Picking Your IVR/Speech Partner: A Critical Decision in Tough Economic Times
By: Bruce Pollock
In these challenging economic times, enterprises must take steps to manage customer contact in the most efficient, effective manner possible while still maintaining high quality customer service. Plus, customer expectations are higher than ever for quality service and "value for their money."
This presents a formidable challenge for companies: how to automate customer contact transactions to improve efficiency while protecting and growing the customer base – and doing so without large capital expenditures whenever possible.
The Need for Effective, Customer-Friendly IVR/Speech Solutions
A key component of any automated customer contact solution is IVR and speech. Despite growth of the Internet channel, voice still remains the predominant customer contact channel today and is predicted to remain so for the foreseeable future.
Given the current economic pressures, it's imperative to "get the most" out of your IVR/speech system. This however, doesn’t mean jamming callers into the IVR and keeping them there. Instead, it means building a high-performing automated IVR system that customers will love to use and use frequently.
Creating a highly successful IVR/speech system requires choosing the right solution set and vendor to help you achieve your customer service and revenue goals. The following checklist can help you in selecting the right partner:
Does the vendor have the right people?
The design, development, and deployment of self-service applications – especially natural language-based applications – is not a trivial exercise. It requires significant expertise and experience with advanced speech technology to minimize project risk and maximize ROI. Ask the potential partner the following questions:
- How much experience does each member of the project team have with speech/IVR/natural language?
- How much experience does the team have as a whole?
- Who will be the project manager for this particular project and how much experience do they have in managing speech projects? Of what complexity level?
Does the vendor have the right processes?
Using best practices and a proven methodology can ensure your self-service application performs well from the start and is tuned appropriately to continuously improve performance and adapt to changing business needs. Some important questions to ask vendors about their processes include:
- What is the vendor’s project management methodology?
- What procedures does it have to ensure you are participating and kept in the loop?
- Does the vendor have a set of best practices it uses to manage complex speech/IVR projects?
- Does it have a "lifecycle management" process, e.g. from the research and design of an application all the way through to development, testing, roll out, communications planning, and tuning.
- Can the vendor help with internal and external communications planning for this initiative and what experience and client references does it have in this area?
Does the vendor have the right technology?
The success of your self-service application also depends upon having the right technology. For instance, for complex self-service requirements, natural language applications are far better suited than traditional IVR.
- What technologies does the vendor use today for IVR/speech and other automated customer contact techniques/solutions?
- Are the technologies and solutions standards-based or proprietary?
- How often does the vendor do a technology refresh? Ask for a roadmap/plan for the future and also a historical look at its technology upgrade schedules.
Does the vendor have a tangible, positive track record in the area of speech/IVR?
- How many speech/IVR apps has the vendor implemented? How many multi-channel, integrated customer contact solutions has it implemented? Ask for specific case studies and speak with the vendor’s references
Does the vendor have in-depth call center experience? What about other self-service technologies such as outbound notifications?
Automated customer contact solutions involve much more than just voice. Enterprises should explore and implement integrated solutions that incorporate both inbound and outbound solutions including: speech recognition, email, SMS, and more.
- What experience does the vendor have in designing and implementing multi-channel automated customer contact solutions?
- Does the vendor have the products and in house expertise to implement these solutions or will it need to rely on third parties to provide products and related services?
- Can the vendor share success stories/case studies on how it has implemented multi-channel solutions? What were the results?
Due Diligence is Essential
Finally, given today’s economic uncertainty, enterprises need to ask tough questions about the economic situation/solvency of any potential partners. Ask to see the financial statements, regardless of whether the vendor is public or private. If it’s a private company, ask to speak with some of the private/venture investors. Leave no stone unturned!
It's particularly important during these times to engage with vendors that are financially strong and have a good selection of blue chip clients. In other words, trusted vendors that are "around for the long haul" and will be there to help you not just in 2009, but well beyond
