subject: Small Business With Big Ideas? How An IVR System Can Help You Manage Your Growth [print this page] Small Business With Big Ideas? How An IVR System Can Help You Manage Your Growth
The world may look like it is being dominated by huge multi-national corporations across the length and breadth of it - but in reality, there are a myriad of small companies that have ideas that are bigger and better than larger and established businesses. There was a time when most people did not take smaller businesses and their ideas seriously, for the simple reason they did not have the power or the finances to back this up.
The time has now come for smaller businesses to enjoy the facilities that were once available only to large companies. With the introduction of freephone numbers and the several facilities that come along with it, smaller businesses deem it feasible to incorporate the IVR or the Interactive Voice Response system in their telephone systems. All intelligent numbers - 0800 numbers, 0844 numbers and 0845 numbers offer this feature; so do numbers which are exclusive to non-profit organizations - 0300 numbers and 0330 numbers.
The major areas where IVR systems help, are time, money and effort put in by the staff in a call. With an IVR, callers find it easy to use a menu-driven program, rather than talking with an operator which is time-consuming and tedious. This ensures that staff time can be saved because the customers would be able to reach their desired destination more easily, with a menu-driven program, instead of their calls being transferred manually.
The use of an operator in a customer call, costs about 3 per call, whereas IVR systems cost much less than that - about 10 pence per call. This is a huge saving when it comes to smaller businesses. For a business that handles about 100 calls per hour, the cut down on expenses for calls would result in dramatic growth.
Not only would the IVR system be effective for customers, but also for employees who are on the move. It would be easier for them to call the company board line, in order to get their next assignment or report their activities.
With the incorporation of IVR systems which are not just menu-driven but also voice-driven, customers can get access to better interaction with the system which would help the business in achieving higher degrees of user-friendliness and a better call quality index. IVR systems are not that expensive considering the amount of savings a business is going to experience over a period of time. Customised IVR systems are available at a slightly higher price.
