{"id":10002,"date":"2018-10-08T09:50:27","date_gmt":"2018-10-08T16:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/?p=10002"},"modified":"2018-10-08T09:50:27","modified_gmt":"2018-10-08T16:50:27","slug":"the-difference-between-auto-attendant-and-i-v-r","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/the-difference-between-auto-attendant-and-i-v-r\/","title":{"rendered":"The difference between Auto Attendant and I.V.R."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat phone system features<\/a><\/span> are must-haves, for your company?\u201d I say to a customer interested in getting quotes for hosted VoIP<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\u201cVoicemail to email, call transfer and IVR\u201d the customer says.<\/p>\n

Hearing \u201cIVR\u201d I immediately stop. \u201cThis customer must be doing some advance stuff on their phone system!\u201d I think to myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell me about how your company needs calls to flow through the IVR?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, we just need a general greeting, offering options, like \u2018sales, service, and a few others.\u2019 We also need the ability to dial by extension\u201d the customer answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot IVR\u2026 this is just an auto attendant\u201d I think to myself.<\/p>\n

This back-and-forth happens often, so I thought it might be helpful to explain the difference between an IVR feature and an auto attendant feature.<\/p>\n

\"Dialing<\/a><\/p>\n

Auto Attendant<\/strong><\/p>\n

An auto attendant<\/a><\/span> is a static message, which is automatically played to an incoming caller (i.e. \u201cPress 1 for sales, 2 for company directory, or 3 to repeat this message\u201d). It might be one message or several messages, branching off one another. It might ask you to press buttons or speak into the phone.<\/p>\n

The key thing to remember is an auto attendant is static.<\/p>\n

IVR<\/strong><\/p>\n

I.V.R. (IVR), stands for \u201cInteractive Voice Response<\/a><\/span>.\u201d If you\u2019re like me, when you hear the word \u201cVoice\u201d you typically think it\u2019s referring to someone having the ability to \u201cspeak\u201d their commands into the phone, to instruct the system where you want to be routed. But that\u2019s not true.<\/p>\n

The \u201cVoice\u201d is referring to the auto attendant\u2019s voice, \u201cinteracting\u201d with you, dynamically.<\/p>\n

The key differentiator between an IVR and an auto attendant is an IVR is not static. It\u2019s interactive, asking you a question, then collecting your response into a database, or feeding you information (from a database), based on your answer. An IVR is interacting between the caller and a dynamic database.<\/p>\n

For instance, when you call your bank and enter your account information, the system is pulling your most recent account balance from a dynamic, ever-changing database and speaking it back to you.<\/p>\n

Another example is a telephone survey which asks you questions and records your answers, which will later be pulled from the database and used for another purpose.<\/p>\n

So, I hope that cleared up some confusion. As always, feel free to email me<\/a><\/span> with your questions!<\/p>\n

Need to know which hosted VoIP providers offer IVR or auto attendant? Use our nifty Hosted VoIP Provider-Finder<\/a><\/span> to sift-through over 100 of the best hosted VoIP providers, by feature, service area, pricing, and more.<\/p>\n

If you found this information useful, I\u2019d love it if you could pay me back by giving our quoting service a try. It\u2019s free! Just click the button below, and we\u2019ll tell you the exact 3 hosted VoIP providers, that are the best fit for your company, along with quotes and demos for each. Get better quotes!
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