The deadline for filing taxes is almost here, but are you ready? Did you diligently gather your paperwork in February, and prepare your tax returns yourself? Or did you find that needed home repairs, your kids’ sports events, and the latest season of House of Cards took up too much of your time until it was too late?
If you fall into the latter category, you may have filed an extension, but that only buys you so much time. Eventually you’ll have to get it done.
Similarly, if you’re like many IT directors, your legacy IVR is in desperate need of replacement, but the time it would take to address it is being taken up with day-to-day operations and just making sure your current system is functioning.
To make matters worse (like that friend who tries to persuade you that citizens aren’t “really” required to pay taxes), some checkbook-wielding executives are convinced that IVR is not really worthy of attention compared to emerging social, mobile, or digital customer engagement trends.
A Looming Threat
If you don’t pay your taxes, you can expect the IRS to impose penalty fees, liens, or even jail time.
Likewise, there may be unwanted consequences if you wait too long to upgrade your IVR. With an aging or obsolete system, you’ll spend ever more time, money, and resources trying to maintain something that is becoming less supported and more complex. In addition, your company may end up losing customers due to frustration with the system if your technology falls too far behind.
Not as Bad as It Seems
The good news is that, when you send in your tax returns on time, there’s a chance you could receive a refund, and you get to breathe a sigh of relief and get back to your life for another year.
When you modernize your IVR, you’ll be able to focus on higher-level activities that support your customers and help your company grow. Depending on the technology you choose, the sigh of relief after upgrading your IVR could last for five years or more.
Plus, while taxes and IVR modernization can each seem overwhelming, there are people who can help with both activities. For taxes, you can hire an accountant; for IVR modernization, you can hire a customer engagement solutions provider. In both cases, you get experts to perform lower-level tasks so you can spend your time on other, more important priorities.
Once and Done…For Now
Just as you can continue to procrastinate on filing your taxes, you can put off IVR modernization for a time by implementing multiple fixes to keep your current system maintained.
But, eventually the return on investment will slowly creep down and become negative, causing you to lose time, money, and energy. When that happens, adjust your schedule, get budget approval, call an expert, or whatever else you need to do to get it resolved. As with your taxes, once it’s done, you’ll wonder what took you so long.
To eliminate time, risks and costs associated with IVR manual coding, enhance existing processes and documentation, as well as improve customer interactions, Aria Solutions’ Professional Services Team offers the IVR Modernization solution.