IVR software enables companies to build custom Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems, which can be used to provide automated self-service to inbound callers.

IVR enables callers to interact more intuitively with automated phone systems, while at the same time providing significant cost reductions over human operators.

IVR Call Flows

A sample IVR call flow might sound like this:

  • IVR: Hello, and thank you for calling the NRA. Would you like to Join the NRA, Contribute to the NRA, or Locate your Election Volunteer Coordinator?
  • Caller: Election Volunteer Coordinator
  • IVR: Thank you. What zip code would you like to find an Election Volunteer Coordinator for?
  • Caller: 80919
  • IVR: Thank you, the Election Volunteer Coordinator for zip code 80919 is Tom James at (719)555-1212. His e-mail address is tom.james@fortliberty.org

IVR call flows are designed in VoiceXML, SALT, or using proproetary interfaces.

IVR Software

Many commercial IVR software packages are available. In addition, most open source PBX packages provide IVR support.

Asterisk

Asterisk is a complete PBX in software. Asterisk runs on BSD Unix, Linux, and Mac OSX and provides all of the features you would expect from a top of the line hardware-based PBX. Asterisk supports VoIP in many protocols, and can interoperate with almost all standards-based telephony equipment using relatively inexpensive hardware. Among it's many features, Asterisk provides IVR capabilities.

GNU Bayonne

GNU Bayonne, the telephony server of GNU Telephony and the GNU project, offers free, scalable, media independent software environment for development and deployment of telephony solutions for use with current and next generation telephone networks.

GNU Bayonne supports IVR scripting using hardware from Voicetronix, Dialogic, Aculab, CAPI drivers, and Quicklink drivers under GNU/Linux. Bayonne performs script driven IVR applications written in GNU Bayonne's native scripting language, as well as access, conversion, and playing of audio from remote URL's.

FreeSWITCH

FreeSWITCH is an open source telephony application written in C, built from the ground up and designed to take advantage of as many existing software libraries as possible. FreeSWITCH makes it possible to build an open source PBX system or an open source voip switching platform as well as unite various technologies such as SIP, H.323, IAX2, LDAP, Zeroconf, XMPP / Jingle etc. FreeSWITCH can also be used to interface with other open source PBX systems such as Asterisk, GNU Bayonne, or OpenPBX.

OpenPBX

OpenPBX.org is an open Source Private Branch Exchange System (PBX) in software for the Linux Operating system. OpenPBX.org is licenesd under the GNU General Public License or GPL.