IVR Meaning and Full Form | How IVR Banking System Works

In the modern banking system, banks try to give their customers different means to connect with the banks. And for this purpose, they use the latest technologies along with the traditional methods as well. IVR Banking system is one of the latest technologies.

In this post, we will chat what is IVR, what is the full form of IVR? And how the banks use this system to enhance their business and to cut their costs.

Meaning and full form of IVR

As a bank customer when you want to know something about your account or other offers of your bank, you can connect with the bank in different ways. You may visit the branch, you may use internet banking or mobile banking. Moreover, you have the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) Help section facility or an option to connect with the customer care through a call.

Thus when you make a call through your mobile or basic phone to the bank helpline, you may get the answer. But firstly you connect with the pre-recorded voice. This voice helps you to solve your issue without connecting with the customer care executive i.e. Live Agent. This is the IVR Banking Solution.

According to the nature of the IVR system, its full form is Interactive Voice Response system. Banks including companies use this system to connect with their customers and try to provide with the reasonable solutions of their issues.

Thus the IVR is the procedure through which you get the answer of your unsolved questions without connecting to a live agent.

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How the IVR Banking System Works

Now see how the Interactive Voice Response system works as a bridge between the banks and customers.

As I said when you make a call to the helpline of your bank, firstly you interact with the pre recorded voice. Thus you can not chat with that voice and can not describe your problem. But this voice asks you to dial or press a particular number of phone keypad. In this way, it tries to solve your issues with the help of predetermined options. If your issue lies in any option, you get the resolution quickly.

You must be thinking that how can the IVR system recognizes that you have pressed the right key. I tell you. The IVR system works on DTMF tones (Dual Tone Multi-Frequency tones). We can say DTMF tones as ‘Touch Tones’ from a telephone i.e. Voice Recognition Technology. When we press any key from a telephone, it sounds different tone from other keys. The IVR system can recognize the sounds of every key separately. Then it gives you the right answer.

Moreover, now the modern IVR solutions work on the basis of spoken words with voice recognition as well. So the caller can get the resolution through the spoken words with the IVR system. This intelligence is called Artificial Intelligence (AI) which performs like a human intelligence. However, basically it is a machine intelligence.

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Merits

Let us see how an efficient IVR system gives the benefits both the Bank and Callers-

• The banks find it as a highly useful service. Because it reduces the cost of sales, unnecessary manpower and inquiry time period.
• It also reduces unnecessary calls from customers.
• IVR system handles the smaller queries of customers and makes free the live agents to handle comparatively bigger queries.
• IVR system also facilitates the customers by providing the resolution at an early stage of the questioning.
• Thus the customers not need to visit the branch frequently for their queries.
• It is fully automated, user friendly and almost free of charge facility.
• IVR system works on a 24X7 basis. Thus the customers can contact their bank even after the working hours.
• IVR system works on different languages. So you feel free to make a call.

Demerits

Along with the merits the IVR system has some demerits as well. These are-

• It may take a long time to reach the exact issue because there are many options
• If you find there is no option of your issue, then you try to connect with the live agent
• Sometimes it has no match what we want. Thus we feel here a wastage of time
• You may have to wait for a long period to connect with the executive
• When the call is disconnected due to some technical reason, it creates frustration
• The quality of communication plays a vital role.