Archisoft - Interactive Voice Response (I.V.R)

page francaise, plus documentee

• Auto Attendants : Callers select which department they wish to speak with...
• Voicemail Systems
• Problem Hotlines
• Tele Surveys : A list of people can be dialed and an asked to respond to questions.
• Fax Back systems : Callers can select what information they are interested in, and the system will fax the selected documents to the fax number of caller's choice
• Data Entry : Callers can report various information to the system, and the data can be saved in a file, collated in a database, emailed or forwarded to other programs for further processing.
• Information Lines : A series of sound files can be played to the caller, with the caller selecting what they want to hear next. Information can be retrieved from Databases and spoken to the caller.
• ...

IVR
We have the right product for you from one channel (phone line ) to 4 channels, 8 channels, 16 channels and more. Software  from $170 (1channel).
Solution.IVR 1 channel (phone line)
Solution.IVR 4 channels, 8 channels, 16 channels and more (phone lines)
Some characteristics of IVR software
Time to choose, FAQ. some informations to help you in your choice
Differents hardwares: Intel / Dialogic phone card 4 channels or Kortex voice modem 1 phone line
Different software: (envox) or  (katalina) to create your own scripts

.An analog voice modem 1channel Kortex compatible

An IVR software (vg4) 1 channel license
- One script
- Waves messages
- Optionnaly one or severals databases (MS Access)
- A multimedia Windows 98 computer

Enquiry

To know more about the IVR software 

- One or morePhone Cards 4 analog channels Dialogic

- One IVR software (envox) or  (katalina)

Enquiry

To know more about the IVR software 

Unlimited number of voicemail boxes with the possibility to send an e-mail message and receive voice mails.
Easy Voice mail manager
Graphical Script Design Environment to create IVR systems
Can control up to 30 lines and more
Advanced functions and transfer call
Database Integration with  ACCESS or EXCEL (all ODBC databases engines)
Email with attached files
Include make call module (it's a Voiceguide option and included in Envox CtStudio)
Allow external software to be run from the script
Possibility to spell numbers from databases (stock quantity, price,...)
Caller id to accept or reject call*.
Log file.
* option.
Top

An Interactive Voice Response solution consists of

One vocal server software (the " engine ")

One or more hardware making it possible to connect the computer to one or several phone lines

One program called a script

One including all the previous ones

How many phone lines do i need ?
How many phone lines do i need (bis), I would like more concrete elements
And if... I spent all this money to conclude that...
May the caller record its own messages ?
May i play sentences according to informations given by the caller ?
Say numbers
Is the software compatible with my databases, XXX format ?
Some informations about global cost
The sound files and pre recorded sentences (Wav...)
Is the server going to be noisy (are we listening all the "conversations") ?
We are going to develop a script for one of our customers but do not wish to make a double investment
Do you think that you will need sooner or later the Text to speech option ?
Are you going to internally create your own script (or subcontract) ?
Can you " test our script ", "make a test with our own databases ", " say us if "...
Can I with... making...?
Can I record my own sentences?
Which INTEL / Dialogic voice card ?
Which files sounds format ?
Which vocal modem ?
Which importance do you grant to quality, reliability - vocal Modem or phone Card?
Which databases ?
Soon or later, is your system will need several simultaneous accesses, phone lines ?

 

• How many phone lines do i need ?

Here is a good question but we have no answer. Everything is affair of compromise
• Solution 1: "Mr Istillknowtheanswer"

If you already have this activity, that it is not a new service which you're going to offer, a new market, a new activity, you already know (for example) that you employ three full-time persons to perform this task. Furthermore you know that these persons are saturated. You can affirm without such risk  that a four lines server should be convenient for you
• Solution 2: "Mr Pragmatic"

Completely safe and defensible method " I choose a four lines solution and as soon as I notice that I often have a saturation of the 3 first ones lines, I add 4 supplementary lines et cetera "
- Advantages: Headaches avoided
- Inconveniences: Budget impossible to determine with inevitable additional costs due to the permanent modification of the system
• Solution 3: "Mr Croesus"

Mr Croesus have not doubts, for him it is not a problem of money. Mr Croesus knows his actual hotline staff and says to himself " I now have 20 phone lines, I am going to create a 40 lines server "
- Advantages: Mr Croesus sets up an oversize system which is not going to saturate. Mr Croesus will probably never need extensions
- Inconvenience: Not everynone is croesus and we "have to count the pennies"
• Solution 4: "Mr Iamacleverperson"

