IVRs are the backbone for a contact center ACD. They can be pleasantly simple and they can also be quite complicated. I touched on a few of the more complex operations in the second linked post. Now I’m going to write about a few more of the IVR components that the Q-Suite features in its dialplan builder.
- Get SIP Header Data – Sometimes the caller ID of an inbound call is not enough data. This component allows you to parse through the SIP Header information to find the following points of interest: Contact, Diversion, From, P-Asserted-Identity, Subject, To, and Via. Choose to store these in channel variables or create custom variables that you can assign to custom fields, in order to view this data in an agent portal.
- Ratio Router – Have you ever wanted to send 67% of your inbound calls down a VIP branch, 24% of the calls down a lower priority branch, and 9% into voicemail with one IVR component? You can. Simply place the Ratio Router component in your dialplan, enter your desired percentages, and choose the branches for the calls.
- String Match – This can be of use if you are looking to compare a dialplan variable to a known string. You can use the following operators: Contains, Ends With, Is Equal To, and Starts With. Once you have your variable, operator, and value configured, just ensure your true and false exits are set and away you go onto the next IVR component.
I’m a fairly strong supporter of the KISS rule for creating IVRs, but sometimes you really need to take your IVR to the next level in order to accomplish certain tasks before handing the caller off to an agent. The Q-Suite provides a solid toolkit for making great dialplans. Simple or advanced, it can get the job done.