Interactive voice response (IVR) platforms and their associated applications are predominately contact center technologies. But the fundamental value of IVR - its ability to route calls and manage the inbound and outbound flow of data - makes it a valuable tool beyond a purely customer service-related capacity. Notably, IVR has long been a tool for providers of local search such as 411 services.
However, IVR is not widely thought of as an internal tool for enterprises. As such, enterprises and even vendors often overlook the benefits of IVR as an employee-facing deployment. But as enterprises place a premium on streamlining internal communications, IVR has become a vital component for powering unified communications (UC) and for enabling enterprises to manage their employees and their assets. This report will provide an overview of enterprise uses for IVR beyond a customer service capacity in UC and field force automation. This theme excludes the substantial market for IVR as a search tool (for 411 or for finding music and ringtones) and customer-facing deployments of outbound IVR.
