When planning and ultimately deploying an IVR solution you will need to decide how the IVR will connect to the telephony infrastructure.  This means that you must decide  what  protocol to use and what hardware is needed for the server to support that protocol.  Often, customer sites may have stipulations on how your IVR can connect to the existing telephony infrastructure, since the IVR will be on their site after all.  Then there are the times when you get to decide.

So, where to begin?  Considerations are seemingly endless; protocol support, hardware requirements for the interface, server requirements, channel density and performance, life expectancy of the interface, cost, ease of integration, application performance on a given protocol.… just to name a few.

An IVR built with VBVoice can work with T1/E1 ISDN or CAS, analog, and VoIP through integration with Dialogic media.  In the case of T1/E1 and analog, a PCI or PCI-express board is installed on the server, and specific drivers are installed.  Some configuration on the board and on VBVoice is required, but the integration is relatively straightforward.  In the case of using media boards from the Dialogic JCT and DM3 family, all resources are hardware-based.  This means the DSP (to perform all voice processing like detecting DTMF, conferencing, fax, echo cancelling) is on the board and there are limited ways to configure resources.  Adding more resources might require adding new cards to the server.. Depending on what the production system will do, you must evaluate the different boards that are available to get the one you need in order to get the required density and allow for eventual expansion in the future .  When you consider that these boards are full length PCI format (12.5 inches long and 3.5 inches tall) it can become a problem to find a server chassis to accommodate the boards. In a scenario where the IVR must reside at the customer site, the footprint of the server can become a potential issue when having to ‘fit in’ to the existing server-room layout.

We are seeing an increase in the number of VoIP IVR deployments.  Given the versatility, lower cost, and excellent performance characteristics of VoIP, as such I will focus more on this protocol integration.

Dialogic Host Media Processing (named now DialogicPowerMedia HMP) performs media processing without requiring the use of specialized hardware, using the server’s CPU instead.

HMP, as it is more commonly referred to, is able to do call control and media processing for TDM cards like  Dialogic’s lineup of DNI boards for E1/T1 or could be used for a full VoIP solution. For VoIP it handles both the SIP/H.323  call stack and media processing.  Also, it is possible to run a T1/E1 solution with VoIP capabilities by using a DNI board; which offers capabilities for  creating media gateways with complex scenarios, interfacing TDM and VoIP with powerful media processing.

HMP works like this: all call processing is handled by the local CPU.  The physical VoIP connection is the primary NIC card of the server. What determines the number of VoIP channels available is in the HMP licensing.  For each VoIP channel (SIP or H323) there must be 1 RTP, 1 IP Call Control, and 1 Voice resource, which is achieved by purchasing the corresponding HMP license.  If you must handle fax capabilities, then you will need to add to this a fax license.  If you need Conference, then you will need to add a Conference license for each Conference member that there will be. The licenses determine the resources or capabilities of the VoIP call stack.

Since there is no PCI or PCI-express board required in a VoIP scenario, the server chassis doesn’t need to be large in order to physically fit the board.  A 1U chassis could be used to run the IVR, for example.  With the latest version of VBVoice and Dialogic HMP, it is now possible to deploy the IVR solution on a Virtual Machine, greatly increasing the versatility of the solution.  System performance is very stable.  Modern server specs allow the IVR to handle 200 concurrent channels where an efficient application is using pre-recorded prompts, DTMF handling and database queries.  This number decreases with the addition of Text To Speech and Speech Recognition of course.

One of the great aspects of the HMP VoIP solution is that you only purchase the resources you need and when you need, allowing an easy extension of capabilities of your application without the need for hardware changes. This offers huge cost savings when compared to a PCI or PCI-express media board solution. With the boards, as mentioned, the resources are hardware-based.  So, you may be purchasing a board which has capabilities that your IVR won’t use, such as a DMV board with fax capabilities.  If your IVR will not perform fax, then why have fax resources available?  You have paid for this ability, but won’t use it, so this is money lost.

