Interactive Voice Response Applications Research Articles

A Study on Behaviour of Customers towards the Mobile Banking Services with Reference to Athirappillygrama Panchayath

Mobile banking has given the ease to consumer that has reduced the footfall of the consumer in banks by performing the transaction easily by sitting at that place or office. The mobile application of banking is working on the IVR (Interactive Voice Response), SMS (Short Message Service), WAP (Wireless Access Protocol) or Standalone Mobile Application Client channel. The demand and usage of mobile banking increases due to its cost effectiveness and saves the time of the user. It reduces the chances of fraud and user can access at account 24x7. Mobile banking is beneficial not only to the user but also to the bank.

Genetic-based algorithms for resource management in virtualized IVR applications

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is a technology that allows automatic human-computer interactions, via a telephone keypad or voice commands. The systems are widely used in many industries, including telecommunications and banking. Virtualization is a potential technology that can enable the easy development of IVR applications and their deployment on the cloud. IVR virtualization will enable efficient resource usage by allowing IVR applications to share different IVR substrate components such as the key detector, the voice recorder and the dialog manager. Resource management is part and parcel of IVR virtualization and poses a challenge in virtualized environments where both processing and network constraints must be considered. Considering several objectives to optimize the resource usage makes it even more challenging. This paper proposes IVR virtualization task scheduling and computational resource sharing (among different IVR applications) strategies based on genetic algorithms, in which different objectives are optimized. The algorithms used by both strategies are simulated and the performance measured and analyzed.

A case study on IVR applications' provisioning as cloud computing services

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) applications (e.g. automated attendant, automated survey) have become ubiquitous. However, very few, if any, IVR applications are provisioned today as cloud computing services despite all the potential benefits. Cloud computing is an emerging multi-faceted paradigm, whose main facets are Infrastructure as a Service-IaaS, Platform as a Service-PaaS, and Software as a Service-SaaS. This paper proposes a case study on IVR applications' provisioning as cloud computing services. It identifies the IVR substrates (e.g. key detector, voice recorder and dialog manager) on which the IVR applications rely and proposes at the IaaS level an IVR substrate virtualization infrastructure. Substrates' virtualization enables a more efficient resource usage, a key benefit inherent to cloud computing. The article also proposes at the PaaS level an accompanying platform to develop and manage the IVR applications which use the identified virtualized substrates. A few typical IVR applications are also developed and managed to illustrate the SaaS facet of cloud computing. The implementation is described, along with the prototype and the performance measurements.

A study into the automation of cognitive assessment tasks for delivery via the telephone: Lessons for developing remote monitoring applications for the elderly

Cognitive assessments are valuable tools in assessing neurological conditions. They are critical in measuring deficits in cognitive function in an array of neurological disorders and during the ageing process. Automation of cognitive assessments is one way to address the increasing burden on medical resources for an ever increasing ageing population. This study investigated the suitability of using automated Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology to deliver a suite of cognitive assessments to older adults using speech as the input modality. Several clinically valid and gold-standard cognitive assessments were selected for implementation in the IVR application. The IVR application was designed using human centred design principles to ensure the experience was as user friendly as possible. Sixty one participants completed two IVR assessments and one face to face (FF) assessment with a neuropsychologist. Completion rates for individual tests were inspected to identify those tests that are most suitable for administration via IVR technology. Interclass correlations were calculated to assess the reliability of the automated administration of the cognitive assessments across delivery modes. While all participants successfully completed all automated assessments, variability in the completion rates for different cognitive tests was observed. Statistical analysis found significant interclass correlations for certain cognitive tests between the different modes of administration. Analysis also suggests that an initial FF assessment reduces the variability in cognitive test scores when introducing automation into such an assessment. [corrected] This study has demonstrated the functional and cognitive reliability of administering specific cognitive tests using an automated, speech driven application. This study has defined the characteristics of existing cognitive tests that are suitable for such an automated delivery system and also informs on the limitations of other cognitive tests for this modality. This study presents recommendations for developing future large scale cognitive assessments.

