Let’s face it, there are other technologies in the contact center that are more exciting than your IVR. But despite the rise of other communication channels, telephony remains “by far the largest inbound interaction channel,” according to ContactBabel. That being the case, it’s worth asking, “Is it time to upgrade the IVR?” Here are five signs that it might be time to upgrade your IVR – and the benefits of doing so.

1. You have no visibility into breaking points within the IVR. You can’t fix something you don’t know is broken. If you don’t know where customers are “zeroing out” so that they can speak to a customer service rep, then you don’t know how to improve your IVR containment rate. Modern IVRs provide that visibility as well as IVR utilization analytics so that you can see where containment suffers and even listen to snippets of the IVR interaction to identify the root cause.

Benefit: Visibility into IVR utilization enables you to improve containment rates and the return on your investment.

2. Customers hate your IVR. Customers generally don’t care whether their problem is handled by an agent or through an IVR – so long as it’s handled quickly and easily. If your IVR’s operations are based on ten years of rules, confusing menus and logic trees, and paths that go nowhere, then your customers will hate it. But they don’t have to. Modern IVRs enable you to simplify IVR menus and predict why customers are calling.

Benefit: Making self-service quick and easy via the IVR improves containment rates and customer satisfaction scores while reducing contact center costs.

3. You bought your IVR at the same time you bought your ACD. There was a time when using a third-party IVR was simply unheard of. Today that’s no longer the case. Integration capabilities have come a long way, and any IVR can easily integrate with any ACD as well as external databases.

Benefit: Contact centers aren’t locked into a specific IVR but instead can choose a best-of-breed solution.

4. Your IVR lacks advanced features and capabilities. Modern IVRs offer a variety of features and capabilities that enable contact centers to improve the quality of service they deliver. For instance, machine learning capabilities enable you to predict why a customer is calling. A context store enables you to personalize calls and deliver a true omnichannel experience because you have the entire interaction history at your fingertips. Analytic capabilities enable you to identify and reduce telephony-based fraud by detecting anomalies and patterns in the IVR call detail record. These are just a few examples.

Benefit: A modern IVR enables you to more effectively meet your customer service and business goals.

5. Your IVR is running on-premises. The benefits of procuring cloud-based IVR services far outweigh any benefits you gain from running a system on-premises. In addition to reducing expenses, a cloud-based IVR reduces the support and operations burden placed on your IT organization while giving the contact center access to advanced features and capabilities as they become available.

Benefit: A cloud-based IVR eliminates capital expenses and reduces operational expenses while delivering the tools organizations need to deliver superior customer service in the 21^st Century.

Finally – a bonus sign. If your IVR makes you yawn, if you’re not truly excited about the possibilities that are open to you through your IVR, then it’s time to contact us. IVR technology has come a long way, and we’re excited about what it can do for you.