Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology, which is used to automate simple customer interactions, comes with great saving potentials. Instead of hiring staff to handle customer calls on a 24x7 basis, companies can instead opt for a one-time investment in IVR to enjoy significant savings over the long haul.

In an effort to provide such companies with a deeper understanding of the cost-efficiency of IVR technology, Contact Solutions, a provider of cloud-based customer self-service solutions, recently published a handy infographic. This graphical presentation strives to explain how customers can reduce costs and achieve savings by investing in paid Interactive Voice Response applications.

More specifically, the infographic begs the question: “Is Free IVR Really Free?” boasting a slew of supporting statistics comparing free IVR to paid optimized IVR. In a matter of one month where one million calls are handled, 150,000 calls are transferred to live agents when using free IVR, as opposed to only 100,000 when using paid optimized IVR. Additionally, the latter boasts an impressive 90 percent self-service rate, while the former requires 27 more agents.

Because so many more users are transferred over using free IVR, agent costs reach $448,400, while the opposite only $298,933 – over 60 percent of a cut in agent usage.

To check out the infographic in its entirety, see below.

Image via Contact Solutions

Contact Solutions is well-known for its optimized IVR system. In a news statement, the company maintained that its IVR solutions provide a number of benefits over the "free" IVR services currently available on the market.

Recently, Contact Solutions was included on Deloitte's Technology Fast 500, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies in North America. Contact Solutions grew 189 percent from 2007 to 2011.

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