By far one of the most popular customer
facing technologies banks have introduced is Interactive Voice
Response (IVR). Customers flocked to this technology, calling over
and over to hear a balance or see if a payment has cleared, many
calling multiple times per day even if account balances and other
information was not in real-time. The advent of Internet Banking may
have slowed the usage, but it did not go away. Convenience might be
an issue: a customer checking an account balance may find the touch
tone phone faster than logging into your web site. These systems are
simple and easy to use.
Internet Banking is well into its
second decade, however, and many of you are already investing in the
next generation: Mobile Banking. The question is, what to do with
our IVR systems? Especially if you are running IVR “in-house,”
it is likely that your system is aging, and support may be lacking.
If you've priced a new system, you may be taken aback by the cost.
If you can keep that old clunker running a bit longer, here's my step
by step process for getting a handle on this technology before it
causes you a real problem.
- Do an operational and contractual assessment of your current system. Get the vendor involved (if they are still around) and make sure you have ready access, in the short term, to replacement parts and support in the event of a failure. Get your core vendor involved (if they are not the IVR vendor) and ask them to help you plot a backup strategy, if your IVR vendor is not around. Or call an expert (that would be your humble author) Your goal here is to put together a strategy to keep the technology working for another year or two, while you move these users to other solutions.
- Take a hard look at the number of calls you are receiving, and who these folks are. Generally, you will find a significant group of “repeat offenders.” Hopefully, your system produces reports, but if not, go to the phone logs to see what you can learn.
- If you have outsourced your IVR, think about aligning the efforts listed below with that contract's expiration date, so that you can retire the technology at that time. A benefit of outsourcing is that you are relieved from worry over the state of your system. A downside, however, are the costs associated with the technology and the calls.
- Taking into account (based on available reporting) the frequency and type of activity you see, design an aggressive marketing campaign to move those folks to Internet Banking.
- If you currently have mobile banking, even better. Promote that directly to your IVR users, with particular attention to the SMS “text” capability, as it offers the path of least resistance to their using the product.
My hope is that,
over time, with some concentrated effort, you can eliminate your IVR
system in favor of newer technology that offers customers even more
functionality.
