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When
PHE, Inc. of Hillsborough, North Carolina, discovered
their reliable 7-year-old Avaya "Conversant" VRU
(voice response unit) was no longer supported, the
IT department knew it was time for a new relationship.
The Avaya system was not only expensive to maintain,
it didn't allow the flexibility PHE needed to cost-effectively
handle customers from the company's various divisions.
PHE's
main division, Adam & Eve, is the nation's leading
adult mail order catalog company. Adam & Eve
has over four million customers nationwide, with
mail, phone and Internet orders placed daily. Additionally,
PHE has many other divisions for which it accepts
orders, including VideoMail, VideoGold and Adam & Eve
adult video clubs; AdamMale, a catalog and web site
for gay men; Secret Passions; and Adam & Eve
Productions. Each division has a specific audience
to which PHE caters.
When
investigating new IVR possibilities, Jerry Craig,
PHE's Information Systems Director, wanted a system
that could easily support calls for all of PHE's
subsidiaries, with room to grow. The IVR system is
a very important channel through which customers
contact and do business with PHE. After some research
and Internet searches, Craig found Don Rima's Spotlight
review in eServer Magazine, iSeries edition and decided
to investigate further.
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From
left to right: Jerry Craig, Jimmy Keith
and Tim Edmondson.
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Craig
contacted iMessaging Systems and after learning more
about iVoice Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and
its iSeries-control capabilities, he said, "Your
solution sounds like it could be a good fit for us
since our developers have the knowledge to create
and modify the applications." One major requirement
of the new system was the capture and recognition
of Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS) – with
multiple divisions serviced by the same IVR, this
function was crucial. In fact, the deal was predicated
on iVoice's ability to collect the DNIS data.
DNIS
is the ability for the system to recognize the telephone
number dialed by the calling party. The ability for
the iVoice system to recognize and collect the DNIS
digits means that PHE can brand each product line
by publishing a variety of toll-free "vanity" numbers.
Here's how it works: PHE publishes a toll-free number
for their Adam & Eve catalog. Whenever a customer
calls PHE with the Adam & Eve number, the "dialed
digits" or DNIS information is collected by
iVoice, allowing iVoice to know which division the
caller is trying to reach and playing a custom welcome
greeting and voice application. With DNIS, PHE can
keep the individual branding of each division while
using a single, integrated iVoice system.
Confident
the proposed solution was sound, iMessaging engaged
one of their Avaya specialists to review the plans
and ensure a smooth transition. The ultimate solution
used the Avaya switch to capture the incoming call's
DNIS, then send along the DNIS digits to iVoice.
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Jimmy
Keith
iSeries
RPG programmer
PHE, Inc.
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iVoice
performs many functions for PHE's customers via Touch
Tone and Automated Speech Recognition (ASR), including
order taking, order status (back order, shipping
status, problems with order, etc.) and notifying
callers of their wait time in the queue. If a customer
uses ASR and the system cannot understand what they
said due to a heavy accent or speech difficulties,
the caller is then prompted to repeat the statement.
If iVoice is still unable to understand, the customer
is automatically transferred to an operator. PHE
estimates that 75% of callers utilize the ASR feature
when compared to the Touch Tone interaction method.
But, at any time, callers can reach a Customer Service
Representative by saying, "Transfer" or "Operator," or
pressing zero on the Touch Tone keypad.
Implementing
the applications on iVoice was a breeze, according
to Jimmy Keith, PHE's iSeries RPG programmer, "With
2 days of in-house training, we were on our way.
iMessaging provided great support and prompt feedback
to any of our questions." The iSeries-controlled
programming capability of iVoice not only saves PHE
time, it saves the company a lot of money. Craig
explains that they previously worked with an Avaya
business partner to develop and implement new scripts: "Scripting
was difficult – each new update was very expensive,
and the turnaround was slow compared to iVoice. Very
simple changes would have taken a couple months,
minimum, to complete, test and go live. With iVoice,
the same revisions are done in-house in a week or
less." With iVoice, PHE can modify and update
scripts whenever necessary, with no additional outlay
of money. "If we had to outsource the same updates
we've made with iVoice, we would've spent $30,000
to $40,000 in development costs," Craig states.
Tim Edmondson, PHE's Project Leader, adds that it
is just "all-around easier that we can do the
programming ourselves with iVoice."
Over
the course of implementation of the new iVoice IVR
system, Craig recalls there were about 6 revisions
needed to the system. The iMessaging programmers
were very responsive to PHE's needs – according
to Craig, all questions and modifications were addressed
quickly, and iMessaging was back to them with the
answers and revisions they needed within days – "much
faster than anticipated, and definitely faster than
our previous arrangement."
With
only 6 weeks from the approval of the contract to
going live (including delivery of equipment, development
of scripts, recording the voices and testing of thesystem),
Craig estimates that they received an ROI in about
half the time they would have with any of the other
systems they were considering. "And," states
Craig, "iVoice meets all our present and future
needs."
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