Mr Iamacleverperson says himself " Why to reinvent the wheel? ". Mr Iamacleverperson has the same profession as Mr. Alreadydone, then Mr Iamacleverperson visits Mr Alreadydone who exactly has the same profession as him and applies just a proportion between the number of his customers and the customers of Mr Alreadydone. " Mr Alreadydone has 50000 customers and 8 lines, I only have 25000 customers, so I am going to take 4 lines "
- Advantages: Mr Iamacleverperson is almost certain to don't make a mistake
- Inconveniences: Mr Iamacleverperson knows a Mr Alreadydon who exactly has the same activity as him otherwise he risks to be transformed into "Mr mistaken". Also Mr Alreadydone should be cooperative and supply him the information. Honestly and in Mr Alreadydone's place, I Am not certain that I shall not try to exchange my experience at the risk to be myself as "Mr Stupid"
• Solution 5: " Mr LikeotherstimeIneedtodoallthejobandnotspendtoomuchmoney"

It is likely that you are in this situation. You will find so in the following question some objectives elements to use
Previous
• How many phone lines do i need (bis), I would like more concrete elements

If you have 100000 customers and you think that all your 100000 customers are susceptible to call at the same time the vocal server. If furthermore you wish that nobody undergoes a failure, then the answer is simple, you have need of 100000 lines!
But let us remain serious and you will have to find an answer to this question. " How many customers are susceptible to call at the same time?
• " How much customers do i have during a year?

Example of a movie theater: 150000 customers a year
• If your vocal server is to give schedules of programmes " how many  spectators do i have by Day ? "

Example: 1000 spectators a day, daytime, week end
• This answer being known, the following question is " what percentage of these customers will use this service ? " Example: 20 % inquire by telephone about schedules and films, that is about 200 a day our of the previous 1000
• Following question: Which is the main time slot where the users are going to join the service ?

Example in the case of the theater says between 18h00 and 22h00, the rest being marginal, so when roughly 90% calls of day will be made on the main time slot, that is 90 % of 200 what gives 180 Persons
• Following question: what will be the peak hour? If there was a regular distribution, we could divide the number of persons by the time slot and obtain the number of appelants by hour.

Example: between 19h30 and 20h30 I have 50 % of the calls so during 1 hour half of 180 calls = 90 calls
My peak hour is so 90 calls
In our example we are in the status where I can say " I have 150000 customers a year, to whom the peak hour will represent 90 calls. Our 150000 customers being able to require 150000 phone lines are now decreased to 90 calls with a maximun potential of 90 lines (0,06 % of my clients)
• Let us continue: Now, we know the peak hour (we shall see later the consequences of the script duration on the number of lines).

As in the case of the hour the question to ask is, " Are we going to have a just distribution of the calls on this peak hour or not ? Do i Have a peak of calls during the peak hour? "
Example: We have a maximum of 90 calls at the peak time.  If the distribution is regular we can then say 90/ 60 = 1.5 calls per minute, but regrettably it is not the case. At certain moments I have a peak of 50 % more
Consequently I am not any more at 1,5 calls by minute but 1,5 x 50 % = 2,25 calls by minute
In the worst case I have 2,25 calls by minute
• I know the max number of calls by minute, may i deduct from it that it is the number of lines which I need to be easyt ?

Number of calls by minutes = number of lines ? NO
Regrettably no because it would be too simple and you would miss. A factor of consumption of lines is the average duration of a script. In the question " how may I know the time duration of a call  ? " The answer is not impossible, we just have to write the precise sentences of the scenario, to simulate the scenario and to take a chronometer, You will have a good idea. The whole idea is to know if you are more close to 2 , 5, 10 , 30 minutes or one hour (incidentally it is necessary to know that the more your scenario will be brief, the more your Vocal server will be successful, please ,  imagine yourselves typing the keys of a telephone and listening recorded messages during half an hour !)
Example: The average duration of a scenario is 5 minutes, interrogation of 2 movies and 2 schedules
For simplication of the example, let us consider that we have 2 calls per minute
The following table show us:
• In the horizontal, the hour (in minutes) 05 corresponding for example at 20H05 , 06 at 20H06
• Upright the groups of users 1 for the 1-st group (of 2, because 2 callsper minute), 2 for the 2-nd Group (of 2)...
• In pink(rose); The period of line occupation by the customers. Every minute, there are two calls, so every pink cell consumes 2 phone lines
• The bottom of the table representing the addition of the number of pink compartments over given one minute, that is the number of simultaneous calls, every pink compartment consuming 2 calls (2 calls per minute)

