A Seamless and Intuitive IVR Automation Interface

Background:

Why is automation software always that complex?

Users of interactive voice response (IVR) systems deploy them at multiple points to optimize engagement. These may include answering customer queries and grievances, providing information through FAQs, routing calls, and bolstering customer service efficacy.

The UX of these IVR systems is notoriously complex, requiring specialized training to deploy and operate the simplest of workflows. Any level of customization needs development support from the software provider which causes an increase in support requests. 

The end users get a raw deal with little to no control over the process and have to struggle with operating within the configurations set by the development team.

Our client is a leading provider of IVR systems, empowering businesses to boost human interactions through intelligent automation. 

The Problem:

The minutest actions required tremendous effort & resources

The dated and complicated UI made it difficult for users to make changes and deploy the IVR in the right situation. The multitude of customization options added tremendous complexity.

The deployment process became increasingly complex when the IVR had to be installed across multiple sources. These persistent issues hampered the seamless creation, collaboration, and deployment of the IVR, ultimately affecting project productivity and quality.

These usability issues were causing an unprecedented increase in support requests, placing a huge strain on our client’s customer care team.

Our Goal:

Making simplicity the norm, rather than the exception

Design a user interface that –

• Transfers the power to the users, giving them a sense of control and transparency, especially for beginners or non-experts who need to become more familiar with the underlying processes. 
• Is resilient to errors and failures, and provides clear and actionable information to users when something goes wrong. 
• Allows customers from different industries to customize the automation without any additional development support.

Design Process:

Getting a bird’s eye view of the product

We started by conducting user interviews along with frequent meetings with users from broad levels of expertise, from beginners and intermediate to experts to collect information that helped in forming user personas and a typical user journey map.

User group 

Between ages 25-45

500-5000 users

Methods used

Stakeholder/user interviews

Personas

Journey mapping

Research Findings

The dated and obscure UI of the existing system had no classification for frequent and advanced actions. Thus, configuring a simple automation workflow was a struggle, especially the beginners. The system did not provide any guidance to help users make sense of the multiple options available.

The challenge was to design a UI upgrade that simplified the existing visual interface without adding cognitive load. So, our solution was focused on building a UI that would enable even a novice user to feel confident in building journeys as opposed to having a skilled developer script it out. It would guide the users to take the right action intuitively, rather than having them explore and wonder what they must do.

• It highlights the primary icons on the right side for easy access and offers 
• The left sidebar has every intent clearly lined up
• The ‘Deploy’ option is presented as a clear starting point to begin the workflow

Screens + Key Highlights: