IVR: Hosted IVR

Exceed Customer Expectations with Hosted IVR Solutions

Imagine if you could minimize risk, improve performance, manage growth and change, and maintain business continuity regardless of unforeseen circumstances or changes in your business economic model. CenturyLink's Hosted IVR solutions go a long way in helping you do just that by optimizing your communication channels.

As customer touch-points increase, keeping a consistent and coordinated customer experience becomes more and more challenging. With Hosted IVR services, CenturyLink can help you evaluate who your customers are and what they expect so you can create a customer experience that exceeds expectations. We can then provide network services, such as Internet access, toll-free and local services, and contact center solutions to enable multiple customer communication options.

Hosted IVR Features

• Network carrier options include toll-free services from CenturyLink, AT&T® Sprint® and Verizon® and local access from regional carriers
• Caller interface options, such as touch-tone, speech recognition, and multiple language capability
• System integration with industry standard databases and CRM systems; intelligent call routing and queuing; and CTI with Cisco® Genesys® Avaya® and Nortel®
• Application development includes custom development access to VXML 2.x development interface and a development portal; quick deployment of CenturyLink's ready-to-use applications for self-help applications such as store locators, financial status, account updates and PIN resets; and text-to-speech application support
• Call recording
• Web-accessible customizable reports

Hosted IVR Benefits

• Optimize contact center personnel and ensure premier customer experience
• Utilize capabilities of Hosted IVR, independent of carrier
• Develop applications using your own development team or leave it to CenturyLink
• Host the application in CenturyLink's hosting centers, in your location, or at a hosting center of your choice
• Purchase Hosted IVR based on the number of ports or minutes of use you need to reflect changes in seasonal calling patterns
• Eliminate costly capital expenditures required to augment your network in order to satisfy seasonal peaks and valleys
• Monitor and track customer interaction flows to enable proactive updating of business strategies as customer needs change
• Eliminate the need to purchase additional equipment to accommodate seasonal call volume peaks and valleys
• Eliminate long turnaround times when adding capacity or modifying applications

How Hosted IVR Works

The inbound call (local or toll free), is routed to the CenturyLink Hosted IVR platform. Based on the application design, the call is answered via a touch-tone or speech-recognition menu. The information request is then routed via secure network to the appropriate Web application server for response to the request. If the caller needs to speak with a live agent, and the application uses the CenturyLink Hosted IVR computer telephony integration (CTI) interface (ACD connect), the call is then routed to the customer's ACD.