When you’re a enterprise that should present customer support over the cellphone, an interactive voice response (IVR) system is important. However you don’t need to host all of it by your self.
A hosted IVR service is a cloud-based answer that the seller operates and maintains. With a hosted IVR, the system resides on the seller’s servers and is delivered over an web connection, requiring no advanced {hardware} or software program set up in your finish.
Listed below are 9 different causes you must take into account switching to a hosted IVR service supplier.
1. You Aren’t Answerable for Testing Your IVR
With a hosted IVR service, you don’t have to fret about testing, debugging, or troubleshooting your IVR system ever once more.
And that’s an enormous timesaver when you think about that IVR testing is totally vital to making sure your VoIP cellphone system performs persistently, handles name volumes correctly, integrates accurately with backend techniques, and stays safe.
Even minor bugs or configuration points may result in your callers being trapped in infinite menu loops or unable to entry the data they want.
Even if you happen to’re tech-savvy, performing common assessments in your cellphone system can take hours and hours out of your schedule. To check your IVR system totally, you’d have to run by way of each attainable name movement, simulate totally different enter volumes, test for cross-platform compatibility, validate that any new integrations are performing—and that’s just the start.
In different phrases, testing your cellphone system shouldn’t be one other informal merchandise in your crew’s rising to-do checklist. Many companies select to outsource this rigorous testing course of to professionals who concentrate on IVR high quality assurance for this actual motive—however that provides one more recurring price that cuts into potential financial savings from managing your individual IVR.
And positive, when you’ve got a proficient QA and developer crew, operating these assessments in-house might be a viable possibility. However for many firms, having the IVR vendor deal with testing as a part of their hosted providing alleviates this headache solely.
2. There Are Decrease Upfront Prices
One of many greatest benefits of utilizing a hosted IVR service is avoiding the heavy upfront prices required for an on-premises system.
With a self-managed IVR, you might want to make main investments proper out of the gate for {hardware} like specialised servers, telephony playing cards, energy backups, and so on. You’ll additionally have to buy expensive software program licenses for the IVR platform itself and complementary elements like speech recognition engines. On prime of which are the bills for cellphone traces, SIP trunks, and any obligatory information/telecom cabling.
That’s a tricky capsule to swallow, particularly for smaller companies or these simply beginning to implement IVR capabilities. With a hosted IVR answer, nonetheless, the service supplier provides and maintains all the underlying infrastructure inside their cloud surroundings.
In fact, there are at all times exceptions. Massive enterprises with advanced IVR wants and deep pockets might want the management and customization prospects of an on-prem system. However for the overwhelming majority of companies, hosted IVR is each budget-friendly and highly effective sufficient to get the job executed.
3. It’s Simpler to Scale
An typically missed however critically necessary good thing about cloud-hosted IVR is the power to scale sources up or down alongside your corporation development.
Consider it this fashion: with on-premise IVR, your cellphone techniques are restricted by the fastened compute capability, telephony ports, and licenses you’ve provisioned. So if name volumes spike unexpectedly, you’re caught both letting these calls go unanswered or dashing to purchase and set up extra {hardware}/software program.
Neither of those is an effective way to run a enterprise at scale.
Then again, a hosted IVR supplies just about limitless scalability. Whether or not you might want to deal with double the decision site visitors for an enormous gross sales occasion, add interactive voice capabilities to a brand new product line, or spin up an IVR for a short-term marketing campaign, your hosted service can immediately provision extra concurrent periods, speech recognition channels, database connections, and processing energy from the cloud platform’s elastic sources.
The very best half is you’ll be able to scale down simply as shortly. This type of flexibility helps startups and mid-sized companies keep away from the wasteful overhead of an on-prem system whereas sustaining the identical high quality of buyer help.
4. You’re By no means Caught with Outdated Software program
Have you ever ever purchased a brand-new cellphone just for a more moderen mannequin to be launched just a few months later? These similar issues exist within the IVR area, too.
IVR distributors are continually releasing new variations with safety patches, bug fixes, up to date integration APIs, and have enhancements. However making use of these updates isn’t any easy activity. When you’re utilizing an IVR system at scale, system updates require cautious testing in a staging surroundings, coordinating change controls, and scheduling disruptive downtime to put in the brand new updates.
Nonetheless, with a hosted IVR service, the service supplier handles updating all software program and underlying cloud infrastructure elements behind the scenes. The newest IVR software program variations, built-in AI/speech capabilities, and safety updates are all utilized seamlessly with no buyer effort or downtime.
The one edge case right here could be if your corporation relies on closely personalized variations of legacy IVR platforms. On this state of affairs, self-hosting might present you extra management over the way you time your updates. However for many organizations, the “future-proof” nature of a hosted IVR’s automated updates is much extra handy.
5. Catastrophe Restoration Is Baked In
When an on-premises IVR system goes down, it may possibly deliver your whole customer support operation to a grinding halt. Incoming calls get rejected, annoyed prospects can’t get points resolved, and chaos ensues.
