POSITION PAPER #4

 Do Automated Voice Systems Help or Hurt a Business' Customer Communication?

    In today’s age, it is not uncommon to hear automated voice service when calling any sort of business. From a business standpoint, it is almost a no-brainer to install automated voice systems to save on time and efficiency. In terms of internet communication, this topic is extremely advanced and fits into this type of communication very well. However, what I want to look deeper into is whether or not automated customer service or automated phone systems are really as needed as they seem to be. Is there a better way to do business over the phone or internet? Should businesses revert back to the human to human interaction? I found two articles that I believe are very helpful in weighing the options of an automated system as they point out the pros and cons of it.

    The first pro of businesses using an automated phone system is the many options that these systems provide in the context of routing calls. For most phone systems of this kind, they have the ability to route or relocate calls to a variety of different lines. If you are like me and may not know the most about this side of technology, it can be a little difficult to understand just exactly what this means. In simple terms, routing a call means that the incoming call is placed in a queue. Once in that queue, the call is routed or sent off to a specific person or group based on the pre-existing criteria. For example, when you call a number of a business or company and are then asked to press certain numbers on the dial screen depending on the service you are looking for, you are experiencing your call being routed. 

    Not only does this feature allow for quicker service a majority of the time, but it also allows for less human intervention in the call. This means that the employees spend less time trying to transfer calls to other parts of the company or trying to figure out what exactly the customer needs, and more times doing other jobs in the business that require a real person to do it. Even though this is a huge benefit of the automated phone system, one downside to this can actually be the lack of human interaction. There have been studies that show cases where the situation needs intervention from an employee. If a customer is looking for answers to more specific and detailed questions, an automated voice system would be much less efficient than an actual human being on the other end of the call.

    Another benefit to businesses using automated voice systems is that they can help the business generate more revenue. An example of this is seen in many retail businesses like boutiques or clothing stores. Many times, a store will have a free number that customers can call when they want to order a product. However, oftentimes the number to call in order to return something includes a premium charge towards the customer. Of course, this is a great way for the business to collect more income especially using a form of communication (the phone) that so many people use now to get in touch with businesses. 

However, some customers believe that this is an example of abusing automated phone systems instead of just using the employees to handle the calls. When there is a premium rate number that the customer must call, many businesses also add numerous menu options to that phone number. This keeps the customer on the phone for as long as possible as the rate is being driven up more and more by the minute. This is another instance where the business or company must weigh the options and decide what is best: earning more revenue or possibly having a not so great reputation because of the phone service being used. 

    One possible consequence of a business using or relying on an automated voice system is simply that these machines do not always work how they are intended. That seems easy enough for us to understand, right? We know that, at the end of the day, these are imperfect machines that were made by imperfect humans and it would be perfectly understandable if the machine did not always work 100% as it should. However, understanding the possibility of a problem and actually having to deal with the problem are two different things. For example, in 2012 the Birmingham City Council installed an automatic voice recognition system that costed roughly $15 million. Unexpectedly, the system could not understand and decipher the regional accent, and it was basically useless to the organization. If something like this happens to a voice system that a business has already paid for and installed, it can be extremely inconvenient and, not to mention, a huge loss of money. 

    While this is already a huge issue on its own, it can also lead to another problem

that businesses should think about when deciding on whether or not to get one of these systems. Oftentimes as customers go through the sometimes extensive process of dealing with an automated voice system, they can begin to feel like they are wasting time and money on not just the system but also the business. These systems are intended to help the call run smoothly and when a high quality product is purchased and used correctly, it can be extremely helpful in this area. However, if the product ends up simply making the customers frustrated and uneasy, it can lead to a high employee turnover rate and a loss of customers for the business.

    At first glance, this topic may seem like something that is far off from the context of internet communication or anything that we have looked at in our assignments from this class. Even so this may seem to be the case, I was extremely interested in writing about this topic because I believe that it is a great example of something that encompasses the meaning of internet communication. These voice systems are things that we are all at least semi comfortable with, so it may seem like an odd choice to look deeper into the pros and cons of the systems. I believe internet communication is about how people or businesses are using today’s technology to further their success in communicating with people, and I think these automated systems are a great way to do that. While there are many benefits and downsides to a voice automated system, I think it could be extremely helpful in many ways and that businesses should look closely at what their communication goals are and see if these systems could help them achieve that.