Can Visual IVRs Shift Popular Opinion in Speech Tech’s Favor?
The consensus among experts is that the kind of enterprise you are—and the scale of your operation—will influence the type of visual IVR you should invest in. Let’s take a look at a few vendors and some of their use cases to help suggest what is possible and best for whom.
ChoiceView From Radish Systems
Radish Systems has a pedigree with two incarnations. The first, founded in 1990, developed a modem protocol to allow information to be transmitted during a standard phone call. Four years later, the technology was licensed to companies such as Microsoft, Intel, and Rockwell Industries. Later IVR products by the original Radish (Radish Communication Systems or RCS for short) were used by 1-800-Flowers, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Citibank, Wells Fargo, and others. By 1996, the original Radish had become successful enough that it was purchased by a public company that incorporated its protocols and technology into the main product line.
The new Radish, established in 2009, was incorporated by the original RCS founders, Richard Davis and Theresa Szczurek, with the express purpose of developing ChoiceView, their visual IVR suite of solutions meant to take the old IVR channels into the modern, IP- and mobile-centric customer service climate of today.
ChoiceView’s visual IVR features include a visual directory, the ability to transfer from a call to a Web site, and—a crucial selling point—the inclusion of visual surveys. With the visual directory callers can see and hear a listing of departments or search for an employee via keyboard entry. When the party is located, the call is transferred, and the “voice with visuals” live collaboration session continues.
Radish is reporting that “a large technology firm” is seeing meaningful gains using its visual IVR. Twenty-five percent of calls that had historically been going to live agents are now resolved in the IVR. And the “voice with visuals” collaboration tool—whereby customers transferred to live agents may continue to interact with live visuals—was reported in 25 percent of calls that included live agents. These calls resulted in reduced call times, shrinking the average live agent conversation from 40 to 15 minutes. By the same token, ChoiceView is reported to cut down average call handling time by 10 to 15 percent, and increase revenue by the same margin for transactions involving up- or cross-selling.
When asked how prospective clients could best ensure the success of a visual IVR solution, CEO Theresa Szczurek emphasized commitment, support, and promotion.
“It’s very important to have people in both the buying and the vending organization that are willing to act as champions for the new technology. They ensure that three kinds of exchange take place—product, information, and reward,” she says. “On the product front, it’s important to make prototypes available. Clients should choose one application for the visual IVR where there’s pain. Making sure to have a schedule for a prototype phase like this is the best way to identify what will keep end users and employees alike from embracing the new functionality.
“It also has the added benefit of revealing enhancements that can be pursued in order to further fuel successful deployment, such as the adoption of two-way visual exchange, which we developed while working with a client in the medical field. And it’s important from an information perspective to make sure that there is plenty of promotion of the new functionality and that there are channels in the traditional system that can lead end users to the visual IVR.”
To that end, as of early April, Radish Systems would be partnering with IVR Technology Group to produce solutions that specifically add visual capabilities to remote medical patient engagement spaces. Part of this new venture will allow medical professionals and patients to trade health information securely, in the form of surveys, assessments, X-rays, photos, graphics, prescriptions, and the like, all while maintaining audio contact with an automated IVR or call center nurse.
“Finally,” she says, “there’s reward, and that’s directly connected to the problem the client is addressing. It’s so important for clients choosing a visual IVR to make sure that it’s really getting rid of a specific pain—that it reduces frustration, confusion, or barriers to information for the end users.”
When asked specifically how ChoiceView integrated with existing, traditional IVRs, Richard Davis, the chief technology officer, stresses that the traditional IVR remains in control of the session. “Interactions between the old IVR and ChoiceView are just REST API calls,” he says.