Overcoming challenges to screening and brief intervention implementation with technology: the promise of interactive voice response systems

While the efficacy of screening and brief intervention (SBI) is supported by multiple clinical trials, routine delivery of SBI is hampered by complex factors, both individual and systemic. An alternative to the traditional in-office approach to SBI holds promise as a way of broadening its reach. The purpose of this study is to share our experience using interactive voice response (IVR) technology to deliver and augment SBI in primary care. We draw on experience from a 12-year program of research in this area, summarizing results from prior studies and describing a new trial currently underway. Questions regarding the nature of IVR; how it works; why it might be a helpful modality for fostering, delivering, and/or augmenting SBI; and how others can embark on IVR research are addressed. We provide a brief overview of the IVR applications we have employed in alcohol research, a description of some methodological challenges we encountered in a prior SBI trial, and how these experiences led us to develop our current IVR-based SBI program. We cover technicalities of developing IVR applications and issues of their implementation in research. Interactive voice response is a feasible modality for delivering assessment and advice about drinking. The technology required for implementation is accessible to researchers and clinicians who do not necessarily have specialized training or expertise. Although this technology offers several advantages, including patient comfort with disclosure of personal information and widespread access and availability, it has downsides as well. For example, refusal and noncompliance can be higher than in other modalities. A small body of research suggests that process variables such as interviewer voice characteristics, survey length, and questionnaire-item format may influence consent to participate and compliance with IVR surveys and interventions.

Improving Older Adults' Experience with Interactive Voice Response Systems

Interactive voice response (IVR) systems use computer-based voice recognition and software algorithms to conduct human/computer interactions. In recent years, there has been a proliferation of IVR applications in business and healthcare. The available evidence suggests that older people have negative attitudes towards IVR and experience significant difficulties using these systems. The goal of this project was to identify areas of difficulties in IVR use by older people and propose strategies for improvement. During two focus groups, we examined older people's perceptions of IVR systems and the most common difficulties experienced by seniors in interacting with these systems. We also recorded their suggestions for improvement of IVR. Frequency and chi square analyses were performed on the focus groups data. Some of the difficulties reported by participants in this study were congruent with previous findings, but we also uncovered some additional problems, such as frustration for not being able to reach an operator, being asked to wait too long on hold, being unable to recover from mistakes, and an absence of shortcuts in the systems. In addition, significant number of participants indicated that they prefer a system that adjusts to them automatically as opposed to a system that allows for adjustment. Generally, our findings suggest that the poor acceptability of IVR systems by older people could be improved by designing IVR algorithms that detect difficulties during an ongoing IVR exchange and direct people to different algorithms adapted for each person.

Extensible Interactive Voice Response

The present invention discloses a system and method for providing interactive voice response (IVR) applications executable on individual communication devices. Unlike current IVR applications that run from centralized voice servers, the present invention describes a system in which communication units initiate communication with a multimedia server over a data network such as the Internet and download extensible copies of voice response applications. The communication device then runs the voice response applications, thus, locally administering the voice messages and accepting the voice or data input from a user. The multimedia server may preferably divide the application software into executable segments to accommodate communication devices with limited memory resources, such as mobile phones and hand-held computers. The system and method may implement different level of complexity by breaking application functionality into modules and the sub-modules. For multi-module applications, the communication units will re-establish communication links with the multimedia server to download each necessary or subsequent module or sub-module. The system and method may also allow users to connect directly to agents or operators to perform tasks that are too complex for efficient automation. The system may connect users and agents using any combination of a data network and voice network. The implementation of the voice response application using the data network connection allows a reduction in the number of telephone ports into an IVR and also allows multiple users to access the IVR over the same line, because of the asynchronous nature of the data network.

Manual Testing and Quality Monitoring of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) applications

Do you know which is never busy? Your answer would be Watch. Yes, you are absolutely correct. Time is one of the precious factors in our life and to persevere with time there is another dimension called IVR which is never busy and always set to assist their customers, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In today’s world customer relationship hold the key to success or we would say survival also. Thanks to the globalization where challenge is just 800 number away. Various organizations are currently using more than hundred call centre [1] related applications to support its external and internal communication interfaces. These IVR applications truly symbolize the brand of a company by seamlessly offering complex self-service features like credit card processing, employee benefit surveys, order processing and status, inventory confirmation, bill inquiry and submission, account status and stock quotes and orders etc. to their customers. To constantly stay ahead of business, organizations need to adopt innovative technologies, migrate their IVR applications from legacy platforms to enterprise platforms to improve operational efficiencies & enhance customer experience.. Investment such as in Migrating IVR applications from one platform to another platform are huge and involve lots of risk. Organizations cannot go ahead and do proof of concept (PoC) [2] as migrating applications from one platform to another is a big initiatives with full of unknowns and include software development costs, license fee and infrastructure cost etc. Organizations really have to de-risk and plan their development and more importantly their testing strategies by careful planning and execution approach. Organizations need to decide success factors beforehand. This paper outlines importance of manual testing and use of automation tools to facilitate organizations in making good testing strategies for an improved end-user satisfaction – to help customer retention and bring loyalty. This paper aims to give an insight on what to consider while choosing between Manual Testing or Automation Testing to test IVR applications, Why automation is difficult in testing IVR applications and use of automation tools in monitoring IVR applications.

