A number of technologies have been applied to support the mobile banking infrastructure. These technologies vary in the nature of their complexity and application. One of the technologies applied to support mobile banking is the IVR – Interactive Voice Response.
What is Interactive Voice Response and how does it work?
Interactive Voice Response service works by playing a pre-recorded electronic message when a particular pre-specified number is dialled. Banks and other financial institutions running the mobile banking product provide this number to their customers to use when they want to access a particular product or information. When a mobile banking customer calls the number, they are answered by a stored electronic message. This message usually offers a menu options or provides a step by step tutorial on how to go about a certain task. The customer responds to the prompts by pressing the required characters on their mobile phones.
Although this method is quite easy to use, it experiences great draw backs in that it can only be used for enquiry based mobile banking services. In addition, Interactive Voice Response carries higher charges than some other channels because it involves making calls. Making calls is generally more expensive than sending an SMS or using data transfer.
Interactive Voice Response Infrastructure
IVR infrastructure can be set up in a number of ways. One of these ways is the use of a PBX system with capability to host IVR dial plans. There are a number of PBX systems available on the market to choose from. The choice of a PBX system is mainly determined by the intended budget. There are a few low cost free source PBX systems available. One of these systems is the Linux PBX system.
