Qwest Partners with Angel.com to Provide Cloud-Based IVR Services

Today, voice and data networking services provider Qwest Communications added Qwest iQ On Demand IVR to its contact center suite.

The product will be powered by Angel.com's White Label Service, a cloud-based service that can be customized for businesses of various sizes. Because it is offered as software-as-a-service, this application will allow users to create and manage automated contact services, and could potentially reduce business costs for new and continuing application development while allowing users access to business' existing data.

Angel.com also offers its Customer First service, which Don Keane, vice president of marketing at Angel.com, says is "about developing IVRs that are smart and IVRs that know who customers are when they call, have a good idea why they are calling, and develop customized menus."

"At the end of the day, [this application] is the next-generation IVR offering that has a higher customer satisfaction score than what's currently deployed in market. We are very excited to work with [Qwest] to deploy their solution," Keane continues.

Keane adds that deploying this solution can take days instead of months, and while costs vary for each individual business, the service starts at 15 cents a minute.

In addition, the IVR is compatible with sales and CRM services so it can capture data that could help a CRM department improve customer service.

Qwest has currently deployed 700 customer systems and handles approximately 5 million calls a month. The service also works in real time and creates libraries of applications that can be turned on or off as business needs change. Furthermore, the service adapts to sudden call center issues. For example, if a call center is rendered inoperable for some reason, calls can be automatically rerouted. "Our system allows you to tune on the fly," Keane points out, "Typically on-premises systems only allow you to tune your system once or twice a year."

Also, since infrastructure costs are treated as variable operating expenses, a business can pay per use. The IQ OnDemand IVR also works without an internal IT infrastructure, security, or maintenance. "Let's face it, people dislike poorly designed IVR applications. With Qwest iQ OnDemand IVR, businesses can change that experience without investing tens of thousands of dollars and months of development time," Eric Bozich, Qwest's vice president of product management, said in a statement.