Gain the knowledge and skills you need to plan, design and implement effective touch-tone and speech recognition self-service systems.

Learn scientifically-proven techniques that increase throughput and IVR containment while reducing errors.

ICMI and Enterprise Integration Group, Inc. (EIG) have joined forces to bring you practical guidance on designing the best customer-focused Interactive Voice Response (IVR) for your business. The workshop provides an immersion in touch-tone and speech recognition IVR design principles with an emphasis on practical dialogue design. Recommendations are based on extensive research into how to make IVR a desired and useful customer touchpoint.

In its eleventh year, this workshop has been updated recently to reflect the latest trends and research. If you attended in the past and need a refresher, call Katrina Williams at 410-27-0700 x261 for the past attendee discount of 25% off the non-member price.

Register today and learn how to:

• Understand specialized IVR terms and abbreviations
• Design a customer-focused IVR
• Apply principles from human psychology
• Structure menus that are easy to navigate
• Use natural language that helps (not hinders) customer satisfaction

After two days, you will be equipped to:

• Evaluate your IVR's quality
• Create scripts that communicate your brand and make sense to the customer
• Migrate to speech recognition (if that is appropriate for your application)
• Implement your design successfully with thorough planning and testing
• Make the IVR business case

The teaching style is hands-on and highly participative. Attendees will learn specific and detailed techniques through numerous examples, case studies, research studies and the chance to consider the principles learned in the context of their organization. This is not a programming class, but rather an opportunity for you to explore how IVR can help accomplish, not frustrate, your business objectives.

View the Program Outline.

Does your touch-tone application:

• Include excessive opening instructions that callers never remember?
• List more than 4 choices in the main menu?
• Consistently lead users down incorrect paths?
• Disrupt CSR productivity with angry and poorly served callers?

EIG understands these and many other ineffective practices — not simply as a matter of opinion, but from real research.

Does your speech application:

• Keep declaring, “I didn’t understand that”?
• Offer “context-sensitive help” that never seems to help?
• Get lost in yes-no questions—despite synonyms like “sure” and “O.K.”?
• Strive toward a “conversational” and social personality?

Unfortunately, these practices are actually encouraged by many industry leaders. This workshop will not only explain why they are detrimental to success, but will provide alternative best practices that are solid and well tested.

When migrating from touch-tone to speech, have you encountered:

• Conflicting advice from speech vendors and consultants?
• Touch-tone designs that don't seem to work well with speech?
• Missing skills in the development team?
• Slipped schedules, last-minute surprises, design drift?
• Business cases that don’t seem to convince upper management?

These problems are common as touch-tone specialists grapple with the “speech-beast.” EIG guidelines are designed specifically to help organizations with technology migration challenges.

Would you place your customers in the hands of poorly trained and ill-informed call center agents? Of course not. Then, don't place your customers in the "hands" of a poorly designed IVR. Learn what others have uncovered through hours of research to stop frustrating your customers, your representatives and your business objectives.

Who Should Attend?

This workshop is aimed at those responsible for customer contact applications, including contact center directors/VPs, call center managers, and IVR specialists. The course applies to customer service, sales and technical support applications from virtually every industry. The focus of the course is on customer self-service and the technology details required to design effective applications. Both novices and IVR experts have attended and recommend this workshop.

Course Materials

Comprehensive course manual
EIG Official Glossary of Speech, IVR and Computer Telephony Terms
Article reprints
A certificate of completion

View the Program Outline.

Learn more about EIG, the course developer.

This course is also available in the United Kingdom. For dates and locations, contact Alan Vaughan at alan@callcentreconsultants.com or 44 1789 490111 to register.