Genesys, which acquired VoiceGenie earlier this year, has emerged as the 'clear voice portal leader', according to a recent report by Steve Cramoysan and Drew Kraus of Gartner.

Replacing outdated legacy IVR technology is a top priority for many organisations. Many manufacturers have discontinued their older IVRs and will not support them beyond the next year or two. IVR maintenance costs are as much as twice the rate of next-generation software systems, and require specialised technicians to add new applications, driving up costs and causing delays in time-to-market for new applications.

Older IVRs are also the top-ranked source of customer frustration, according to a Genesys survey of more than 650 contact centres and 1500 customers from 20 countries. The biggest issue for consumers is the inflexibility of complex touch tone IVR menus.

The Genesys survey found that 65% of customers prefer speech to touchtone and 62% of companies deploying speech technology found an increase in customer satisfaction. The report also found consumers required IVRs to be integrated with live service, and 83% of consumers considered speech-enabled IVRs to be a satisfactory alternative to live self-service.

Newer platforms such as Genesys typically reduce maintenance operating costs by as much as 40%, and have an ROI payback of as little as 12 months compared to older, outdated IVRs. For companies that wish to transition away from their IVRs, Genesys will develop a detailed cost analysis at SpeechTEK that incorporates all critical metrics, such as expected customer opt-in rates for self-service, improved customer satisfaction, reduced long-term maintenance and development costs, and hardware savings.