 

	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09
1	2	2	2	2	2
2		2	2	2	2	2
3			2	2	2	2	2
4				2	2	2	2	2
5					2	2	2	2	2
6						2	2	2	2	2
7							2	2	2	2
8								2	2	2
9									2	2
10										2
lignes occupées	2	4	6	8	10	10	10	10	10	10

Which conclusions
- There are same number of persons who call that persons who hang up
- We had 120 "disciplined" persons who made a vocal call, that is 2 per minute and we thought that because there were only two calls in minutes we needed only two lines. It is not real Why?
Simply because the duration of a call is superior in numbers of calls over the period
The first calling did not hang up while the following one begins a call
The formula of the number of used lines is:
Numbers of calls by minutes multiplied by duration of the scenario
Example: 2 calls by minutes x 5 minutes scenario = 10 busy lines
The example which we took arrived at the theoretical conclusion of 10 phone lines. If you primary think of the financial aspect, you can minimize your numbers, yes. If for you the availability is primodial then it will be better to increase the number
In every case think that when your vocal server will reach his "cruising speed", you will need 10 Lines, allows you from the beginning to foresee the matter even if at the beginiing you buy for example only a software and a 8 channels card Previous
• And if... I spent all this money to conclude that...

When we beging such a project, we are not sure to exactly know where it will lead us. Even after answering to some of questions like these
• How many lines do i need ?
• What will be exactly the script ?
• Am i going to develop it myself (in ma company) or entrust somebody to do the job ?
• Will the project turn out not feasible ?
• Do i have enough resources to complete the task ?
To advise and "reassure" you, we can
• Allow you to test the software with an evaluation version of the tool for create scripts
• Suggest you the mimimum investment with our "voiceguide+modem evaluation pack". If your script is working with a modem under w98 then there is no reason that it will not work with a intel-dialogic card under NT.

In no way you will have the possiblity to save the cost of a minimum investment where the most important cost will be the necessary intellectual investment (one of the fisrt steps is to read carefully all the faq)
Previous .
• The sound files or pre-recorded sentences  (Wav,...)

Which format ?
May i record my own messages, is a caller can also do that, ...
Each voice vocale pronounce pre-recorded sentences (for example "hello and welcome")
It is obvious that you have the possibility to record your own sentences of the script
Furthermore, in you want to include such functionnality, the caller will have the possibility to record voice messages
All these sentences, pre-recorded or recorded by the caller have to be recorded in a format compatible with your phone card or the voice modem in use
Please note that the quality is better if all the sentences are recorded by the device card
Before to create your script and record your own sentences, it is better to test the voice card (or the modem) with a sample program to verify that the device is working
Which format ?
There is not one answer to this question but several answers.
You have to choose a sound format compatible with the used device. Some older Intel / dialogic card like the D21D serie will use ADPCM 8bit 8khz while a new generation card will be compatible with  PCM 8bits 16khz format .Wav
Attention: It is not possible to listen an ADPCM file with windows media player. It will be possible to listen ADPCM sound files only by the phone line with the intel dialogic card or to use a specialized tool like the wave editor tool include with Envox
(The purpose of a telephony server is not to listen the sentences used or say by the callers. To establish a connection between two peoples who calls the server, we use some specialized dialogic cards called conferencing cards)
Envox Ctstudio include samples sound files compatible with all recent dialogic cards. This software also use VAP files (library). It is possible to include all the sentences of a script into a single vap file.
Voiceguide include samples sound files compatible with most of voice modems, including the kortex modem, but also with most dialogic cards. Others formats are available in our site
In all case it is necessary to read the device documentation and do severals tests to find the best format.
In case of difficulties please contact us Previous .
• May i play sentences according to informations given by the caller ?

For example, may i create a script in which the caller enter a number by the phone keyboard and according to this number, one information is given.  "12345" -> playback of the file "12345.wav"
Short answer: YES Previous

.

• Is the server noisy (can we ear all the "conversations")

We could smile with this question but it is legitimate to ask. In a first point of view, we can say that a voice server 8 channels is like 8 operators
But the answer is "no"
There is striclty no noise. All messages are played and recorded by the phone line. Also the dialogic cards have no microphone and no speaker Previous
• Which Intel / Dialogic voice card ?

Choosing a Intel / Dialogic card taking his own needs into account Previous

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