Most customer service call centers experience spikes in call volume. For contact centers handling calls during crises, these spikes can be big. With citizens around the world looking for reliable information on the quickly expanding COVID-19 Coronavirus disease, rapid response Visual IVR deployments provide the stability and assistance they need.

Websites, news agencies, and other media are critical avenues for disseminating important information to the public, but crisis managers can’t afford to overlook another channel in their integrated communications strategy: phone calls.

“With citizens around the world looking for reliable information on the expanding COVID-19 Coronavirus disease, rapid response Visual IVR deployments provide the stability and assistance they need.”

Rapid Response

Millions of people still prefer calling into agencies in a crisis, but modern technology means crisis managers can deliver faster, more powerful experiences through phone channels than ever before. Callers are reaching out to get information as quickly as possible, but when volume spikes like it is during the current Coronavirus situation, contact centers can take a long time to catch up. By deploying efficient self-service like Visual IVR, these call centers can catch up virtually instantly.

Visual IVR provides impressive value in times like these and delivers important benefits:

• Rapid deployments allow contact centers and managers to implement and deploy Visual IVR responses in days, even during a crisis
• Powerful editing tools empower managers and decision-makers to quickly and easily edit public information alerts on Visual IVR platforms
• Visual IVR lets call centers deflect calls to self-service and reduce the burden on agents
• Self-service automation provides callers the answers they are looking for 24/7
• Visual interfaces give important assistance to callers with hearing loss or who are hard of hearing

Accessible Solution Complements Current Systems

A Visual IVR call deploys right on top of whatever IVR or backend system contact centers are already using, making deployment simple and the callers’ experience intuitive. Callers simply opt into the visual experience, receive a link to the Visual IVR via SMS, and are instantly connected to the information they need.

These digital experiences leverage every advantage of modern technology. Smartphones mean visual experiences can intuitively play videos to better explain complex situations and hold the attention of nervous callers, integrate geolocation capabilities to direct callers to field locations for testing or further information, pass that information to native map applications like Google Maps so patients can easily find directions to where they need to go, and so many other possibilities. The new era of Visual IVR phone calls means most callers get exactly what they need in a fraction of the time and completely avoid waiting on hold.

Success Is A Tap Away

In a crisis, every decision matters. When more crisis managers deploy Visual IVR self-service in their contact centers, more callers will get the information they need to remain updated and stay safe, fewer callers will abandon their search for information because of long wait times and unsatisfactory experiences, and agencies responding to these spikes in volume will be empowered to do their jobs better and more efficiently. Digital transformation has affected every sector of our modern economy, and contact centers are better off because of it.