Rheid Communications

The customers seeking this type of hosted service are companies that have a working legacy PABX system and want a low cost IVR system that integrates with their existing infrastructure.

Deployment Details

The deployment of this scenario includes:

1. Interconnection hardware
2. Interconnection process
3. (Optional) Sound recording
4. Hosted IVR setup
   

Interconnection Hardware

To connect the company's legacy PBX and external phone lines with a Hosted IVR, you need a VoIP gateway device or ATA. Depending on the nature of the PBX (analog or digital), you need a device that can convert between SIP messages and analog/ digital signalling.

Interconnection Process

Let's take a look at a brief example. The customer, a medium-sized company, needs a simple IVR that offers basic information to the callers. If the callers need further help, they can press 0 and the call will be transferred to an operator.

1. Connect the legacy PBX to the VoIP gateway (using an interface port), just like you would connect a normal phone line. Setup the legacy PBX so that all incoming call on this line are directed to the operator's phone.
2. Connect the VoIP gateway to the TCP/IP network.
3. From the Hosted IVR interface, create a phone terminal extension account associated with the VoIP gateway. The Hosted IVR server will treat the gateway as a SIP phone.
4. Configure the VoIP gateway to register to the Hosted IVR server using the new extension's authentication data.
5. From the Hosted IVR interface, create an IVR extension. Assign a public phone number to this extension so it can be reached from a phone in the public network (i.e. a phone connected to the PSTN).

To transfer calls to the operator, use a Transfer to extension action in the IVR. Transfer to the phone terminal extension created at step 3.

Note

VoIP gateways usually have multiple interface ports. You can connect the PBX to the gateway through multiple lines and then create hosted extensions for each of these lines. Basically, you can forward to multiple extensions based on the user selection (sales, support, customer service, etc).

This is the resulting call flow:

1. Customer calls the public phone number of the IVR extension.
2. If the customer cannot find the desired information in the IVR, he/ she can press 0.
3. The IVR transfers the call to the VoIP gateway.
4. The gateway converts the call from SIP to analog/ digital format and forwards it to the legacy PBX.
5. The legacy PBX connects the call to the operator's phone device.

Sound Recording

In order to create a professional IVR system, you need voice prompts. During the planning phase, you must decide if the default sounds included with your Hosted IVR are appropriate for your needs. Since these sounds are quite basic, you will probably have to record new sounds.

Hosted IVR Setup

Implementing a hosted auto-attendant in is a simple task. Start off by creating an extension of type IVR. An IVR consists of a series of menus (context is the term used in our interface). Each menu has 15 options: 12 represent the keys on the phone pad and the remaining 3 are control options (start, timeout and invalid). For each option you can define a sequence of actions that will be performed by your hosted IVR when the option is selected (e.g. when the caller presses a certain key on his/her phone pad). Here is a brief listing of available actions:

• You can play sounds for your callers that explain the options of each menu.
• You can create a multi-lingual IVR by providing sounds in different languages. The caller is given the menu option to choose the language of the played sounds.
• You can jump from one menu to another.
• You can treat calls differently based on the Caller-ID or the time when the option is selected by the caller.
• You can transfer the call to another extension on the same client account as the IVR extension.
• Record the keys a caller presses on the phone pad and use the recorded value to perform certain actions (e.g. transfer the call to another extension).

Tips

Plan the IVR

The planning phase is very important. The menus must have a logical structure, the actions must flow naturally. Keep in mind that the main purpose of the IVR is to offer quick, standard, and frequently requested information. The customer should be able to easily contact a human representative. If your caller is able to reach the needed information quickly and effortlessly, the impression on the company will be positive.

It is important that you design a scalable IVR. This means you have to identify the areas where the IVR will possibly expand (e.g. where new announcements will be played, etc.). Then you should map these areas into separate IVR contexts. Contexts give you room for extending and adding new options.

Remember to give contexts and variables simple and descriptive names. Otherwise, you will experience problems when you will need to modify the IVR. You should also plan a robust IVR, one that can deal with invalid user input or users taking too long to provide input. You can use the timeout or invalid context options for this purpose.

Our Hosted IVR service has many advanced IVR features, but none of them can substitute thorough planning.

Debug Features

You can debug IVRs by using:

• The IVR report - This function checks the consistency of the IVR and reports the found errors, warnings, etc. Our web interface reports the following types of problems:
  • The IVR does not have an entry context.
  • The IVR's entry context does not have actions defined for the start option.
  • A menu action tries to perform a transfer to an extension that no longer exists in the system.
  • A menu action tries to perform a transfer to a context that no longer exists.
  • A menu action plays a sound that no longer exists in the system.
• The IVR schema - This function displays a map of all the IVR menus and their interconnections (i.e. jump actions). The map is interactive and you can access menu options by clicking the corresponding area. It is also very useful to get an overview image of the IVR.