What Is Interactive Voice Response?

Interactive Voice Response is a technology that allows interaction with human voice and its recognition to enable humans to interact with a computer-operated phone system through voice. (Wikipedia)
IVRs work with DTMF tones (touch tones from a telephone), voice recognition technology, and even artificial intelligence to respond to customer queries and route callers.

There are three main types of it:

  • IVR systems with speech recognition built-in. So people can talk directly to the system rather than push buttons.
  • IVR with button-response systems is considered to be an outdated and low-cost solution.
  • Visual IVR uses web applications to "instantly create an app-like experience for users on smartphones during contact center interactions without the need to download any app." The user interacts with a visual interface by touch or clicks commands on his mobile or computer screen. The technology can be used either on a mobile device app or directly over the web. (Wikipedia)

Interactive voice response is a customer-facing piece of business software that can manage incoming calls rather than requiring a team of people to do the same tasks.

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