A hosted IVR service, by its very nature, has strong catastrophe restoration capabilities constructed proper into its structure from the bottom up. It is because the service suppliers have already made multi-million greenback investments into geo-redundant information facilities, failover techniques, backup processes, and superior infrastructure redundancies in your behalf.
The one exception to this profit could be for companies the place uptime is totally paramount. For these firms, self-hosting and proudly owning each redundancy part most likely makes extra sense. However for many companies, the built-in catastrophe restoration capabilities supplied by a hosted IVR platform is a big benefit over going it alone.
To not point out, there’s the human part. Most respected hosted providers have groups of specialists managing these restoration procedures. In different phrases, you’ll be able to relaxation simple understanding your vital IVR communications shall be safe and at all times accessible.
6. You Can Future-Proof Your IVR Funding
One unavoidable problem with operating any on-premise system is the inevitability that the expertise you’re utilizing will change into out of date over time. The {hardware} and software program you’ve invested a lot of your capital into will very seemingly at some point change into outdated, unsupported, and incompatible with trendy techniques and requirements.
However by partnering with a hosted service supplier, your corporation doesn’t need to pour cash into these depreciating property. As an alternative, you’ll be able to lean in your hosted supplier to produce you with the seller’s newest software program variations, safety updates, and IVR compliance certifications.
That mentioned, you must nonetheless conduct due diligence when deciding on a hosted IVR vendor. However typically, a hosted IVR answer generally is a higher long-term funding since you don’t have to fret in regards to the {hardware} or software program you’re utilizing turning into outdated
7. You Get Seamless Integration Throughout Your Cloud Ecosystem
For companies leveraging a number of cloud functions and providers, integrating these techniques with an on-premise IVR could be an uphill battle. You’re pressured to constrain the combination prospects based mostly on the IVR platform’s antiquated APIs and connectivity strategies. And connecting to those cloud apps requires advanced safe tunnels, brittle VPNs, and inefficient batch information syncing processes.
Nonetheless, a hosted IVR that lives natively within the cloud considerably simplifies this integration complexity. It is because most suppliers expose APIs, net service connectors, and pre-built adaptors for generally built-in cloud functions like CRMs, contact heart platforms, analytics instruments, and extra. Consequently, your information can movement seamlessly between your IVR and different cloud providers over safe web paths.
This ease of integration supplies various key advantages—sooner deployment timelines, the power to leverage rising cloud improvements, and the elimination of fragile legacy connectors.
In fact, there are nonetheless eventualities the place an on-prem IVR is preferable—like when you’ve got closely personalized legacy techniques operating behind the firewall with proprietary protocols. The hassle it might take to adapt these to a cloud integration could also be extreme.
Nonetheless, for almost all of companies embracing the cloud, having an IVR that natively integrates together with your different cloud instruments is a significant benefit.
8. There’s Predictable Month-to-month Pricing
Some of the irritating elements of managing an on-premise IVR system is the wildly unpredictable prices that modify from 12 months to 12 months. Form of like how your gasoline and power payments can go up and down all through the seasons.
The one distinction is that IVR system prices are costlier. Far more costly.
The massive up-front {hardware} and licensing bills are simply the beginning—you’ll additionally need to price range for ongoing upkeep, future improve costs, telco connectivity charges, baseline help prices, coaching on new releases, and any required skilled providers to help your self-hosted system.
And there are just a few circumstances that may fully blow your IVR price range. For instance, server failure and will increase in vendor pricing could make it troublesome to forecast and allocate your IVR spending precisely.
A hosted IVR service, alternatively, eliminates these budgeting complications by offering a predictable, utility-based pricing mannequin with clear month-to-month prices. No shock charges—only a reliable working expense.
9. It Comes With Straightforward Administration From Wherever
With an on-premise IVR system, any configuration modifications, name movement updates, or administrative duties require hands-on entry to the bodily {hardware} and software program operating inside your information heart or server rooms.
This severely limits who can handle the IVR and from the place.
Solely a choose few folks, often in central IT, have the system authority and entry required to make these modifications. And if updates are required whereas somebody is touring or vital points come up throughout off-hours, you’re pressured to attend.
However, as you might have already guessed, this isn’t the case with hosted, cloud-based IVRs. As an alternative, your groups can get entry from anyplace by way of the supplier’s web-based administration interfaces and APIs. Via these interfaces, your licensed directors can conveniently make modifications, monitor efficiency, entry logs, and deal with any IVR duties remotely. Outsourcing the extent of administration is an IVR finest follow your groups needs to be following.
For instance, your advertising groups may shortly replace prompts and menu choices for brand spanking new campaigns, and builders may check integrations without having to move on-site.
And whereas there are actually compliance and safety concerns to having this distant “cloud keys” entry, most respected hosted suppliers include strong authentication, encryption, and audit trails to guard this stage of entry.
Enhance Your Telephone Methods with Hosted IVR
Deciding between a hosted IVR answer or self-hosting isn’t a straightforward choice. However if you happen to’re a rising group that should keep targeted in your prospects, stakeholders, or donors, you shouldn’t be slowed down managing telecom infrastructure.
By offloading your IVR burdens to a hosted supplier, you’ll be able to keep targeted on your corporation and maintain your group linked with zero distractions.
