ACD vs IVR: What’s the Difference and Why Use Both?

How do you deal with the high call volumes in your inbound contact centers? 

Receiving calls higher than the predicted volume, i.e., 10%, is beyond the existing agents’ capacity to handle. This results in longer hold times, service interruptions, and overwhelming the service agents, negatively impacting the company’s image. 

Thus, it is critical to implement modern cloud contact center technologies such as Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems before a large volume of calls harms the customer experience.

These ACD and IVR systems work together to provide consistent, quality service across all customer channels and improve the contact center’s workflow. 

This blog provides detailed information about the ACD and IVR, including their features and benefits. So, let’s dive in. 🚀

What is ACD?

ACD, or Automatic Call Distribution, is a telephony system that automatically receives incoming calls and directs them to the most appropriate available agents. The system ensures effective call handling in a call center by managing the large volume of calls, streamlining the interaction process, and reducing the longer wait times. 

It further ensures quick responses to improve customer satisfaction and helps businesses maintain a professional and positive image. 

While routing the calls, the ACD system follows certain steps, and they are: 

• Identifies the customer: To determine the caller ID name on the line, it uses identification technology like caller ID or dialed number identification service. 
• Determines priority: After the identification, it provides priority based on Service Level Agreements, critical issues, and high-value premium customers.
• Directs the call to an agent or queue. Finally, it routes the call based on agent availability, the geographical source of the call, and agent skills. 

What are the benefits of ACD?

ACD system can seamlessly benefit your contact center. Its benefits include:

1. Better workforce management

Manual call routing can slow down the call center operation process. There is more potential for errors, especially delays in responding to customer queries during peak hours. 

Thus, integrating the ACD telephony system saves the team valuable time by routing the calls in an organized manner. It further ensures that the incoming calls are equally distributed among the teams, reducing agent burnout and turnover rates. 

2. Improved customer experience

ACD reduces wait times through immediate routing to the most appropriate agents. Such skill-based routing ensures the quality of service, where relevant expertise manages customer issues more effectively and timely.

In addition to a quick resolution process, it uses caller data to provide a personalized experience, which creates engaging interactions and improves customer satisfaction. 

3. Easier agent coaching

It has real-time call-monitoring features that enable agents to supervise and manage call volumes, wait times, agent performance, and other key metrics. 

The metrics, such as call tracking and performance analytics, help identify the agent’s key strengths and pinpoint weaknesses. They also allow the supervisor to make informed decisions regarding agent coaching if required. 

Key features of ACD

Modern call centers highly depend on ACD systems to handle the large number of incoming calls. Here is the list of key features of ACD: 

• Call routing: Advanced contact center technologies such as the ACD system have call routing features that direct incoming calls to the most appropriate agent and department based on a predefined set of rules. This reduces wait times and elevates the customer experience. 
• Real-time call monitoring: This feature enables the agent to have updated data about the systems, processes, or events and creates a more effective and safe work environment. It safeguards data through the prompt identification of problems and provides valuable insights to make informed decisions. 
• Call distribution: In one way or another, the ACD telephone system can also predict how calls will proceed in real-time. It uses various parameters, such as agent availability and current call volumes, to respond instantly to changes in call volume. 
• Advanced call handling features: It has advanced call handling features such as call queuing and overflow management. Call barge-in and whisper coaching can be used to provide real-time guidance to agents for quality assurance and training.
• Integration with CRM systems: It seamlessly integrates with CRM systems. The system offers the agents the customer data and allows them to serve the callers more effectively through customized customer service.

What is IVR?

Interactive Voice Response is an automated phone system used in call centers to automate phone interactions with callers. It’s a virtual assistant that gathers caller data and offers options for the next steps via a voice response system of pre-corded messages without interacting with human agents. It also routes the calls to the right agent when the issues are complex. 

An example of IVR interaction looks something like this.

For instance, if you make a call to any company or business, the IVR interaction looks like this. 

• For technical assistance, press 1.
• For sales support, press 2.
• To speak with the agent, press 0. 

After selecting the option you want, your calls are either routed to the department or queued, depending on the availability of agents. 

Key features of IVR

The key features of IVR are:

• Self-service options: These features help callers locate their accounts and determine their balances without the assistance of a professional.
• Multi-channel support: It enables customers to reach the business agents via their preferred platforms such as phone, email, SMS, and web interfaces. Providing these various touchpoints for engagement will surely enhance customer retention. 
• Call routing: The IVR system can also route calls, in addition to automating customer interaction via pre-recorded messages.  
• Menu navigation: Menu navigation in IVR involves guiding callers through a set of options and helping them obtain the required information quickly. 

ACD vs IVR: What are the key differences? 

ACD is a contact center technology that routes inbound calls to the most experienced agents based on their availability and skills to resolve issues swiftly.

 Meanwhile, IVR is a virtual assistant that automates interaction with callers through self-service options or automated menus. Let’s explore their differences in more detail. 

Conclusion

Automatic call distribution and an interactive voice-responsive system are key components for the smooth functioning of modern call centers. These systems are fast and budget-friendly to implement and create a seamless experience for customers and agents.

These two critical elements excel in their distinct and respective jobs to elevate the customer experience. However, both systems share a common goal of providing around-the-clock quality service but vary in various aspects. They vary in terms of call handling, user interaction, use cases, reporting and analytics, etc. 

In conclusion, these systems improve the overall operation of call centers by providing a better customer experience, lowering stress for service teams, offering 24/7 consistent service quality, and reducing service costs. 

FAQs

Can ACD and IVR be used together? 

ACD and IVR can work well together in call centers. IVR systems can perform mundane tasks and collect caller information, which the ACD system can use. ACD uses this data to route the calls to the best appropriate agent. 

Are there any disadvantages to using ACD or IVR?

ACD systems are complex to set up and maintain, requiring frequent updates and intricate configurations. Conversely, callers who would rather chat with a live agent than navigate automated menus may find themselves frustrated by IVR systems.  

What are the benefits of using both ACD and IVR together?

The benefits of using both ACD and IVR together are:  

1. Businesses can optimize call-handling processes.
2. Improve operational efficiency.
3. Enhance overall customer satisfaction. 
4. IVR performs mundane work and allows the agents to focus on more complex issues. 

How do ACD and IVR contribute to call center performance?

ACD and IVR can improve call center performance by:

1. Reducing wait times.
2. Increase agent productivity.
3. Enhance service consistency 
4. Enable better management of call flows and resources.