With HMP you purchase the licenses which equate to resources.  So, you have 4 RTP, 4 IP Call Control and 4 Voice licenses for HMP.  This means your IVR can handle 4 VoIP channels.  As production rolls along, you find it necessary to increase the number of channels which the IVR can handle.  It is just a matter of purchasing additional licenses to increase capacity.  If you need 4 additional channels, you would purchase another 4 RTP, 4 IP Call Control, and 4 Voice.  The new license is combined with the existing one to create a block of 8 RTP, 8 IP Call Control, 8 Conference.  These resources are pooled, and are available to any of the application’s channels.

If your existing infrastructure will allow for a VoIP connection, or you have the option to connect the IVR to a VoIP provider directly (maybe your ISP provides a VoIP connection), then implementing an HMP VoIP solution is a great option.

The Global Industry Analysts (GIA) recently released a report that said the global market for interactive voice response (IVR) systems is projected to reach $2.78 billion by 2017. This is great news for those of us whose entire business is focused on IVR.

As the IVR marketplace grows, we have also seen the landscape change. There is a shift from development of solutions “In House”, to outsourcing application development to IT Consultants and software developers who create and resell IVR applications to multiple end-users.  This presents a significant revenue generating opportunity for software development companies who are building IVR applications to repurpose turnkey solutions.   Many companies who have not previously considered this opportunity are beginning to realize it is a reality!

With the recent launch of VBVoice 7.1, we project more companies will benefit even further by using VBVoice to grow their customer communication business. This latest release of our already powerful SDK is our most enhanced version of VBVoice to date. Features of particular importance to value added resellers such as Virtual Machine hosting, and our 64-bit compatibility are at the leading edge of IVR technology. Using VBVoice 7.1 on a 64-bit machine enables the production of larger processing projects with improved performance.  The flexibility of hosting an effective IVR on Virtual Machine allows customers to take advantage of hosting services, the power of their IT infrastructure using a smaller footprint, added redundancy, and the best possible cost savings.  Be sure to check out all of the latest features available in VBVoice 7.1 .

You can download VBVoice 7.1 here. Please let us know what you think. We invite your feedback and insight.   We pride ourselves as a nimble company, effectively rolling suggestions and feature requirements into future releases.

Pronexus sat down with Mida Solutions to talk about their large-scale retail IVR application built with VBVoice.

Pronexus: How would you describe your IVR solution?

Pronexus: What business problems does your IVR application solve?

Pronexus: What technologies does your solution use?

Pronexus: How did you get started developing with VBVoice?

Pronexus: How was your experience using VBVoice to develop your application?

Pronexus recently spoke with the developer of WatchOverU™ about their personal safety service built with VBVoice and the technology behind it.

Pronexus: How would you describe your IVR solution?

WatchOverU: We created an IVR application as the operational component in a personal safety service for business and consumer use. This service provides a backup for people of all ages involved in many different work, sport or leisure activities when they are on their own or, for whatever reason, they are subject to greater risk. The service helps by automatically notifying friends, family or colleagues to raise the alarm if things do not go to plan. The service also includes a web application component, particularly useful for business users, to manage groups of users (employees), monitor activities and provide a full audit trail. You can find more information, and a comprehensive list of activities where this service is useful, at www.watchoveru.com

Pronexus: What business problems does your IVR application solve?

WatchOverU: The WatchOverU™ service helps a company provide ‘duty of care’, particularly in a ‘lone working’ situation. The monitoring and notification processes are fully automatic and, because the person in trouble may be out of cell phone range or incapacitated, it does not rely on their intervention in any way. Also, there are no special devices required other than a telephone for the initial setup.

In many cases involving accidents of people taking part in activities in remote areas, or working on their own, a major problem is that when nobody is aware of what they are doing, there can be a long delay before they are missed and the alarm is raised. The WatchOverU™ service solves this problem by automatically raising the alarm as soon as the plan goes adrift. In some situations you may not be able to, or want to,  tell anyone what your plans are so the WatchOverU™ service can be used to only notify people when absolutely necessary.

Pronexus: What technologies does your solution use? (i.e. speech recognition, text-to-speech, etc.)

