Remember the days when the sole purpose of an IVR was to “sort” callers into various streams? It was all about simply creating divisions of callers with different topics for call center agents who “specialize” in their issue. That’s so 90’s. IVR has progressed far past that – and so should you.
The idea that the purpose of an IVR is just to “sort” callers to be better handled by specific agents is an old, tired, outdated one. Nothing says “90’” better than a phone system which drones on: “For this, press that…..for this other thing, press that…” It lacks imagination, it’s predictable, and it’s not using the IVR to its best ability. With a skillfully crafted phone tree, you can carry your brand message to your callers. You can build relationships, you can reinforce customer choice, and you can actually create a strong identity through your IVR. From her unique vantage point as a professional telephone voice, Allison Smith – heard on IVRs worldwide for enterprise phone systems, IVRs for Fortune 500 companies, and in both the proprietary and Open Source world – will shed some insight on where IVRs were – and where they are headed. It’s a more vibrant, personality-filled IVR than was ever conceived of in the 90’s – and it’s about time.
Allison Smith is a veteran Professional Telephone Voice, despite being only in her early twenties. Heard on platforms for Cisco, Mitel, ShoreTel, Bell Canada, Cincinnati Bell, Hawaiian Telcom, Verizon, Vonage and many others, she is probably best known for her work as the Voice of the Asterisk Open Source PBX and Switchvox, and FreeSWITCH. Private clients inlude PetSmart, 3M, NASA, Toyota, Royal Caribbean, State Farm Insurance. She hates talking on the phone.
