Hosted IVR

October 11, 2012

Datatel Offers IVR Payments in the Cloud for Government Agencies

By Frank Griffin
TMCnet Contributing Writer

Municipalities across the country spend large amounts of resources collecting fees from citizens for services they provide. They provide everything from trash collection to electricity to a large customer base. Many of the legacy systems used by government agencies are antiquated and inefficient when it comes to collecting payments, sometimes resulting in irregularities which end up in disputes with customers. Datatel’s IVR (Interactive Voice Response) in the cloud provides solutions with the flexibility to integrate with legacy systems and move them on to newer technology.

The company’s Cloud IVR (telephone) Payment solution provides public and private organizations an easy to deploy method to process Credit Card and ACH (Automated Clearing House) payments over the phone 24/7. Connectivity to the biggest credit card processors gives customers different options so they can keep using their existing merchant accounts. The option of using ACH payments is a cheaper alternative with transaction fees that are lower than credit cards.

The most recent application for this technology was deployed in the City of Grand Rapid Michigan. The payment system was designed to implement the “Pay As Your Throw” Smart Cart Refuse Program. The program gives consumers different payment options depending on the amount of trash they throw away. The trash collectors can read the RFID tags on the trash receptacles and determine if the account is paid up as well as making sure it belongs to the right address.

“We are helping local and regional government agencies to accelerate deployment of telephone payment projects which they have already planned for and at a lower cost. We are very aware that it takes time for government to introduce new technologies therefore we have adapted our solutions to work with legacy systems as well as more current systems, this way everyone can benefit without having to forklift systems that are currently in place,” said Barnard Crespi Co-CEO of Datatel.

IVR’s automate the interaction with telephone callers to help with the cost of processing payment, common sales, collections, requests and customer service or support calls. The technology uses pre-recorded voice prompts with menus designed for each organization. The user makes selection based on the menu with touch-tone phone keypad or in the case of newer IVR systems using your own voice. It can be used to get information in order to make payments, get overdue bills, show time in movie theaters and many other applications.

The Datatel in the cloud solution can be designed to meet the specific requirement of each industry. The platform provides:

• More than 40 processors and acquirers
• Real-time reporting of calls
• Standard and customized solutions
• Professional voice talent customized to the client
• Multiple languages

The system can be deployed within days with the CryptoIVR Technology which provides encrypted interactive voice response technology.

Edited by Brooke Neuman