WatchOverU: The service and all its components run as a multi-tenanted SaaS platform. The IVR application (VB.NET) uses keypad entry and speech recognition (NuanceASR) for data input and in circumstances where the ASR is having problems recognising the input, the ASR automatically falls back to keypad entry. Dialogic HMP is used with VOIP SIP. The IVR application interfaces with an SQL Server database making use of the VBVoice WorkerThread control for database functions. The service can be operated and administered using only the IVR application but a web application, written in Java, is provided to manage and administer the service and provide the advanced features required for business use.

Pronexus: How did you get started developing with VBVoice?

WatchOverU: About 10 years ago we needed to provide an IVR interface for workforce management application so, rather than re-invent the wheel, we used the VBVoice platform. Since then we have used VBVoice for a number of different applications and seen it develop and improve along the way. This made it the obvious choice for the WatchOverU™ IVR component and our introduction to speech recognition functionality.

Pronexus: How was your experience using VBVoice to develop your application?

WatchOverU: Why re-invent the wheel? VBVoice is easy to install and use. It integrates well with the Visual Studio environment and provides a comprehensive set of controls to service your application needs and provide the IVR functionality you require. The Pronexus support team was a great help with VBVoice’s related components (Nuance ASR, Dialogic HMP, etc.) The end result is an application that is reliable and easily scalable so what more could anyone ask for?

For more information go to – www.watchoveru.com

Download VBVoice today and start building your own IVR application.

Emergency notification interactive voice response solutions (IVRS) are becoming more commonplace as communities realize the difference it can make when it comes to keeping their residents safe.

An emergency notification IVR can be utilized during urgent situations, such as a natural disaster, to deliver phone alert messages to the end users. With some emergency notification systems, the end user has the option of acknowledging the call and providing a status update. Simultaneously, dispatch operators can be notified of the event and alerted to the location.

Communities can utilize this type of IVR application to alert the general public about disasters or events occurring in their neighbourhood, as well as relay any information on evacuation or escape measures. Likewise, if the resident requires special assistance, the call can be routed by the IVR to an emergency line.

An emergency notification IVR can also be used by organizations and schools. For example an emergency notification system could be deployed in a school board to notify parents if a school has been placed in a lock down due to an emergency or for an organization with many field staff such as an airline, utility or factory – that needs to notify many people quickly of an emergency.

Some benefits of an emergency notification IVR include:

• Speed the communication process significantly
• Speed the response
• Focus operators on the next task
• Reduce accidental errors at critical times
• Ensure that everyone gets a consistent, timely message

Search our Global Solutions Locator to see some of our customers who have already used VBVoice to develop emergency notification IVR applications.

How would you describe your IVR solution?

We created an IVR application for the Training and Apprentice Fund that allows students to call in, confirm, cancel and reschedule classes by phone. The application also allowed for users to hear the details of their upcoming classes including instructor, time and date.

What business problems does your IVR application solve?

Before the application was deployed, students had to call in and confirm classes by talking to office staff. As the number of classes at the center increased, the office staff became overwhelmed with calls from students confirming, cancelling and rescheduling classes. The IVR solution allows 24/7 automated class confirmation by the students while automating the updating of student data directly into their class scheduling software. This alleviates the heavy call volume on the office staff and increases productivity in other key areas.

What technologies does your solution use? (ie speech recognition, text-to-speech, etc.)

The IVR application uses text-to-speech.

How did you get started developing with VBVoice?

We sought a solution to this customer’s requirement.

How was your experience using VBVoice to develop your application?

VBVoice is a great tool. The visual front-end design environment and .NET back end make it ideal for custom application development. If you know .NET, you will have no problems working in VBVoice. It is easily scalable and reliable. It beats anything I’ve found on the market. Their support is top notch as well.

We are happy announce that we have recently renewed our Microsoft Partner Network membership and have achieved a Silver Competency in ISV Software Solutions.

The ISV/Software Solutions Competency is awarded to partners who have a successful record of developing and marketing software based on Microsoft technologies. As a longstanding Microsoft partner, our IVR toolkit, VBVoice was developed specifically for telephony and speech inside Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET. Being Microsoft compatible allows us to have conformity, congruency and compliancy in the way in which we work.

In order to achieve Silver Competency status, we were required to meet strict Microsoft standards for software competency and customer satisfaction. We were able to demonstrate a solid knowledge of Microsoft’s technology and provide a best-in-class software solution that meets our customers’ needs.

