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What are the disadvantages of an automated attendance telephone system?
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6 Answers
The author has asked about the disadvantages of an Auto Attendant. Quite simply the biggest disadvantage of an Auto Attendant is the lack of person interaction with a caller who is looking to do business with you based on a personal relationship, which in most cases begins with the smile that answers the telephone.
As a side note - if you don't have a smiling face answering your calls, and instead have someone that is abrasive, an Auto Attendant could be your best friend. Just like there are good and bad auto attendants, there are good and bad receptionists. The attitude of the Auto Attendant won't change throught the day - you will have consistency. But I digress.
Business's need to look at their own business plan to decide if an auto attendant is right for them. Many times, especially for a sales driven organization, to win business you need a smiling face answering all of your calls.
However, they can be implemented in ways that can be beneficial, for instance to handle overflow when the main receptionist is overwhelmed by 30 calls at one time, or for after hours virtual receptionist duties.
And today, Personal auto attendants can be used by indivuduals, to handle calls while on vacation, training, or other extended absenses. These personal auto attendants available to each user on the system, and allow for callers to their voicemail box to have options to transfer to a receptionist, backup employee, ones cell phone, conference bridge, etc.
If you need to answer calls and provide personal service - an auto attendant should not be your first choice for answering calls. If you need to handle high volume calls with limited interactions - its a cost effective tool.
I personally don't like the automated phone system because of how impersonal it is. I also hate going through an automated menu before getting to the person I want to talk to. This takes forever & is irritating if the purpose of your call is not one of the options.
I understand it's used because of the money a business saves. But I think when someone calls a company, a majority of people want to be greeted by a real person. Especially if the business is centered around sales or a service, it's best to have a receptionist answer & be the initial step in setting up a relationship between the consumer & your company.
Hi Ronni!
I am on the fence when it comes to Automated Attendants. If it is a small office with low call voume, live answering is feasible. Staffing to answer every call live by someone who can actually answer your questions is an extremely costly alternative and is next to impossible to justify in an ROI if dealing with large call volumes.
I represent a number of call centers and also some IVR and PBX/ACD vendors. Some automated attendants are adequate if designed and implemented properly but most are horribly deployed or have serious limitations. The only solution that offers the best of both worlds...an automated "personalized" experience...is a hosted IVR with virtual agents and artificial intelligence. It is able to intelligently refer back to answers given earlier in the conversation and uses logic to offer solutions to the caller. It also can tie to the resident CRM or data warehouse. It's currently being used for everything from infomercial callers to high tech help lines. In addition the ROI is built the same as traditional IVR's...on saving agent time and reducing headscount. E-mail me if you are interested in hearing more about it.
Good discussion!
The biggest disadvantage of a automated attendant is that Automated Attendants provide tree options only and do not allow for interaction with a back-end data source that can identify your caller, pull key data elements from your CRM application about that caller, customize the options available for that caller based on data (like payment options, account information), and route the call to the best agent to handle the need of that caller.
However, automated attendants are very simple to set up and generally can be built and supported through your PBX - without the need for an IVR and integration to your back end systems.
The key to determining which solution is best for you is to first identify your needs. What is the size of your center? What languages do your customers speak? Do you have a CRM system with easily accessible data? Do your callers often call for the same types of activities? Why do your callers call?
Feel free to contact me directly at mbabb@ponvia.com and I can put in touch with one of my peers who specializes in customer interaction management for more information.
The only disadvantage that I can see in automated attendant is its options are complicated, and it can't identify callers. http://www.ringcentral.co.uk/features/ivr-auto-receptionist.html
Hi Ronni,
You make a great point in that many people are looking for that personal touch and there are certain organizations that should never have an IVR – 911 is a great example. It does not help that there are many really bad IVRs and automated attendants out there that have given the technology a bad name. Why should a caller have to navigate through 5 different menu options in languages that are not applicable to the caller’s demographic just to get a mailing address?
In a nutshell, the choice for your organization really depends on why your callers are calling. If you are a sales organization – I agree – a personal touch is appropriate. But do you really want to talk to a person every time you call your bank and just want to find if a check cleared? Do you want to be transferred 4 different times and have to tell a different person about your issue to simply here – “Oh, I’ll have to transfer your call.” Or even worse – be hold for 45 minutes when you need an answer to a simple question?
The key is balance – customization your solution to offer your callers quick information without an agent where possible, but always allow for your callers to quickly reach the right agent for resolution of complex, frustrating issues that only a talented and well trained representative can provide.
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