This is a presentation we shared during the CRM Conference in Singapore in Feb 2011. Here we talk about some best practices when planning an IVR Investment, some tips when designing your IVR applications and some solutions we have to help

1. Best Practices for the IVR
Orange Business Services
Haytham SAWALHY
haytham.sawalhy@orange-ftgroup.com
23rd February 2011, Singapore

2. Agenda
1. IVR investment plan
a. set clear goals
b. define ROI analysis
c. measure IVR performance
2. IVR best practices
a. focus : proactive IVR
b. do’s and don’ts
c. tips !
3. benefits of hosted IVR
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3. IVR investment plan
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4. set clear goals for IVR investment
new IVR or upgrade of existing IVR
unmet potential of IVR
• limited strictly to routing logic but, can be valuable for distributed
contact centre environment
maximize cost savings
• self-service tasks cost pennies compared to dollars with agent-assisted
tasks
provide great customer experience
• well-designed IVR offers fast access to the right information when
completing regular transactions and spend less time on hold
differentiate with a unique, positive brand experience
• combined with a positive experience in other interaction channels with
the product or service, can add up to brand preference in the
customer’s mind
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5. define ROI analysis
new IVR or upgrade of existing IVR
the challenge following an economic slowdown come up with a plan
slowdown,
• improve customer service?
• retain customers ?
• minimize costs (telco, agents, infrastructure, …)?
ROI analysis is critical to minimize risk in implementing new or
upgrading IVR system
• maximise automation of agent’s tasks and business processes
• increase customer satisfaction and loyalty
Orange customer experience
• 75% completion rate in IVR for one of largest bank in Europe
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6. measure IVR performance
some common IVR indicators
call completion rate - the one metric that matters
navigation in IVR application
category of the calls
Time and purpose of calls
First Call Resolution (FCR)
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7. IVR best practices
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8. focus: proactive IVR
key benefits
maximize customer reach
outbound IVR can be deployed shortly compared to live agents needing
training and scheduling.
automate campaign process in order to reduce pressure on live agentsagents
reserve agent’s time for complex interactions
information is delivered rapidly without relying on agents or staff calling
chains
maximize IVR port usage
inbound and outbound activities to achieve close to 100% occupancy of
IVR ports
flexibility
communicate with customers during out of office hours or when agents
are unavailable
real-
real-time & time to market
the enterprise is immediately made aware of notification delivery
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9. healthcare industry
drivers
• cost containment
• valuable staff time for doctors and
nurses
• quality of care and patient safety
• time sensitivity to reach patients
• over certain age do not respond to
text or emails
applications
• Patient registration and welcome
calls for admin staff
• appointment scheduling and
reminders
• prescription refill
• reminders for medicine doses and
vaccination
• disease outbreak alerts
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10. financial services
drivers
• economy and sub-prime
lending crisis
• improving customer relations
• management of contact center
costs
• incidents of fraud on the rise
• collections agencies under
cost pressure from creditors
• outbound technology viewed
as competitive advantage
applications
• fraud services
• debt collections and customer
reminders
• overdraft notifications
• credit card payments
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11. travel & tourism industry
drivers
• improving customer
experience
• need to send time dependent
information
• automating processes
applications
• flight cancellations
• confirmation of bookings
• check-in and upgrade
requests
• reminders of flight times
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12. emergency notification
drivers
• increased awareness of natural
disasters
• terrorist threats
• business continuity
• standardization processes
• competitive advantage
• legal liabilities and compliance
applications
• alert of issues
• Interactive messages to track
staff location
• IT failure notifications
• parent contact for schools and
universities
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13. fundamental difference between placing an outbound and
receiving a call from customer
receiving customer call placing an outbound call
Customer is prepared for the Lack of context significantly
conversation impacts the attitude of the person
receiving the call
Customer is already operating in
the context of the task he would Willingness to participate in
like to complete conversation
Less tolerant of inefficiencies
Prone to abandon a call that
does not benefit them compared
to initiation of call to Toll-free
customer service line
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14. in order to
