CX Assurance Blog

Guess what? Customer experience is important. Lots of people will even tell you that we are in the customer experience economy these days. More and more companies find themselves now competing primarily on the experiences they deliver to their customers rather than their brand or their product or even price. So, if that’s the case, then why do so many IVR teams get treated like order takers rather than a strategic partner in the customer experience economy?

You probably are familiar with the line “Show me the money!” from the movie Jerry Maguire. In the movie, Jerry’s client asks Jerry, his agent, to show him the money.  He doesn’t want his agent to talk a good game or make a bunch of promises, he wants results. That line is now used in pop culture to mean delivering results. 

How does that apply to your IVR testing?  Well, aren’t you a lot more interested in the results of testing — finding issues and defects in your IVR — than you are in tracking how many test cases your testers wrote or how often they dialed your IVR to make sure it worked the way you wanted it to? Of course, you are. But, if that is the case, why are so many IVR testers focused on writing test cases and making manual dials into your IVR, instead of finding issues and defects?

We’re all consumers of health insurance, and we’ve all gone through open enrollment. Every year we face a limited window in which we have to review options and make selections for the coming year. I don’t know about you, but I’m perpetually busy. And, truth be told, this tends to be a task I push out to the last minute. So, like so many others, I end up scrambling to get questions answered so I can complete my selections. To get answers, I pick up the phone and dial the toll-free number for my current or prospective health insurer. 

This is a make it or break it moment in terms of my relationship with my health insurance provider. If the published number does not connect, was no longer valid, or worse of all connected to a completely different company, I would not be pleased. And as my colleagues can tell you, you don’t want to poke the bear. 

The fact is, there can be many kinds of defects in software. Organizations are constantly working to minimize those defects. But to minimize any sort of defect most effectively, organizations need to look to the source. Most people think software defects come out of development because that is where the design is brought to life. But, is development truly the main source of software defects?

The answer is, it depends. The cost of a SEV1 depends on many factors including when the error is discovered and how difficult it is to diagnose and repair. But first, what is a SEV1?

When it comes to testing IVR development projects, most companies that are testing manually will answer the later. The amount of work required for manually testing IVR applications can vary greatly depending on the complexity of the IVR. And, there are other factors such as the cumulative amount of time it takes to set up and perform testing.

The answer is, it depends. The cost of a SEV1 depends on many factors including when the error is discovered and how difficult it is to diagnose and repair. But first, what is a SEV1?