Cost Estimate for IVR

[Akin Toffey]

First, I would like to thank everyone who responded to my discussion about "Call Center Capability for Start-ups". There was both interesting information as well as a host of members who offered to assist. My client and I are evaluating the responses and will get back to a few of you in the near future. They and I agree that there is a market for someone who can support multiple "Start-Up" ventrues and nurture them tol full operation.

My current question concerns the price range a start-up should plan for in considering an IVR. I don't need specifics - just a reasonable estimate.

Basic reguirements would be - cost of software, platform integration and maintenence for basic triage to FAQ's and live agent, along with the ability to provide secure link to the service platform that would provide account verification, financial transactions and return service codes to the user.

Any feedback would be appreciated. Once again, the initial response was great and speaks well of the CCPF.

Thanks.

Hatch

[Tripp Babbitt]

Hatch:

I usually have my clients remove IVRs as they are a barrier to good service and create more costs than they save. Customers hate them. Your client would be better off studying demand and designing the work around these demands.

I doubt this was what you wanted, but it is important to know that there are better ways.

Thanks, Tripp

[Dan Bergstrom]

Hatch,

There are a couple of issues with getting a quote on IVR. The actual cost of the IVR is not the kicker, it’s the cost of the ports you need to get the call to the IVR. Do you know about how many ports you are looking at? Our solution has been integrated with most of the platforms out there. It is a hosted solution so you don't have to worry about maintenance costs and we have a published SLA of %99.99. Because it is hosted there is also no need for capitol expense. I think you would benefit from seeing a demo of the product. If you are interested shoot me an e-mail.

Dan Bergstrom
[e-mail]

[Michael Dalpes]

Prior to spending the money on a purchase of an IVR and dealing with the maintenence etc. You may want to consider outsourcing the solution. I do not work for an outsourcer but I have in the past and there are some huge advantages at least in the begining This will help you reduce your upfront costs and can actually say you money in the long run. Outsources can get you a much lower cost per call especially if you use their telecom. Typically an outsourcer will do far more volume than you do, so they have much better buying power. In addition they can bring in experiance from other clients which will help you drive your business in the right direction. I have worked with clients that were very customer focused and service was the key and other that were more concerned about making it very hard to get to an agent. The key to a good IVR is that it solving your business problem. As far as set up from an outsourcing perspective it would depend on the type of IVR, DTMF, Direct Dialog or full speach. In addition it depends on the complexity of the IVR i.e. what do you want it to do? How many branches does it have? I have see IVR startup from a hosting perspective as little as $5,000 to $50,000. It could get much more expensive if you go the full speach route.

Hope this helps.

Michael

[Steve Oviatt]

Have you asked your switch vendor?

They will probably be able to give you the answer you're looking for, if you have some decent stats on the anticipated call volume, call flow, etc. If you already have a switch, is an IVR already there but not activated? If you plan to purchase a switch, an IVR will be a relatively inexpensive add-on.

Start with your switch vendor.

[Greg Kern]

Hatch,

Are they considering outsourcing the call center work? If so, they should just have the outsourcer supply the IVR (and all other related technology). That will give them a variable cost model for the call center technology and allow them to allocate those funds for other uses. This eliminates their administrative overhead as well. They can always pull the business, IVR, CRM, telephony, etc. back in house in the future if needed once they have a handle on their growth.

Greg Kern

[Mark Behrens]

Hatch - you've already gotten some good responses on this, but here's some more. It's really not possible to answer your question without more information about:

1 - your telephony platform (PBX/ACD)
2 - what kind of IVR
3 - what source systems and methods are available for integration
- these three alone are critical. For example, if you are integrating an Avaya IVR to an Aspect ACD, or even a legacy Aspect ACD to a legacy Aspect IVR, are looking for reasonably robust financial transactions, the application development will quite possibly run into six figures - possibly 200,000 to 300,000. Alternatively, if you are using an integrated suite platform such as Interactive Intelligence CIC, Syntellect, or other, it may be possible to bring in the application for well under $100,000. The architecture of the applications you have to access and methods available for data access are also key cost drivers.
4 - as noted by an earlier reply, volume of calls - how many ports will you need? These are often expensive.
5 - Do you want a touch-tone (DTMF) or speech-recognition-based application. Speech will add cost and complexity and risk to the development process and to the licensing.

Happy to talk with you and your client and find out more to be able to help build a better budgetary case. You can reach me at [e-mail] / 303-929-2211. My business is call center technology and operations consulting .