Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is a technology that assists users and customers over the phone.
It functions using pre-recorded and automated messages, allowing customer service calls to be handled without the presence of a human professional.
Typically, when a customer interacts with an IVR system, they must use their smartphone keypad to navigate the technology and find a solution to their query.
IVR systems have been around for many years, serving as a relatively old technology used to handle customer calls. However, with the rise of Artificial Intelligence, this technology has begun to undergo changes that make it a much more useful and sophisticated tool. That's what we want to discuss in this article.
Artificial Intelligence has enabled IVR systems to use more natural, fluid language that adapts to customer requests. This evolution of IVR systems has led to the emergence of a new customer service support called Voicebots.
But to understand this latest evolution, it's important to have a thorough understanding of IVR systems, how they function, and their role in customer service.
I'm sure you've found yourself in the following situation or something very similar at least once: you call a company's customer service phone number to resolve an issue with a shipment. On the other end, you're greeted by a non-human automated voice that welcomes you and instructs you to press certain numbers based on the reason for your call, then proceeds to tell you which number corresponds to each cause. Once you identify the number that corresponds to the reason for your call, you select it, and the automated voice provides you with a solution or connects you with an agent.
Sound familiar? Well, this is a clear example of what an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) service is. Although, many times, it's also possible to indicate what you want by voice instead of using the keypad.
In any case, it's a very useful way to free up and facilitate the work of customer service professionals.
As a general rule, companies make interactive voice responses available to customers for various purposes:
Hospitals and healthcare centers, academic institutions, companies with customer service departments, and banks are the sectors that historically have used this type of technology the most.
The main difference between interactive voice response and voicebot is that one is developed with Artificial Intelligence and the other is not.
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is truly useful, as demonstrated over the many years it has been and continues to be used. However, it has its shortcomings:
With the arrival of voicebots, interactive voice responses developed with Artificial Intelligence, many of these problems have been addressed or reduced. In fact, it's the closest thing currently available to speaking with a human.
Voicebots are no longer just machines that welcome you, offer different options, provide an automatic response, and then disconnect. This technology is capable of maintaining a fluid conversation, providing personalized and efficient responses, and even identifying the desires and emotions of the user.
But that's not all. Thanks to their functioning with Artificial Intelligence, they improve with each interaction, being in a continuous learning process that allows each interaction to be better than the last.
We could say that voicebots are like chatbots, but in oral format. And both have demonstrated great efficiency in the multitude of companies that have already implemented them.
For now, both technologies coexist, both voicebot and IVR, and we may encounter one or the other depending on the customer service center we call. However, everything points to voicebots gradually replacing interactive voice response until it eventually disappears.
Artificial Intelligence applied to interactive voice response results in voicebots, technologies that have revolutionized oral customer service for any company in the following ways:
However, there is still much to be done, and voicebots can be further perfected. On one hand, human language is complex, and sometimes this type of technology struggles to interpret certain situations or concepts, creating frustration in users, although less than IVR systems.
On the other hand, security is still a pending issue for voicebots. Despite being guaranteed in many cases, users still don't fully trust this type of technology when it comes to providing their data.