voice response systems
Posted by MelissaLoudon on Sep 22, 2010
Planning and Implementing a Mobile Interactive Voice System data sheet 11789 Views
Abstract:
In this article, we look at tools and systems for Interactive Voice Response (IVR). IVR allows callers to navigate an automated menu by pressing keys on their phone keypad, reaching either an extension ('press 1 for sales, press 2 for support'), a further menu, or audio content. Such content might be pre-recorded - for example, a weather report - or retrieved from a database and read out by an automated voice, which most mobile users will have encountered when calling in to request an airtime balance or bill amount. IVR systems can also be configured to allow people to record their own content.
Long neglected in favor of SMS, mobile apps and the mobile web, voice is enjoying a resurgence in mobile tech for social change projects. There are good reasons for this:
- Voice is universally available on even the most basic handsets
- Voice has much greater capacity for information exchange (although not for automated translation) than either SMS or USSD
- Voice systems don’t require literacy
- Voice is familiar, and often a trusted channel for communicating confidential information.
- Voice systems can quite easily be developed in multiple languages, or in local languages not supported on all handsets.
In this article, we look at tools and systems for Interactive Voice Response (IVR). IVR allows callers to navigate an automated menu by pressing keys on their phone keypad, reaching either an extension ('press 1 for sales, press 2 for support'), a further menu, or audio content. Such content might be pre-recorded - for example, a weather report - or retrieved from a database and read out by an automated voice, which most mobile users will have encountered when calling in to request an airtime balance or bill amount. IVR systems can also be configured to allow people to record their own content.
