December 02, 2011
Call Center IVR - The Holiday Traffic Center
The holiday season is upon us and that means longer hours for some, and closed doors for others. For those commuting to work, it can also mean lighter traffic when commuters are taking time off for the holidays. What does this have to do with Interactive Voice Response and call centers? According to Plum Voice – those call centers without an IVR experiences normal traffic, while those with an IVR experience holiday traffic.
This Plum Voice blog explains the concept even further. The writer explained how she normally takes the bus to commute from Boulder to Denver in Colorado. The bus can use the HOV lanes, making travel faster, while it also handles any rush hour traffic. The numerous people on the bus are moved through that traffic at the same speed of individuals in their cars.
When the holiday weeks arrive, the traffic inevitably lightens as fewer commuters are on their way into work. The Plum Voice writer found that when she commuted on her own into Denver over the lighter days, the rush hours traffic was non-existent and she cruised right in to her destination. The same thing can happen with your call center, if you can understand how to make the connection.
In the call center without the IVR, normal traffic occurs. In other words, it usually takes a while to get someone on the phone because they caller has to wait in a call queue. The length of the wait depends upon the number of individuals calling in to the call center at a given time of day. Business hours often resemble rush hour as the call center tries to handle more callers than they have agents.
The call center with the IVR offers an automated call answering, which means no call queues and callers do not have to wait. The IVR offers virtually unlimited lines, so it will take every call it receives the first time. After that, the IVR platform can take care of most calls itself, but will send the caller on to an agent if the customer’s issue or problem cannot be resolved.
IVRs are essentially the holiday traffic days of the call center world. This calling method offers a path that is easier, faster, and significantly less stressful – a whole new reason to love that holiday traffic. In the IVR space, Plum Voice has built a strong reputation for offering both hosted and onsite IVR systems. While IVR in the cloud does offer benefits, onsite deployment can also be beneficial in the right environment.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Juliana Kenny
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