Selecting the appropriate Visual IVR solution is not as easy as it can seem, here are some important aspects to keep in mind as you shop around.
Previously, I’ve discussed some of the questions frequently raised by CallVU prospects. This time around, I’d like to discuss the importance of selecting the right vendor to implement a visual IVR strategy – one that is a Visual IVR solution.
Naturally, as the CEO of a VIVR company, my interests are clear. Yet the truth is that choosing a VIVR solution just makes objective sense, whatever company’s strategy may be. Here’s why:
VIVR is all about usage and adoption.
Digital content needs to synch smoothly with a given customer’s journey, not interrupt it. The trick is to effectively and gently augment the service call and the traditional IVR with digital content – not replace it. This is what creates a customer experience that drives usage and adoption – evolution, not revolution.
By way of example, we see over 30% usage for customers receiving text messages and over 50% with Android push. On the other hand, we’ve seen in-house projects that send one-off text messages for a single action (payment, product selection etc.) that saw less than 1% response. Effectively moving customers to digital self-service is a specialty. If it were that simple, wouldn’t you have 100% of your customers self-provisioning already?
Time to market
Time to market – how fast a project moves to production – may be measured in time, but should always be translated into money.
CallVU can move a system from kickoff to production within 10 to 14 weeks. Most other vendors, particularly those who do not focus on Visual IVR, would be challenged to meet this. Moreover, in addition to project costs, companies need to calculate the savings involved in quickly and smoothly rolling out a VIVR solution. We suggest considering a conservative estimate of 4-5% improvement in digital deflection (i.e. the reduction in the number of calls that reach an agent or are dropped during the IVR session).
Let’s look at the example below. We used a very basic, and very conservative, ROI calculation to find out what the saving value is when using a Visual IVR solution. According to our calculations, a call center that handles 250K/month – the monthly saving is more than $51,000 – or $615,000 for a full year. When we increase the number of monthly calls to one million, savings amount to over $250,000 every month – or nearly $2.5 million a year (!).
Obviously, these calculations only “work” if the Visual IVR is implemented correctly – by professionals. Otherwise, projects may be subject to delay – and every month’s delay costs you a lot of money!
The Bottom Line
Choosing the right person for the right job is something that we as CEOs are trained to do. The same goes for the right company for the right project. For the above reasons and so many others, it’s clear that a dedicated VIVR solution is the right address for a top-tier VIVR system that will lower call center overhead and raise customer satisfaction.
The power of a platform
A stand-alone solution may not be sufficient in today’s complex customer service arena. Customers expect an omnichannel experience – starting the journey on one channel and completing it on another. By harnessing the power of the platform, customers can benefit from a collaboration module for co-browsing and sharing content with callers, agent-caller video chats, BOTs and more.
CallVU customers can also benefit from an easy to use form-builder tool to present their customers with responsive, dynamic digital forms over a variety of channels including smartphone, web, app, Facebook and more. All these modules can be integrated with third-party solutions including CRM, agent desktop, agent chat, and more. These integrations and capabilities are crucial to the omni-channel experience – yet most certainly not a given in homegrown solutions.
Focus & Track Record
Any product company is by definition focused on constantly adding more capabilities, and CallVU is no exception. Our business is to provide our customers with the best digital engagement platform they can buy.
CallVU was one of the pioneers in visual IVR technology, and we continue to enhance our platform. For us, digital customer experience, and a visual IVR solution in particular, is not a mere add-on. Rather, it’s our core solution – and we have perfected it over the years by making it available – through our global customer base – to over 30 million end-users around the world.