reduce customer frustration
Increase engagement
drive better task completion rates with outbound campaigns
your IVR application should be
timely relevant action-
action-oriented efficient
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15. timely: reach out when it’s best for the
customer
use a combination of business processes and the
customer’s historical behavior across all contact
channels to determine the best time to call
timely outbound are determined by two factors
• calling when information or action for the call is most
beneficial to the customer
• calling when the customer is most likely to answer
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16. maximize the relevance of each call
display caller ID can be a useful tool in giving your
customer the context of the call
• people often answer or decline the call based on caller ID
• consider what caller ID to display to encourage the
behavior you want
• a blocked or private number is worst way to introduce
your company
no upfront delays once customer answers the call
• audio must be presented within milliseconds
• audio must contain useful information for customer,
avoid “please wait…”
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17. focus on a specific action
action -> outbound notifications should be closely tied to action
• Encouraging action that directly benefits the customer
• Or preemptively preventing a frustrating situation
consequence -> something of consequence has or will happen to
customer or their account, and the call you place is designed to
alleviate or reinforce that consequence
With interactive • e.g. : when flight cancellation, hear upcoming alternative flights and
outbound care, maybe book a seat
the airline can
turn a negative
situation into a use speech-enabled IVR which permits faster, more streamlined
positive service
interaction than DTMF or touchtone
event.
• e.g. : “I would like the flight at 5:40 PM” or “sell 50 shares at a limit
of $25.00”
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18. optimize for efficiency
customers dealing with outbound call don’t tolerate the inefficiencies.
Here are some recommendations:
allow option to reschedule
consider allowing customers to request being contacted at a later time or date (schedule
a reminder or callback).
bear in mind customer context
don’t assume a customer has information on hand that is necessary for an outbound
call (e.g., account number, recent transactions, prescription IDs). Therefore, provide
alternative authentication techniques and leverage customer data as much as possible.
focus on the essentials
deliver only essential information during a call, focusing on high impact data or situations
where there is a high probability of not delivering the info through other channels.
take advantage of speech technology
use speech-enabled interactions to streamline call flows and let customers respond
naturally wherever they are, on whichever phone you reached them on, however, create
prompts and dynamic data that sound as smooth and natural as possible to ensure
callers retain critical information and don’t have to request repeats.
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19. do’s and don’ts: finding the balance between IVR
and live-agent support
do’
do’s don’
don’ts
routine inquiries about balance, inquiries that are fraught with emotion
payments, etc… (like fraud)
customers can quickly identify and multiple level of verification is required
verify themselves
use IVR to verify a transaction and complex transaction
delivery date
use live agent to retain customers customers who are attrition risks
use a collection specialist who can late-stage collections
develop a payment plan
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20. tips !
share with agent customer journey in IVR
• Place tags in order to track customer navigation
• Transmission of DATA to agent desktop about customer
navigation in IVR (duration, menus, …)
personalize the interaction when you request the customer to
key in his number
text-to-speech : check data format and readiness of your
database
information accuracy same like in order channels
outbound : DO NOT CALL List (compliancy with regulations)
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21. benefits of
hosted IVR

22. early adopters of hosted inbound IVR
hosted solution particularly suits businesses with fluctuating traffic volumes and those with
a need for assistance with complex speech application development and management
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23. most common applications for hosted IVR being
deployed by the early adopters
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24. benefits of Hosted IVR what Orange can offer
limited business risk for enterprise existing platforms and very limited
CAPEX for customer
faster deployment than on Orange Management Portal can be
premise IVR deployed in 4-6 weeks
OPEX financial model Orange usage model: “pay as you
grow”
SLA commitments
99.99% availability SLA
on-demand speech TTS or ASR
activation several languages already activated
http://www.orange-business.com/en/mnc2/solutions/crm-solutions/index.html
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25. thank you
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