVR CRM. 

Leads do not hang in mid air

Use a stand alone IVR and you are likely to receive leads that are left fluttering. Tie it to the CRM and the lead goes right into the data base, visible to marketers or sales personnel who can follow up and convert it into a customer whose journey continues with delight each step of the way. 

Customer experience 

When an existing customer calls and is piped into the IVR he does not have to identify himself. The CRM fetches his data and welcomes him. Should an agent handle the call he has full access to customer details and get down to the matter in hand for quick resolution. A multinational company can have global operations with country-specific IVR but all of the lines lead to a central CRM for easy customer management and also for campaigns from time to time. 

Campaign management

Global enterprises using IVR CRM may conduct campaigns from time to time using the system and such campaigns may target existing customers with offers or simple greetings. IVR automates call and when a CRM is in the chain it fetches records and starts calls based on a set of rules, connecting to a live agent when there is a response at the other end. The campaign may target new customers. The CRM logs all activity for review and analytics. That is one benefit and the side benefit is that burden reduces on agents in the corporate organization. 

Analytics 

Every little bit of activity goes into the CRM through the IVR. How much time is spent on each call and the outcome is something you can find out with ease. A sale takes place somewhere and you have up to the minute information at hand, even the logistic part. Analyze each branch activity, generate graphs and have an eagle’s eye view of all operations including orders, queries, total sales and leads. Analyze employee performance, find gaps and improve performance with your CRM IVR. Know about inventory and stock movements too and use that knowledge to plan production as well as purchases. 

Talk of purchase, production and inventory and the CRM-IVR integration could just as well become an extension of corporate activities in this direction with a little imagination and customization of the IVR. Vendors are drawn into the CRM loop and that makes the task of managers in multinationals just that little bit easier. 

Asterisk Service integrates existing CRMs and powers up your communication to help you accelerate your growth in competitive markets.

Source: https://ivrsystemdesign.wordpress.com/2019/09/30/how-crm-integrated-ivr-works-in-the-corporate-sector/

How Broadcasting Solution Helps You to Easily Reach Out To Your Audience

In these days of intense competition a business needs all the tools it can get to reach out to wider audiences in a shorter time. The voice and SMS broadcast software is one such tool you can leverage to take your business to the next level. With this tool in your arsenal you can maintain loyalty of existing customers and encourage them to buy more. You can reach out to more new targets and get them into your fold. Here is how you can use the broadcasting solution to reach out to more people in a short time and increase business.

Target new customers

Growth means acquisition of new customers from around the world. The voice broadcasting solution is a perfect tool to get your voice message across to hundreds of thousands of potential customers. All you do is to acquire a list of numbers, segregate them according to region and language. Then you can use text to speech to convert text to voice in the language of choice. The voice broadcasting software automatically dials number concurrently and, on being connected, leaves a voice message. Taking this a step further one can include IVR options, offering the recipient a chance to respond immediately by pressing a certain numeral on their keypad. The response goes to your CRM and if a positive interest is shown your sales executive swings into action to convert the lead.

Follow it up with SMS message

Targets may or may not listen to the voice message so you can follow it up with a text message sent using SMS broadcast software component of the broadcasting solution. It is an easy matter to include a number to call in the text message. People do read text messages and it is likely many will respond. How do they benefit? Word the message cleverly enough with time limited offers or, if you are conducting a survey, simply offer a reward to complete it.

Timing

Timing is everything in voice broadcast and SMS broadcast. You can have a good idea of which time is the best to send out your message and dial it into the SMS and voice broadcasting software. The software automatically initiates text or voice broadcast at the right time when targets are more likely to respond. Your chances of conversions improve when you have a response.

Create promotions, surveys and informative content

A target would be turned off with constant bombardment exhorting him to buy. Instead, you could create promotions and special time limited deals that are likely to be viewed favorably. Launch a survey to know what target customers and existing customers think. Invite them to contribute opinions that would help you improve and you gain their appreciation. Keeping in touch is the key so you can simply keep sending out broadcasts about new developments. Personalize messages if you can for better impact.

Broadcasting solution is a tool and how you use its various features is what determines your success rate. Get the tool first and keep on using it all the time to reach out to your audience with minimum effort and cost and maximum returns.

Source:https://voipconferencingsolutions.wordpress.com/2019/07/22/how-broadcasting-solution-helps-you-to-easily-reach-out-to-your-audience/

Why Asterisk CRM Integrated IVR Solution is Best For Business

The brief answer to this is customer experience is in focus in business communications. CRM integrated IVR solution is miles ahead of the vanilla IVR solution as you will see and experience if you put one in place from an expert in CRM-IVR integrations.

