Any speech IVR solution deployment requires three major efforts:

• IVR Application Development
• Back-end Integration
• Infrastructure Selection and Deployment

Each of the above steps requires both development expertise and domain experience in speech recognition, IVR, database integration and telephony deployment.  Typically, an IVR project of even low level complexity may last 6 – 9 months and costs in six figures.

We propose an alternative approach: configure pre-packaged IVR applications and deploy these applications on a hosted platform for quick time to market and low startup costs.  Metaphor’s Plug & Play IVR On-Demand allows a customer to select from an inventory of 55 (and growing) list of packages, change business rules in minutes, connect to a web service and deploy the entire solution with the press of a button.  What used to take months can now be done in minutes!

We offer 55 pre-packaged IVR applications that can be configured quickly over the web to fit a large array of customer requirements within the scope of these applications.  Follow a few simple steps below and start having your customers call into a high quality speech IVR application:

Easy Steps to Deploy IVR

Step 1.  Create an account

To use our service, create a free account on our Plug & Play site.  Click the IVR Account link and follow the instructions.  This account will give you access to all of our applications and provide limited calling capabilities.

Step 2.  Select an application and give it a name.

When you have activated your account, log in to the site.  You will see a large inventory of IVR applications organized by Inbound/Outbound and by vertical sectors like Retail, Heathcare, etc.  Add any of these applications into your account, by giving them names of your choice.  You can add multiple applications at a time.

Step 3.  Change welcome prompts and other business variables.

Once applications are added, you can go to the Configure tab and select the application you want to customize.  There is a list of variables available to you for customization, including business variables and prompts.  You can change the prompts, by invoking a TTS, recording a prompt in your own voice or using one of our voice talents to professionally record your prompts in a studio environment.

Step 4.  Deploy.

Once all variables and prompts are configured, you can hit the Deploy button, which automatically deploys the application with your changes in our test environment.  For inbound applications, a telephone number is attached to the application for call-in.  Start making your test calls.  Once satisfied you can deploy to production. 
  
Step 5.  Back-end connectivity by configuring web services

For back-end integration, Metaphor standardizes on web services interface.   From the Manage Data tab in the Plug & Play web site, you can configure the connectivity to your web services.  These web services can reside within the secure environment of your data center and only allow access to the fields that the customer webservice allows to be exposed.  For additional security, encrypted access can be provided.  You can hit the Test button and check the connectivity to your webservice.

Step 6.  Run reports and access logs

Once an application is deployed in production, you have access to usage reports in the form of charts for the duration that you are interested in.  You can also download the data from these reports in Excel or XML format for further analysis. 

Summary

Metaphor provides a very easy to use Plug & Play environment to configure and manage IVR package applications.  Connectivity to customer’s data and transaction systems is accomplished using web services.  Since the web service and access is managed by the customer, there is no issue of data compromise.

In addition to the 55+ application packages, Metaphor has reusable modules that allow building of more complex and custom applications a snap.  Any custom application can be created in a matter of 2-3 days using these pre-built and pre-tested modules.  We will explore building custom applications at another time on our blog.