How to Connect a Voice Application to Your Call
Some types of contact center services may involve connecting an interactive voice response (IVR) application to your conversation with the customer. Such applications can be used, for example, to authenticate customers using their personal identification numbers or collect payment card information.
Connecting Applications
To connect an IVR application, follow these steps:
- Place your original service call on hold.
- Select the desired application from the Directory or enter its number in the Number Input Field.
- Click the Call button.
- Once the IVR application is connected, click the Merge button to set up a conference. You will see both the customer’s name/number and the name of the IVR application in the Contact Info Panel.
Note: Because the application will be connected to your service call in the conference mode, you will continue to be an active participant of this call. To let the IVR application and the customer communicate without any possible audio interference, consider muting your microphone for the duration of customer’s interaction with the application.
Disconnecting Applications
Under normal circumstances, the IVR application will disconnect from the conference automatically after finishing its function (e.g., after playing all the required voice prompts and/or collecting all the necessary data). However, in case of any difficulties (e.g., the customer is confused about the prompts and needs more instruction), you can disconnect the IVR application at any time.
To disconnect the IVR application, mouse over its name in the Contact Info Panel, and click the red disconnect icon. You can now talk to the customer, provide the necessary instructions, and connect the IVR application again when the customer is ready.
For more information about conference controls, see How to Host a Conference Call.