Outbound IVR Overview

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Outbound IVR Overview

• Steven R. Brown
• VP, Client Services

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Syllabus

• Company Background
• Outbound Uses and Features
• Implementation
• Step 1 Develop Application
• Step 2 Set Outbound Settings
• Step 3 Place Calls
• Outbound API
• Outbound Campaign Manager
• Case Study

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Who is Angel.com?

• Hosted IVR and call center solutions provider
• Founded in 1999 subsidiary of MicroStrategy,
  Inc. (NASDAQ MSTR)
• Over 1,600 customers in 20 different industries
• Over 10,000 applications deployed more than any
  other IVR/call center solutions provider
• Presenter Steven R. Brown
• VP, Client Services Dean of IVR University
• brown_at_angel.com, 703-269-1090
• In 6 years with Angel.com, Steve has worked with
  hundreds of businesses large and small to
  implement effective IVR and VCC applications.

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Uses of Outbound IVR

• Example Outbound Applications
• Prescription / appointment reminders
• Customer satisfaction surveys
• Inventory alerts
• Package arrival / order status notification
• Event invitations
• Marketing messaging / announcements
• Fundraising / Advocacy efforts

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Outbound IVR Features

• Web Services API Control the delivery and
  status of calls programmatically over the web
  using SOAP/WSDL
• Campaign Manager Allows customers to setup,
  initiate, and manage outbound campaigns easily,
  based on uploaded spreadsheets
• Interactive Voice Response with Speech Rec Call
  recipients are engaged with dynamic/personalized
  IVR, not just a static messages
• Real-time Reporting Get real-time reporting on
  status and results of calls
• Security We make sure that only the approved
  customer can initiate phone calls through IP
  filtering and encryption
• Device Detection Detect whether calls are
  picked up by a person or answering machine, and
  configure user experiences accordingly
• Call Branching (Transfer) Allows call transfer
  at different points during the outbound call

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Outbound Application Steps

• Step 1 Develop the Voice Site
• Use the point-and-click Site Builder toolkit to
  develop the outbound IVR application (Voice
  Site).
• Same development toolkit used to build inbound
  applications.
• Step 2 Set Outbound Settings for Voice Site
• Set destination for Human vs. Answering Machine,
  outbound scheduling window, detection settings.
• Step 3 Place Calls
• Calls placed in one of two ways
• Outbound Web Service API
• Web-Based Campaign Manager

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Step 1 Develop Voice Site

• Use Site Builder point-and-click toolkit to
  develop Voice Site.
• A Voice Site is an extensible framework of
  building blocks, or Voice Pages
• Message Page
• Question Page
• Call Transfer Page
• Voicemail Page
• Call Queue Page
• Schedule Page
• Data Page
• Logic Page
• Transaction Page

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Step 2 Set Outbound Settings
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Step 3 Placing Outbound Calls

• Outbound Web Service
• Enables programmers to develop custom outbound
  applications that sends requests to Angel.com to
  place calls.
• Web Service methods available
• login()
• placeCall()
• getStatus()
• cancelCall()
• Campaign Manager
• Website that enables anyone to upload a
  spreadsheet of phone numbers and define a
  schedule for outbound calls to be placed.

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Outbound Web Service login()

• login()
• Authenticates and establishes session with
  Angel.com Outbound Web Service.
• Input
• Email
• PIN
• Output
• Token

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Outbound Web Service placeCall()

• placeCall()
• Requests that system place call to target phone
  number(s).
• Input
• Token Token that was returned by previous
  login().
• Max Wait Time Minutes after which system will
  give up trying to place a call in queue.
• Variables Key/value pairs used to set variables
  in the Voice Site.
• Phone Number(s) Phone number or comma-delimited
  list of phone numbers to be called.
• Output
• (GUID,PhoneNumber) Key/value pair of GUID and
  PhoneNumber to be used in subsequent getStatus()
  or cancelCall() requests.

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Outbound Web Service getStatus()

• getStatus()
• Requests status for phone number used in a
  previous placeCall() request.
• Input
• Token Token that was returned by previous
  login().
• GUID Unique ID returned by previous placeCall()
  request.
• Output
• Status One of
• InProgress
• CallQueued
• Completed_Fax
• Completed_Voicemail
• Completed_Human
• Cancelled
• Start Time
• End Time

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Outbound Web Service cancelCall()

• cancelCall()
• Cancels call not yet placed by previous
  placeCall() request.
• Input
• Token Token that was returned by previous
  login().
• GUID Unique ID returned by previous placeCall()
  request.
• Output
• Status One of
• Success If status one of
• CallQueued
• Cancelled
• Fail If status one of
• InProgress
• Completed_Fax
• Completed_Voicemail
• Completed_Human

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Documentation

• Available on IVR Wiki
• http//www.socialtext.net/ivrwiki/index.cgi?ange
  l_com_documentation

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Campaign Manager
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Charlotte County Schools

• Organization Floridas Charlotte County Public
  Schools houses over 20,000 students.
• Challenge Measure satisfaction of parents and
  identify areas of improvement. Streamline the
  survey and reporting process and accommodate
  students/parents without Internet access.
• Solution Outbound IVR survey distributed to
  students/parents with complete back-end results
  reporting system.
• Results The school system saved time and money
  while providing everyone with a convenient
  opportunity to participate. An impressive 38
  percent of those who answered the call completed
  the survey.

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Next Steps

• Where you can find more information
• IVR University www.ivruniversity.com White
  Papers, Articles and Webinars on IVR Design
• Angel.com Monthly Newsletter www.angel.com/newsl
  etter New Technology, Tips Tricks, Industry
  News and more
• Angel.com IVR Blog http//blogs.angel.com
  Insights and News on the IVR Industry
• Angel.com IVR Wiki http//www.socialtext.net/ivr
  wiki
• Outbound API documentation
• Angel.com Knowledge Base Login and click
  Technical articles, Developer Info, Tips Tricks