IVR

ALSO CALLED: Voice Response, Automated Voice Response, Interactive Voice Response
DEFINITION: Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is an automated telephony system that interacts with callers, gathers information and routes calls to the appropriate recipient. An IVR system (IVRS) accepts a combination of voice telephone input and touch-tone keypad selection and provides appropriate responses in the form of voice, fax, callback, e-mail and perhaps other media. An IVR system consists of telephony  … 
Definition continues below.

IVR DEFINITION (continued): …  equipment, software applications, a database and a supporting infrastructure. Common IVR applications include:Bank and stock account balances and transfersSurveys and pollsOffice call routingCall center forwardingSimple order entry transactionsSelective information lookup (movie schedules, etc.)An IVR application provides pre-recorded voice responses for appropriate situations, keypad signal logic, access to relevant data and, potentially, the ability to record voice input for later handling. Using computer telephony integration (CTI), IVR applications can hand off a call to a human being who …