Phone answering service call centers cannot operate effectively and efficiently without the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems. It is to be noted that all IVR systems have three kinds of cost components that must be considered apart from the upgrading costs and the general maintenance costs.
The first IVR cost component that is considered usually by phone answering service call centers is the cost of CTI hardware and the computer systems. This is a fixed as well as a one-time cost, and the call answering service will not have to invest in it unless a certain amount of capacity enhancement is required in the future.
The second component is the cost involved in a customized voice application. The IVR call flow implementation costs can also include integration with third-party applications such as web services and customer relationship management (CRM). The call centers must either invest in in-house qualified manpower or can get the voice application tool developed from the IVR software providers.
The third component is the telephone cost; the costs can be charged on per call per minute basis as per the convenience of the businesses and organizations. When human agents interact with the IVR callers in the phone answering service call centers, the call transfer cost gets very high in the long run. This is dependent on the call volume.
After the center decides what they need, an on-premise IVR system or hosted IVR, they can think about the cost components and deploy the right IVR system for the center.
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