Contact center terms💡

    Voice portal

    What is a voice portal and how is it used in contact centers? This article gives you the answers.

    What is a voice portal?

    A voice portal is a voice-controlled telephone system that enables users to interact with automated services using natural language. It combines speech recognition (Automatic Speech Recognition, ASR) and speech synthesis (Text-to-Speech, TTS) to process spoken input and generate appropriate responses. A voice portal thus represents a further development of classic IVR systems by using voice dialogs instead of key dialing and thus offering a much more natural user experience.

    Functions of a voice portal

    Modern voice portals take on a variety of tasks in customer service and corporate communications. The most important functions include:

    • Automated customer interaction: Users can call up information or carry out transactions, such as checking account balances, placing orders or booking services – without any human contact.

    • IVR integration: A voice portal can expand or replace a classic IVR system by processing natural speech instead of DTMF input (key tones).
    • Personalized services: By connecting to CRM systems, it is possible to address customers individually, for example through personalized announcements or dynamic dialog guidance.

    • Multilingualism: Many systems support several languages and automatically recognize the language of the caller.

    Application in the contact center

    Voice portals are used in various scenarios in the contact center environment, in particular to relieve the agent team and improve availability:

    • Self-service: Customers can resolve simple issues such as status queries, address changes or password resets independently by voice.

    • Call control: The system recognizes the caller's request and forwards the call to the appropriate agent or to a specific process.

    • Voice-based authentication: Voice biometrics can be used to verify the caller's identity using their voice – quickly and securely.

    Benefits of a voice portal

    The use of a voice portal offers a number of advantages for both companies and customers:

    • Reduction of waiting times: Routine inquiries are answered automatically, freeing up resources for more complex requests.

    • Relief for agents: Standard tasks are taken over by the system so that agents can concentrate on value-adding activities.

    • Round-the-clock availability: The voice portal is also available outside regular opening hours, ensuring continuous customer support.

    • Intuitive operation: Interaction by voice is easier and more natural for many users than menu navigation at the touch of a button.

    With the use of artificial intelligence (e.g. through natural language understanding or machine learning), voice portals are increasingly developing into dialog-capable systems that can also conduct complex conversations and respond to the context. This creates a scalable, user-friendly and intelligent form of customer communication that ensures efficiency and satisfaction, particularly in the contact center sector.
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