Donna Fluss is the founder and President of DMG Consulting LLC, a firm specializing in customer-focused business strategy, operations and technology services for Global 2000 and emerging companies. Ms. Fluss is a recognized thought leader and innovator in CRM, contact center and real-time analytics. For over 25 years, she has helped end users build world-class differentiated contact centers.

Voice Self-Service to the Rescue

The interactive voice response (IVR) market has come back to life, driven by the need to automate inquiries that do not require the assistance of live agents. Both for-profit and non-profit organizations appreciate the value of providing live assistance when necessary and possible, but when live agents are not practical or cost effective, a well-designed voice self-service application may be the next best option.

Few technology sectors regain their momentum, but the IVR market has. This sector is growing on the strength of new applications and product innovation from the highly competitive hosted/managed service providers.

IVRs are Mission-Critical

Interactive voice response systems have been considered mission-critical for contact centers ever since they were introduced in the 1980s. IVRs give callers the ability to help themselves. During the last few years, contact center managers have been under tremendous pressure to reduce their operating expenses, and the recession has only heightened this challenge. When used properly, IVRs can automate anywhere from 20% to 95% of incoming calls, dramatically reducing operating expenses while providing an outstanding or at least satisfactory customer experience.

The Emergence of Outbound IVR

While contact center managers have re-embraced IVRs, user interest has extended beyond the traditional market. Outbound IVR is altering market dynamics, changing the way that many types of organizations – enterprises, government, municipalities, higher-education, non-profits, etc. – interact with their customers/constituents. The evolution will continue as IVR capabilities are expanded to handle many of the newer channels, such as short message system (SMS), video, and much more.

Recession Speeds Up Adoption of Hosted/Managed Service IVR

The ongoing recession has sped up the pace of adoption and has infused life into the hosted/managed service IVR market. Many organizations in a variety of verticals have previously bypassed hosted/managed service IVR offerings, whether because of security concerns or a desire to control their own destinies and technology platforms. Today, many of these organizations are not only considering these offerings, but making investments. And somewhat to their surprise, most are very pleased with the results.

Recession Speeds Up Adoption of Hosted/Managed Service IVR

The primary factors driving contact center and technology managers to invest in hosted /managed service IVRs are:

1. No need for capital investments
2. Small or non-existent start-up costs
3. Limited need for internal technical resources
4. Highly scalable (up and down)
5. Ease of handling multi-site and remote agent deployments
6. Ongoing investment protection

Many companies with old IVR solutions installed prior to Y2K are finding hosted/managed service IVR offerings highly appealing. They often have traditional, on-premise IVRs that are not Internet Protocol (IP)/Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based, do not have Voice XML (VXML) development environments, and are becoming too expensive to maintain.

Good News for Prospects

Because of increased competition in the hosted/managed service IVR market, vendors large and small are willing to negotiate most aspects of the relationship, including price and start-up costs. There are many strong and viable hosted/managed service offerings, but they are not all the same. To make sure that their full range of needs will be met, prospects need to carefully assess many factors, including: technology, platform, scalability, integration capability, contingency/back-up capabilities, development environment and resources, reporting and analytics, functional capabilities, management tools, ongoing service and maintenance, optimization capabilities, customer references, vendor responsiveness, financial strength and planned research and development (R&D) investments of the vendors they are considering. Price is important, but should not be the primary deciding factor.

To learn more about the offerings in the hosted/managed service IVR market, see DMG’s 2009 Hosted/Managed Service IVR Market Report.

2009 Hosted/Managed Service IVR Market Report

After years of relative quiet, the IVR market is attracting a lot of attention and investment dollars. Sales of IVR are now growing rapidly based on the strength of new applications and product innovation from the highly competitive hosted/managed service providers. The recession has sped up the pace of adoption and infused life into the hosted/managed service IVR market. Organizations of all types that previously bypassed hosted/managed service IVR offerings are not only considering these offerings, but making commitments.       Read More

Contact Center QA Guide: Building a World-Class Quality Assurance Program

2008-2009 Quality Management/Liability Recording Product and Market Report Executive Summary

Catch Us Live!

Online Webinar
Building a Multi-Channel Contact Center in the Era of Social Networking

Moderated by: Donna Fluss, President of DMG Consulting
When: Online @ 2:00pm Eastern, Thursday, August 13, 2009
Participating Companies: InVision Software, Inc.

The explosive growth of social networking is forcing enterprises to change how they interact with their customers, prospects, partners and investors. This webinar will address how to build a multi-channel contact center in the era of social networking. Learn More

Question:

What are some of the psychological, biological and/or medical challenges call center agents working the night shift face, and how can we be better prepared to handle these challenges?

Answer:

One of the biggest challenges for agents, as well as any night shift personnel, is the disruption of their normal sleep cycle. The human body receives biological signals from the amount of light in the environment to regulate and control waking/sleeping cycles. Employees whose schedule requires them to sleep during the day are not receiving these signals from the light in the environment. This can result in difficulty in falling asleep and/or getting the proper amount of deep sleep the body requires. Switching from a night schedule to a day schedule on days off or during rotating work shifts can exacerbate these issues and create a jet-lag effect. Another consideration is the constraint that working a night shift imposes on social interaction and activities with family and friends.

Call center agents have reported that it was critical for them to set up a routine.

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