ARPC launches IVR

In order to provide improved customer service, the Air Reserve Personnel Center has launched a new Interactive voice recording or phone menu starting June 1, 2012, on Buckley Air Force Base, Colo. Staff Sgt. Jessyca Eddy, ARPC phone counselor, provides customer service to a caller in the Total Force Service Center - Denver. (U.S. Air Force photo/Quinn Jacobson/)

ARPC launches IVR June 1

Published Jan. 29, 2013
By Tech. Sgt. Rob Hazelett
ARPC Public Affairs

BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- In order to provide improved customer service, the Air Reserve Personnel Center is launching a new Interactive Voice Recording or phone menu here starting June 1, 2012.

The purpose of the new IVR is to narrow the focus on what customers' needs are to quickly service them, said Capt. Tim Martin, ARPC programming management chief.

"We can find out what a customer needs and be able to know what a call is about to focus on that particular area," Capt. Martin said. "In the future when an agent answers the phone, we have the data and know immediately if we're able to answer the question or transfer the customer to a specific area."

Once the IVR begins, a 30-day analysis will determine how to tailor the call menus based on call volume in each particular area. This data will help agents figure out how to enhance the process, Capt. Martin said.

Customers may have to type in additional numbers while navigating through the phone menu. However, ARPC received more than 172,000 calls last year, and by implementing the IVR, both the customer and the contact center agent will spend a shorter time on the phone, Capt. Martin said.