How Has Call Centre Technology Changed

Call centre technology has dramatically changed over the years

. Gone are the days of lengthy queues, calls forwarded to the wrong department and difficulty in relaying information. Today call centres are customer service machines with high levels of customer satisfaction and a much higher call handling capacity. Why has there been such a change over the years? The answer is because of the introduction of IVR software, or interactive voice response software.

IVR software is used in call centres all over the world. Electricity companies, phone companies, internet service providers and insurance companies are just some of the types of organisation that employ this type of software. Any organisation that operates a call centre in fact uses IVR software of some kind. It is a very powerful tool that can provide a number of features. It can operate a call forwarding service which means callers are directed straight to the relevant department without the chance of human error. Secondly it operates voice recognition software too. This means that callers can communicate with the system without necessarily having to speak to an operator. At a minimum this means that information can be easily provided by the caller so the operator can have it at their fingertips when the receive the call. In some cases however this can even mean a human operator is not required to deal with a query.

If an organisation can provide customer support without the need of a live operator, they can save themselves large amounts of money. This is a popular reason for using IVR technology in fact all over the world. IVR software offers many other features too. These include audio playback and dialogue management too. Another very useful feature of IVR software is that often it includes data reporting. Having access to data such as average length of call and when the busiest times are in the call centre can enable further streamlining to take place. During busy periods more staff can be provided, in quieter times fewer need to be present.

The functionality of IVR software and the benefits it provides to a call centre have meant that it used in virtually all call centres across the world. There is no doubt that everyone will have dealt with an IVR system at some point over the past few years. Any call made to query a bill, make an order over the phone or track something already paid for will likely involve IVR software. In the past this type of system was simply not available. Previously while there may have been some form of telephony system in place, it certainly was not of the high technological standard that todays software is.

In 2000 the universal voicexml editor software was introduced which for the first time provided a universal platform on which to build IVR software. The uniform programming language that voicexml is written in means that any programmer or software developer can learn it and implement it. Previously if a call centre wanted to use some type of telephony technology to help route calls or provide automated responses, they would have to receive it from an individual software vendor who would use their own proprietary software. This meant that only that particular vendor could work with the software leading to high costs and a very inflexible software solution. After voicexml editor was introduced to the market both large and small companies could begin to use IVR systems. Technical support could come from anyone who knew the language. This lowered costs and improved the whole system dramatically.

Now organisations and call centres everywhere have some form of IVR system in place. The software used to create these systems has continued to be developed so never before has it been of such a high standard. Call centre staff can use IVR systems very easily and can deal with customer calls in a very efficient manner. They receive customer details automatically too which greatly improves efficiency all round.

Call centre technology has come on leaps and bounds over the past few years. Even the drone of an automated voice is now outdated having been replaced with something more realistic and conversational. IVR solutions have been the key to this change. IVR services continue to be improved upon and developed so no doubt there will be even greater changes in call centre technology in the years to come.

by: Sarah Shore

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