Replace your IVR with Operator

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The IVR challenge: why traditional systems fall short

If you’re reading this guide, you likely know the frustration of managing an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. Your customers dread the robotic “Press 1 for…” experience.

Your existing IVR isn’t just a technical system—it’s often your customer’s first impression of your business. As call volumes increase, the limitations become more apparent:

• Confusing menu options that frustrate customers and lead to high abandonment rates
• Frequent transfers between departments when menu options don’t match customer needs
• Pre-recorded robotic scripts with no capability to converse in natural language
• Inability to understand customer intent beyond simple menu selections

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Introducing Operator: conversation, not navigation

These IVR limitations directly impact your customer experience and operational efficiency. Operator solves these challenges by transforming how your business handles calls through natural, intelligent conversations.

Unlike traditional IVR systems, Operator doesn’t force customers through a maze of menu options—it simply talks with them. While this guide focuses on basic IVR replacement, Operator’s capabilities extend far beyond simple call routing.

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How Operator concepts map to your current IVR

If you’re considering replacing your IVR, you’ll need to understand how your existing system will map to Operator’s approach. This will help you plan your transition and configure Operator effectively.

Traditional IVR systems use menu trees with pre-recorded prompts, button inputs, and transfer rules. Operator replaces this complex structure with three intuitive components:

Menu trees → Scenarios Your current IVR organizes options into hierarchical menu trees that customers navigate by pressing buttons. Operator replaces these rigid structures with scenarios - flexible conversation flows that understand natural language. When a customer says “I need to check my balance,” Operator immediately understands their intent without requiring menu navigation.

Transfer rules → Intelligent transfers Traditional IVRs route calls based on which menu button the customer pressed. Operator’s transfers component intelligently routes calls based on the customer’s actual needs as understood through conversation. This means fewer transfers and faster resolution.

Pre-recorded prompts → Natural greeting Your IVR uses recorded prompts like “For billing, press 1.” Operator’s greeting creates a friendly, conversational beginning - “Hi, how can I help you today?” This immediately sets a more positive tone for the interaction.

In Operator, these components work together in a natural flow:

1. The Greeting welcomes your customer and initiates the conversation
2. Based on what the customer says, Operator identifies the appropriate Scenario to handle their needs
3. If human assistance is needed, Operator uses the Transfers defined in the scenario to route the call to the right department

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Your journey to better customer experiences

Now that you understand how Operator’s components replace your IVR functionality, let’s walk through the setup process. To get started, you’ll need:

• A list of your current transfer destinations and phone numbers
• Basic understanding of your current call routing logic
• 30-60 minutes to complete the initial setup

To illustrate how this works in practice, let’s explore a real-world example.

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Meet Regional bank: a practical example

To help you visualize how Operator can transform your customer experience, we’ll walk through an implementation for a fictional regional bank.

Regional bank serves over 50,000 customers across multiple branches, handling everything from personal checking accounts to business loans and mortgage services. With 200+ daily customer service calls ranging from account inquiries to technical support for their mobile banking app, their legacy IVR system was creating frustration for both customers and staff.

Their customers were tired of navigating complex menus and often abandoned calls or pressed “0” repeatedly to speak with an agent. Meanwhile, their support team was overwhelmed with simple requests that could be handled more efficiently. Regional bank needed a solution that would reduce wait times, improve customer satisfaction, and allow their skilled staff to focus on complex financial matters.

Let’s see how they implemented Operator to transform their customer experience.

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Step 1: Map your current call flow

Before implementing Operator, we need a clear picture of your current call routing. Let’s follow along with Regional bank’s IVR system as our example.

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The simplified mapping process

1. Start with your main greeting - What’s the first thing callers hear?
2. List your primary options - What are the main menu choices?
3. Note your transfer points - Where do calls get directed?

Here’s Regional bank’s current IVR structure:

Main Greeting: "Thank you for calling Regional bank"
 ├── Option 1: Account Services (transfers to: +1-555-0123)
 ├── Option 2: Customer Support
 │   ├── Option 1: Technical Support (online banking) (transfers to: +1-555-0124)
 │   └── Option 2: General Banking Questions (transfers to: +1-555-0125)
 └── Option 3: Branch Hours & Locations (automated message)

Pro Tip: Focus on documenting where calls ultimately end up, not every menu option. The beauty of Operator is that customers won’t need to navigate these menus anymore! This elimination of menu navigation directly reduces customer frustration and call abandonment rates.

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Step 2: Configure your transfer destinations

Now let’s set up Regional bank’s transfer destinations in Operator. Unlike a traditional IVR where transfers happen after menu navigation, Operator intelligently routes calls based on understanding the customer’s actual needs.

