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How comprehensive are your IVR development plans?
Jeff Fried, CTO of Empirix, knows that customers can sometimes be frustrated by IVR systems but he doesn't think it has to be that way. At least, that is, according to a recent commentary on NewsFactor Magazine Online.
I particularly like an analogy that this article includes, from Nuance's Peter Mahoney:
"[Mahoney] likens [IVR systems] to automated teller machines, where bank customers often use ATMs that are outside bank branches. They could go inside and talk to a teller, but they don't. They prefer to use the ATM -- but they like having the option of speaking to a real person if something should go wrong."
The bottom line, Fried says, is that it's all too common that IVRs are released before they are complete. But what does it mean for an IVR to be complete? If you drew up a plan, and followed that plan, is your IVR complete? Reading between the lines, I think Fried is suggesting that more iterative design and testing needs to be involved, and that problems with existing apps tend to fall between the cracks in overly short development schedules.
He might be right; do you feel that your project's timeline includes enough room for testing and refinement?
