Making the decision to grow your business and hire an IVR company to field calls can be an intimidating task, especially for a small business owner. Luckily, we have compiled a list of 10 different solutions you can use for your business to field customer questions and solve problems without the use of a live representative.
In certain situations and depending on which system you use, the IVR and be configured to route to a representative once a certain response has been received. By implementing and IVR correctly, you can cut down on misrouted calls and instead focus back on serving your customers with exceptional service.
1: CenturyLink IVR Solutions
CenturyLink offers their own IVR solution for small businesses that allow calls to be routed through their servers and then sent through the system to determine the best person to be reached based on the responses, if any. With an uptime goal of 99.99%, you don’t have to worry about important calls not going through due to system issues. If in the event that there is a rare service outage, CenturyLink will provide you with a service credit or discount on your next bill.
Notable Features:
- Call recording abilities
- Customizable call reports viewable online, allowing you to see the data you need easily and efficiently
- Supports multiple languages and disabilities, includes speech recognition
- Integrates seamlessly with other CRM softwares
Visit the website for more information, or, download the PDF brochure here.
2: Cisco Unified IP Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
Ciscos offers multiple solutions for business large and small to meet their inbound and outbound call needs. The benefit of using Cisco is that is it easily scalable; they can manage companies large and small with their could hosted software. This does come at a cost – the Cisco software is usually top of the line and can sometimes be more expensive depending on your business needs compared to the other options in this article. Depending on the size of your business and IVR needs, you may want to look for a cheaper alternative.
Notable Features:
- Enhanced call control, complete platform management, speech integration and reporting capabilities
- Database integration and support
- High availability and ease of access for system administrators and managers
Visit the website or download the information sheet here.
3: Genesys
Genesis is an industry leader in small business IVR solutions. With a demo and free trial available, you can test the software capabilities before you decide to buy, making it an excellent choice for those on a budget or looking to shop around before settling with a platform to use. Their platform is completely cloud based.
Notable features:
- Trusted by notable companies such as RedHat and Procter and Gamble, to name a few.
- Genesys offers training programs for beginners and experienced users to sharpen their call center skills and manage the various applications included in the purchase
- Offers support to transform your call center to a more modern environment, TDM to SIP infrastructure refresh as well. Enables customers to be supported easier and faster
Visit the Genesys website for more information.
4: inContact
One of the great benefits of inContact is the ability for your customers to not only choose if they want to speak to a live person or virtual support assistance, but also the ability to route the call directly to the right department or person through the use of the IVR system options. Another great feature is salesforce integration (Read: Autodialers and Call Center Software with SalesForce integration).
Notable Features:
- 99.99% Uptime Agreement
- Advanced reporting and analytic features
- Enables customers to self-serve themselves and perform bill pay, account inquires, and more
Visit their sales page or main website.
5: Five9
Five9 hosts all services on the cloud, no hardware needed. Their IVR system is drag and drop, easy for all users to create and make changes too. In addition, they also offer a free trial period and demo for prospective customers. Five9 host a variety of other services as well, so depending on your business you may end up going with them for more than just IVR.
Notable Features:
- Automation abilities free up more agents and make it so that easy actions can be performed directly by the customer, no support rep needed
- Drag and drop self-service flow chart takes little time to learn
- Automatic speech recognition software enabled on all accounts
Visit the Five9 predictive dialer company page, or visit the IVR page on Five9’s website.
6: PlumVoice
PlumVoice’s cloud hosted IVR service has security in mind, with a PCI Level 1 compliant operation that keeps your customer’s data secure. They also advertise a 100% uptime guarantee – something that can be of vital importance for IVR systems of doctors offices or other life-threatening situation where you can’t afford for the system to be down, at all. Supports all levels of business, from 100 to 1 million calls per day, or more.
Notable Features:
- PCI Level 1 Compliant Facility and Datacenter
- Multiple fallbacks in place to ensure that your system is never down
- Auto-update for all software so you are never at risk of having out of date systems
7: Smart Action
Smart Action takes artificial intelligence and adds it to your IVR system. With their cost-effective software you can save up to 70-80% of the funds you would normally spend on a software setup for cloud hosted IVR, all with a minimum setup and maintenance fee. Their AI software has been refined for over 13 years, making them one of the first companies in the call center space to take advantage of AI in their products.
Notable Features:
- AI response system with huge vocabulary and array of knowledge
- Conversation flow memory, with short and long term settings to remember repeat callers or prior customers
- Constantly updated to bring you the latest in artificial intelligence IVR systems
Read more about Smart Action on their official website.
The companies listed above have all shown that they have what it takes to provide you with top notch service and software for your callers. Wether you are a small mom and pop or a huge nationwide chain – there are many options available for you to choose when it comes to interactive voice solutions. Do you have an IVR company that we should know about? Be sure to leave a comment below or drop us a line on the “Contact Us” page.
Read also: Types of Call Centers: Inbound and Outbound