According to Microsoft, only 5 percent of Microsoft’s partners worldwide can distinguish themselves as having achieved a high degree of proficiency with Microsoft silver competency.

Partners who have achieved Silver Competency receive benefits including training, ongoing support, and access, that we will use to further improve our product and service. Microsoft Silver Competency status provides us with more resources to meet our customers need for state-of-the-art voice solutions and development tools that integrate seamlessly with existing systems and infrastructure. Achieving Microsoft Silver Competency further demonstrates our dedication to our customers’ growth and success.

How would you describe your IVR solution?

What business problems does your IVR application solve?

What technologies does your solution use? (ie speech recognition, text-to-speech, etc.)

How did you get started developing with VBVoice?

Investments in self-service applications have skyrocketed during the past two years, with companies’ large and small building or enhancing self-service solutions. It is easily 200 to 300 percent more expensive to have a life agent handle a call than an IVR. It typically costs 25 cents or less for an IVR interaction versus $5 to $7 for an agent.

Self-service IVR technology allows users who are seeking assistance or information to automatically obtain this assistance without the need of human operators.  Self-service provides customer assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Businesses often look to IVR self-service as a way to offload many mundane, repetitive tasks that otherwise fall to their staff. The business benefit of this approach is that the business can handle more calls with fewer representatives, saving scarce resources for more challenging and higher-value tasks.

Example Self-Service applications:

• Banking – change PIN, change of address, balance inquiries, credit requests
• Sales – order status requests
• Utility companies – meter reading, pay bills
• Healthcare solutions – claim status, cancel/reschedule appointments
• Government – check licensing
• Insurance customer – insurance quotes, policy information

Benefits of using a Self-Service IVR:

• Increased customer satisfaction and customer retention by enabling automated IVR self-services from anywhere at any time, with any phone
• Drastically reduce costs, while maintaining high quality service levels
• Offer a multilingual, personalized service
• Multi-channel set up reaching all users, including the disabled and the elderly
• Reuse existing infrastructure and web content investments
• Efficiently manage call peaks and avoid customers waiting in call cues
• Dedicate human agents to more sophisticated services 

Building powerful self-service IVR applications with VBVoice will help automate many transactions that formerly required live employee assistance, while enhancing the user experience by letting them access information more naturally and efficiently 24/7.

Using VBVoice, Acclamation Systems easily implemented a self-service IVR, increasing sales of their add-on module with their new customizable, flexible application.

“We started selling more systems because our customers found the application very easy to implement and use,” commented James Hockenberry, Senior Software Engineer at Acclamation Systems. “VBVoice has enabled us to provide the high level of customization that the benefits administration companies require. They can choose from a wide variety of configurations and settings to adapt the IVR to their needs.”

In my last blog post, I talked about how banks and financial institutions can greatly benefit from IVR technology. Another industry that has begun to utilize IVR to communicate with their residents is Municipal Government.  Municipal Government organizations, including City Hall and courts, are realizing the benefits of automating some of their services. Below I’ve listed a couple of great examples of how Municipal Governments can apply IVR technology to their operations.

1. License, tax, and ticket reminders: Outbound IVR makes it easy for government offices and agencies that are responsible for collecting license fees, taxes, and unpaid tickets to remind residents that a payment is due. Send auto-reminders via telephone to collect more and lower costs for your department.
2. Emergency notification: Communities can utilize an emergency notification system to alert the general public about disasters or events occurring in their neighbourhood, as well as relay any information on evacuation or escape measures. Likewise, if the resident requires special assistance, the call can be routed by the IVR to an emergency line.
3. Auto-attendants: Many government offices and agencies have begun to use a voice-driven auto-attendant IVR to direct telephone calls to the appropriate extension based on selections made by the caller. They replace or help human operators by greeting the caller with a welcome message and routing the call to the right destination.

And MANY more including public works notices, school announcements, reverse 911, and license renewals. The opportunities to use IVR in Municipal Government are endless! Take a look at our Global Solutions Locator to see the list of partners who have already used VBVoice to build IVR applications for Municipal Governments. If you see an opportunity to introduce IVR in government organizations, download VBVoice and start building your prototype for free.