The plain IVR

Businesses gleefully put in place a plain IVR with a standardized tree-branch structure as a measure of providing self-service and freeing their executives from the burden of handling routine tasks. What happens in this case is that a caller enters a maze of prompts and button pushes. A caller can end up getting nowhere. In the process rage and frustration mount to the point that he just leaves and fires off an email. Decidedly that makes for a very unhappy customer who probably is thinking of switching over to another company. The enterprise, on the other hand is blissfully unaware that it has just lost a customer because of its stupid IVR. Existing customers leave. New prospects simply flit off elsewhere. If only the enterprise had opted for CRM integrated IVR solution !

CRM integrated IVR solution

CRM-IVR is a marriage made in communications heaven. The scenario is quite different. An existing customer calls. The CRM kicks in and identifies his number and fetches his data. The IVR responds in a personalized manner and jumps straight to the point. A considerate IVR may even ask the caller if they wish to talk with a human agent. The caller may not jump with joy but you have a decidedly happy one who appreciates this type of contact facility. The rest, as they say, is easy. The caller’s task is completed in record time and, possibly, the organization has won an order or delivered happiness to an existing customer.

CRM does more than just fetch data. It also grabs data. Suppose a new lead walks into the IVR. His caller ID/number is fed to the CRM and thus starts the customer journey. The smart CRM-IVR may even identify that this is a new number and may decide that a human touch is preferable than the maze of button pushes and prompts an agent to jump right in.

Sales and marketing people need not operate in isolation. They can grab data from the CRM and initiate a call that could possibly lead to a buy. Support staff gets updates from the CRM to follow up on message left by an existing customer. You can take this opportunity to cross sell or upsell or get a brief survey done.

The busy and helpful CRM will also give reports from time to time so that the business knows just how matters stand and what they can do to improve customer experience.

Asterisk CRM-IVR integration takes it to a higher level

Asterisk Service CRM-IVR includes IVR scripts, voice XML support, ASR-IVR combinations, API and SOAP integrations in addition to an infusion of AI with ML. Your IVR-CRM actually becomes smarter as it learns and drives better services.

Source: https://ivrsystemdesign.wordpress.com/2019/07/15/why-asterisk-crm-integrated-ivr-solution-is-best-for-business/

Audio and Video Conferencing Solution Development Services Take Communications to Greater Heights

4G is fast enough and 5G is around the corner and this means conferencing, whether using audio or video or booth, is becoming better with faster soft codec based solutions. Carrying on with legacy hardware or older software integrated solutions is no longer viable or even worthwhile given the way people choose to communicate. Enterprises where collaboration and conferencing are routine will find custom development better suited to their needs.

Multiplicity of codecs and devices

It is all very well to say that conferencing is easy since one can use software based audio conferencing solution or video conferencing solution on mobiles and desktops. However, the multiplicity of codecs, varying bandwidths in various regions and devices can lead to conflicts. This means bottlenecks, jitters, inability to connect and other issues that this mix can give rise to when using a standard OTT solution. Custom audio-video conferencing solution development is the way to go, especially for enterprise level collaboration and conferencing purposes.  Codecs such as H.200, H.300, G.700, G.722.1, H.40, HD video, 720p, NTSC/PAL, H.323 and protocols for IP Ports and SIP devices, NAT/Firewall traversal H.460 and H.239 and similar data sharing codecs are seamlessly integrated. Inclusion of WebRTC further adds to this mix of codecs taken care of by scalable video coding technologies. When done expertly, this diversity of devices or use of different codecs and bandwidth has little or no influence on quality of video and audio conferencing. Video streams run smoothly even in HD and audio clarity is crystal clear.

Purposed to suit end use cases

Audio conferencing and video conferencing have progressed from a simple one to many or many to many types to more sophisticated solutions. It is common to share documents and make presentations during a conferencing session. One can schedule a one to many conference and then, within that conference, participants can chat among themselves or with the main lead. One may invite an outsider to join in and participate at short notice. Participants may use desktops or a mobile phone. Conferencing adapts to education, manufacturing, marketing and even healthcare. A generalized AV conferencing may serve the purpose if it is full-featured but, in this case, some features may not be needed leading to a burden on resources. A standard package may lack features that may be indispensable and therefore be only partly helpful. Since conferencing is so crucial for business and other use case scenarios, it is best customized with the help of AV conferencing solution providers.

Scalable, Robust and simple to use

The focus, when using conferencing, is to accomplish a task and not to fiddle with controls. It is always a good thing to choose customized audio and video conferencing solutions that are scalable, robust, intuitively easy to use and with plenty of features. These could be reporting, recording, accessibility from anywhere on any device and security controls to ensure confidentiality. Choose the right solution provider and you have a system that becomes an efficient and productive business tool.

Source: https://voipconferencingsolutions.wordpress.com/2019/04/08/audio-and-video-conferencing-solution-development-services-take-communications-to-greater-heights/

Asterisk Development Trends for 2019

Asterisk is one of the most widely used open source platforms for a host of communication solutions, especially IP PBX. It is flexible and lends itself easily to adaptation.  The asterisk platform is evolving and includes more functionalities with better API integrations that are pointing to improved communications in this year and the next. Several announcements are due to be made at the Asterisk World Conference 2019 on January 29.

Better interoperability

Systems are opening up. While Asterisk development natively supports H.323, developers prefer IETC SIP and IAX. Further, connection with proprietary CISCO and other systems was a hassle. Interoperability between proprietary platforms and open source asterisk solutions should become easier in the time to come.

PSTN is on the way out and Asterisk flexibility gives users what they want

With the growth of VoIP and spread of IP PBX that makes international calling cheaper besides a host of other features like IVR and WebRTC integration, PSTN usage is reducing but not altogether put aside since Asterisk bridges traditional PBX with IPPBX. This is further boosted by asterisk application development that customizes offerings to suit businesses that need only a few features instead of a portmanteau package. This reduces costs, speeds up operation and lessens burden on infrastructure too.

Multiple benefits in unified communications

WebRTC is here, plugged into Asterisk since it now permits porting and, at the same time, smart IVRs included in the IP PBX or unified communication chain bring in multiple benefits to business users. No one would have imagined that the IP PBX would have video chat and conference facility. This is likely to become commonplace, just as commonplace as mobility.

Mobility

IP PBX moves beyond office confines to a mobile and portable world. Many enterprises routinely employ remote workers and they may also have branch offices and executives on the move. Use on mobile devices becomes commonplaces with access to centralized CRM and other features of the Asterisk IP PBX. This mobility, coupled with WebRTC, permits smoother interaction not only between employees but also with vendors and customers.

Cloud

Whether it is IVR, conferencing or PBX, businesses are likely to incline towards hosted solutions rather than opt for in-premise solutions. The benefits are obvious and switching is seamless.

Enterprises will find that custom asterisk development with an infusion of AI is the best way forward to put in place systems that perform in step with current and future requirements.

Source: https://ivrsystemdesign.wordpress.com/2019/04/01/asterisk-development-trends-for-2019/

How to Choose the Best IVR System for Hotels & Resorts

Choosing IVR for hotels is much the same like buying a product. You look at the specs, performance and reviews before zeroing in on a vendor of IVR solution. Then again you have the analogy of the way nobility used to buy Rolls in the days gone by. They would get the chassis and have custom coachwork. You could say that choosing hotel IVR is almost similar. The underlying open source framework is the same. Little touches of customization and implementation distinguish the IVR’s performance. It is necessary given the way hotels and resorts operate.

Double sided IVR

There are two sides to operations of the hospitality industry. One is external relating to inquiries and bookings. The other is internal related to guests in residence and internal actions like a guest setting a wake up alarm, ordering food or a taxi using the hotel IVR system. The two need to operate in separate channels but unified in a CRM at the backend.

Visual IVR

The way visual IVR is gaining in popularity is an indicator of just how much better it is compared to the audio prompt based IVR. Whereas a caller would have to listen to the audio prompts in sequence and thus waste time while frustration mounts, the visual IVR solution presents the entire menu at a glance on the caller’s smartphone screen. He can directly tap the service he wants.  If the customer wishes to speak with a human agent, all he has to do is tap instead of following a labyrinth of myriad key presses. Think just how delighted the customer would be with this type of self service.  

Smartness

Let us admit it. IVRs are pretty dumb. That need not be the case for the hotel IVR system you choose. Find the right vendor that offers AI embedded IVRs that can sense mood of caller, recognize language and even offer natural language translation as well as text to speech and speech to text and you will love to use the IVR as will customers. The hotel industry needs to address customers calling from any part of the world in any language. An IVR that recognizes language, or at the very least recognizes the country from the country code prefix can greet callers in the language of that country. Customer experience matters and the day is not far off when, instead of just a series of responses, your caller will be talking with a near humanoid IVR. For the present, however, you may have to make do with bots.

Periscope to the future

If AI will make inroads into IVR to improve it then there will also be AR and VR down the road. A customer calls and wishes to know about directions or about the room and amenities. The IVR gives him a walkthrough, or places him on a map. While that is still to come, it is comforting to know that IVR systems available today can give him details of the room, tariffs and driving directions.

The vendor is just as important as the IVR solution you choose because of emerging technologies to be implemented in the time to come. Constant support, evolution of the IVR and possibly hosted service should count when you choose IVR.

