The Marriage of Managed Services and Telephony Voices

An excellent way for companies to improve operations, reduce budgetary expenditures, and to stay on top of technological shifts is to outsource the oversight of processes and functions to a Managed Services specialist.

As a Managed Services specialist working in the IT space (specifically in telephony), having a dedicated professional overseeing the voicing of IVR prompts, assisting in the scripting and advising about possible bottlenecks or redundancies can be a formidable piece of the puzzle in the overall managed services framework. The company who hires you to oversee all aspects of their UC/telephony/contact center rollout will likely not even consider the benefit of arranging a qualified, experienced voice for their telephony presence – and yet, it can be a defining aspect of their image. It’s an often-neglected feature of a robust telephony platform, but nothing speaks louder volumes about a company’s professionalism than the sound, the tone, the efficiency, and the consistency of their outward-facing prompts.

Chances are, the company who engages your managed services doesn’t even have this on their radar. That’s *your* job.

You – as a Managed Services expert – have the ability to proudly hand over this white-glove feature to your company. There may, however, be some obstacles you may encounter from high up that you should be ready to counter.

Can’t We Get a Staffer to Do It?

Companies who have previously just enlisted the help of a staffer in their call center to handle the front-end automation portion of their call center prompts might be quite resistant to bringing in an outside worker to voice their prompts, regardless of their qualifications and experience. If this aspect has been sufficiently handled previously, why the necessity to engage a pro? Explaining that – much in the same way that they didn’t just hire a relative to noodle around with developing their website -- their telephone system also deserves to have a professional treatment, from the advising/writing of the script, professionally voicing and recording it digitally, and returning and updating sound files with rapid turnaround is a distinct value-add for them – and a smart thing for you to recommend.

How Much Will This Cost?

This is a case where “The Cheap Becomes Expensive.” While using a staffer might seem like an economical work-around, if he/she is not available to do last-minute critical updates and changes to your system (because they’re too busy doing their *actual job*), that could be a point of failure in the business process chain. Having a dedicated voice-over pro who does nothing but voicing IVR systems all day, every day, is a way of assuring your company that their phone system will be a priority by making sure that the voice you have on contract is always available for last-minute changes, updates, and re-records. One last thing for your client to worry about.

What About Consistency and Availability?

Here’s where a Managed Services expert offering a pro voice on their customer’s platform has an upper hand – and where the value of having such a pro on the team adds indescribable streamlining. All last year, I voiced the IVRs for a chain of foot and ankle clinics along the Eastern US seaboard. As soon as one division went live with their phone system, all of the various offices wanted their system done as well – and the effect of having the entire network’s systems voiced by the *same* individual; updates and changes being done within 24 hours to provide seamless, integrated sound files was significant. And made the Managed Service expert/project manager look like they were one step ahead by anticipating their client’s need and providing a dedicated solution.

A Managed Services provider needs many tools in their belt – the more complimentary ancillary services they have a direct line to makes them look incredibly prepared and forward-seeing. Enlisting the services of a professional telephone voice is one significant feature that will help to streamline the telephony project and preserve your engager’s image and credibility.

Allison Smith is a professional telephone voice heard on platforms globally. Theivrvoice.com, @voicegal.