Speech Versus Touch: A Comparative Study of the Use of Speech and DTMF Keypad for Navigation

This article reports on an experiment that critically tests user preference for an input modality (speech vs. Dual Tone Multiple Frequency[DTMF])in a phone-based message retrieval system. Unlike previous studies that compared these two modalities, the speech system used in this study was a fully functioning natural language system, and participants in this study were working professionals, rather than college students. Results indicate that (a) DTMF was more effective and efficient for linear tasks, whereas speech was better for nonlinear tasks; (b) speech was preferred to DTMF by a majority of users; (c) speech was judged as being more satisfying, more entertaining, and easier to use than DTMF; and (d) user preference for a particular modality was better predicted by user performance in nonlinear tasks rather than linear ones. Possible reasons for users' continuing preference for the speech modality even after experiencing fairly high recognition errors are discussed. Finally, the importance of examining speech user interfaces from other perspectives, in addition to efficiency maximization, is emphasized. The results of this study have theoretical, as well as practical, implications for the design of speech user interfaces and interactive voice response applications.

Analysing interactive voice services

IVR (Interactive Voice Response) services are increasingly prevalent in automated telephone enquiry systems. VoiceXML (Voice eXtensible Markup Language) has become one of the leading languages for IVR. The nature of IVR services is introduced, along with an explanation of how they are represented in VoiceXML. However a VoiceXML description is at a low level, so it is difficult to gain an overview of the service that is offered. There is also no rigorous way to check the integrity of an IVR application. C ress (Chisel Representation Employing Systematic Specification) is a graphical notation for describing services in an abstract, language-independent manner. For this paper, IVR services are described with C ress, and translated into L otos (Language Of Temporal Ordering Specification) for automated analysis. Because of the infinite state space, it is not practicable to formally verify the generated specifications. Instead, the focus is on more practical solutions. The properties of a specification are checked by including observer processes to monitor undesirable situations like repeatedly prompting the user for input. M ustard (Multiple-Use Scenario Test And Refusal Description) is introduced as a language for defining scenario-based tests of services. The approach is illustrated with sample tests of IVR services. It is seen how M ustard helps to build confidence in an IVR application. The paper also introduces a feature concept for IVR, and discusses feature interaction in this context. General categories of IVR feature interaction are presented. It is shown how C ress and M ustard combine to help discover interactions among IVR features.

Relief from the audio interface blues

Menus, lists, and forms are the workhorse dialogue structures in telephone-based interactive voice response applications. Despite diversity in applications, there is a surprising homogeneity in the menu, list, and form styles commonly employed. There are, however, many alternatives, and no single style fits every prospective application and user population. A design space for each dialogue structure organizes the alternatives and provides a framework for analyzing their benefits and drawbacks. In addition to phone-based interactions, the design spaces apply to any limited-bandwidth, temporally constrained display devices, including small-screen devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and screen phones.

Human Factors Problems in Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Applications: Do we Need a Guideline/Standard?

The purpose of this paper is to present a case for the development of a user interface design guideline or standard for interactive voice response applications, to be widely disseminated throughout business and industry. A number of sample problems are cited, based on the author's consulting experience in this area, which serve to demonstrate that many of the problems encountered in IVR application development, particularly in scripting/dialogue design and use of automated speech recognition as a front-end, are not only solvable, but easily avoidable, given the current human factors knowledge base. The paper also discusses the Specification Document developed by the Voice Messaging User Interface Forum (1990, April), and the reasons why it cannot be applied, as written, to the user interface design of more complex IVR applications. Finally, the author proposes an approach to developing the proposed guideline/standard.

Skip and Scan Telephone Menus: User Performance as a Function of Experience

We present the results of a laboratory study comparing three styles of audio menus. One of these styles is the technique predominantly employed in interactive voice response (IVR) systems today. Two alternatives to this Standard technique were evaluated in this study. One of these alternatives was first proposed in Resnick and Virzi (1992), which they called Skip and Scan menus. This new style was hypothesized to be superior to Standard menus for intermediate users, but was expected to show limitations for one-time callers and expert users. The third menu alternative we evaluated combines elements of the Standard and Skip and Scan menus and was hypothesized to be superior in a broad range of usage conditions. Performance was measured over 36 tasks and two IVR applications. In all but the first few trials, the Skip and Scan menu style reported in Resnick and Virzi led to performance equal to or better than the other two menu styles. Standard menus showed a performance benefit for the first few trials of the first application only: this benefit was not present in the second application. There were no differences among the techniques in the trials simulating expert behavior.