This approach significantly reduces handling time because customers can express their needs immediately rather than working through menu layers.

1. In Operator, navigate to Transfers in the top menu
2. Click Add transfer for each destination from your current IVR
3. For each transfer, you’ll configure:

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For Regional bank’s transfers:

Transfer 1: Account Services

• Name: Account Services
• Description: Handles existing accounts, balance inquiries, and account changes
• Transfer number: +1-555-0123
• Operating hours: Monday-Friday 8am-6pm, Saturday 9am-1pm
• Pushback level: Medium (try to resolve simple inquiries first)

Transfer 2: Technical Support

• Name: Online Banking Support
• Description: Assists with online banking access, password resets, and mobile app issues
• Transfer number: +1-555-0124
• Operating hours: Monday-Sunday 7am-10pm
• Pushback level: Low (technical issues often require human assistance)

Transfer 3: General Banking

• Name: General Banking Support
• Description: Answers questions about products, services, fees, and policies
• Transfer number: +1-555-0125
• Operating hours: Monday-Friday 8am-6pm
• Pushback level: High (Operator can handle many general questions)

The “pushback level” setting is particularly powerful – it lets Operator attempt to resolve issues itself before transferring. This keeps your human agents focused on complex problems that truly need their expertise, improving satisfaction while reducing call volume.

You can add your transfers here

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Step 3: Create smart conversation scenarios

Now comes the transformative part of replacing your IVR—teaching Operator to understand natural language. This is where customers experience the most noticeable improvement, as they can simply speak normally rather than navigating complex menus.

While we’re creating a basic scenario here, Operator’s natural language understanding goes far beyond simple routing. It can handle complex, multi-turn conversations and understand context and nuances.

1. From the main menu, click Scenarios
2. Click New scenario to create your conversation flow

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Understanding scenarios

Think of scenarios as conversation patterns that Operator recognizes. For Regional bank, we’ll create one main scenario that handles all customer needs:

Regional bank customer service scenario

• Handles all types of customer inquiries in one place
• Recognizes a wide range of phrases
• Routes to the appropriate transfer based on the understood customer intent
• Can be expanded and specialized over time as you learn from your call data

This single scenario approach dramatically simplifies your call management while providing a more flexible experience than rigid menu trees. Customers can express complex, multi-part requests that would be impossible to handle in a traditional IVR.

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Creating your scenario

1. Name your scenario (e.g., “Support”)
2. Set direction as Inbound for incoming calls
3. Write clear instructions for how Operator should handle all types of conversations

Greeting
"Hi, I'm Alex from Regional Bank. How can I help you today?"


Instructions
For questions related to existing accounts, balance inquiries, and account changes 
   → Transfer to @Account services 

For questions related to online banking access, password resets, and mobile app issues  
   → Transfer to @Online banking support 

For questions related to products, services, fees, and policies 
   → Transfer to @General banking support 

This natural greeting and conversational approach immediately sets a friendly tone, unlike the robotic feeling of traditional IVRs. Customers feel heard rather than processed, which significantly improves their experience from the very first interaction.

You can create & manage your scenarios here

Pro Tip: Start with one general scenario that covers all call types. As you learn from your call data and become more comfortable with Operator, you can create more specialized scenarios to handle specific customer needs.

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Step 4: Testing your configuration

Before going live, test your new system with common customer inquiries. This testing phase ensures Operator correctly understands various ways customers might express the same need—a flexibility that traditional IVRs simply can’t match.

Operator’s advanced speech recognition also handles diverse accents and background noise far better than traditional systems, making your service more accessible to all customers.

1. Click the Preview button in the top-right corner or click here
2. Use the built-in call or chat functions to test common customer requests
3. Try variations of the same request to ensure Operator understands different phrasings

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Examples for testing common scenarios for Regional bank

• “I need to check my account balance”
• “I can’t log into online banking”
• “What are your hours?”
• “I need to open a new checking account”

Make adjustments to your scenarios based on how Operator handles these test conversations. With each refinement, you’re improving the customer experience while simultaneously reducing average call handling times.

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Ready to transform your customer experience?

You’re now ready to replace your traditional IVR with Operator’s intelligent conversation system. While this guide covers the basics, Operator offers a comprehensive suite of features that can enhance your customer service:

• Faster resolution times - Average handling time drops from 4+ minutes to under 2 minutes
• Higher customer satisfaction - Natural conversations instead of frustrating menu navigation
• Reduced operational costs - Fewer transfers and more efficient call handling
• Better agent experience - Focus on complex issues that truly need human expertise, while Operator handles triage and routine tasks

Need help getting started? Our team is here to support you!