Source: https://www.asteriskservice.com/how-to-choose-the-best-ivr-system-for-hotels-resorts

IVR Development Trends in 2019 | Asteriskservice

The term Interactive Voice Response leads one to believe that there is a high degree of interaction. So far, callers have to listen to pre-recorded messages and then their interaction is limited to just key presses. It is time wasting and, in many instances, does not serve the caller’s purpose due to limited menu options. Happily, trends for 2019 indicate that IVR could change for the better.

Artificial Intelligence in IVR

• Artificial intelligence integration in IVR development leads the transformation. Instead of a rigid hierarchy of trees and branches, we have flexible and more human-like options that callers will like.
• AI and language capabilities lead to better interaction since the system can identify caller’s language and switch to the same language. If the call must lead to a live agent, then it goes to one with that language capability. Natural language processing feature could speed up the process from the customer perspective and take him straight to the resolution point instead of labyrinthine key presses that can be so frustrating.
• IVRs could evolve to a point where callers interact with intelligent chatbots. The experience is nearly similar to talking with a live agent.

Asterisk Service has an edge in intelligent IVR deployments since its parent company is engaged in Artificial Intelligence and Asterisk IVR solutions are AI infused.

Visual IVR

No, visual IVR in an IVR solution yet does not mean you can interact with a live person. Instead, it is a system of displaying menus on the screen, possibly a touchscreen smartphone. The screen will display the entire tree and sub-menu structure making it easy for a caller to jump straight to the option of his choice. This can be particularly helpful in payment IVR where he has to tap on the payment mode and jump straight to payment using that mode.

The Visual IVR can also have spin-offs such as skill based routing and exchange of documents. The visual IVR alone should help convert more callers to take the route and resolve whatever issues they have without human intervention. Visual IVR also opens up possibilities of tutorials, access to help pages and videos.

Call backs

The most frustrating thing about IVRs is that companies usually play a promotional message before the menu is presented which is the start of innumerable key presses. Ultimately, when they choose to speak to a human agent he is on another call. IVR implementations could see that option of call back presented right at the start. Caller can do something else until the agent calls back.

Users can adapt IVRs

The dynamic IVR should become more popular since it lets businesses structure and restructure their menu and sub-menu systems according to feedbacks from users.

Hopefully, in the years to come, IVRs should get to a point where callers actually love the facility and Asterisk Service leads with its AI powered intuitive IVRs.

Source: https://ivrsystemdesign.wordpress.com/2019/01/28/ivr-development-trends-in-2019-asteriskservice/

6 Tips for Creating a User-Friendly IVR System

That IVRs are beneficial for business enterprises is beyond doubt. However, its implementation could lead to caller frustration and customer churn. Enterprise clients may blame the IVR developer but it takes two to tango. Better understanding will help developers come up with a user-friendly and functional IVR that delivers delight instead of rage.

1. Shortcut to human agent

The IVR system can look like a wall to some customers who simply do not like the lengthy process of key presses. One way to keep them happy is to provide an option for them to be able to speak to a human representative in the first menu itself. Callers are more likely to use IVRs if they know they can get through to a person on the first attempt instead of being stonewalled with set responses.

IVRs are put in place to reduce load on human agents and because they are available for customers 24x7. This also means when you offer a human agent contact option, the IVR should have some findme/follow me feature ported to mobile so that the caller does get to talk to a person about his problem.

2. Identify caller and guess purpose

Smart delivers go beyond the mechanics of IVR solution to incorporating CRM into the ecosystem and endowing it with some Artificial Intelligence. AI certainly helps:

• The caller can be identified by name by referring his number in the database
• His purpose can be identified based on his past interactions with the company
• Sense his mood and respond appropriately or transfer call to human agent.

3. Prompt response

IVRs work on a series of prompts and responses. Say, a caller has followed a prompt. It is for the IVR system to initiate the right response as fast as possible instead of putting the caller on interminable hold.

4. The fewer the options, the better

It is tempting to design a menu that has anywhere from 1 to 9 options but by the time the system enunciates these options the caller has forgotten which number relates to which option. The best way is to include four options in a tree and branch structure. Callers remember. It takes less time.

5. The more important ones first

Which caller will like to wait until option 9 is stated, which is what he needs. If he is presented that one first, he will be a happy caller. Is this possible? Can the IVR identify number and link to database to decide on a set of menus to present the caller based on history and transactions? It should not be difficult if you have the right IVR solution provider.

6. Be ready to modify and refine

Do not be complacent that once an IVR system is in place there is nothing more to do. In fact, it is a starting point. The IVR should have some sort of data collection and analytics features so that user behavior can be monitored and taken as inputs to tailor the solution to fit caller expectations.

Source: https://ivrsystemdesign.wordpress.com/2018/12/28/6-tips-for-creating-a-user-friendly-ivr-system/