Interactive Voice Response IVR
Directing Your Search for IVR
The present availability of interactive voice response does not give businesses a new tool. For a number of years now phone companies have been willing to wire a business’s phone system so that it has interactive voice response (IVR). A business with an IVR can direct phone calls to a voice mailbox, an operator or the source of some type of music. If callers get the music, then they must wait for the IVR to redirect their call to either the mailbox or the operator.
An internet search for information about the IVR reveals that the phone companies are about to face some worthy competition. One company has begun to market a kit that can be used for the installation of an IVR. In other words, with this new kit a company would not need to depend on the phone company in order to get an IVR. A company could pay a technician, or in some cases use the knowledge of company personnel, to enjoy the advantages of an IVR.
Where does one get such a kit? At the present time that question remains to be answered. Do not, however, try looking for such a kit at an outlet for Radio Shack. That will only get you a confused look from the store sales clerk. One might have better luck by going to an office supply store.
Suppose you are not sure that you trust the quality of a phone conversation when the phone company itself has not installed the interactive voice response. How could you test the ability of the self-installed system to allow for effective communication? How could you discover, without paying the total cost of a new IVR, the ability of the self-installed IVR to produce an acceptable signal?
Perhaps there exists a way to rent a kit, one that could be used to install an IVR. This would be the sort of item that might appeal to the same businesses that now rent laptop computers and video conferencing equipment. Such a kit might one day enjoy widespread use within the home business community. A small business with an IVR could then share one important characteristic with a large business