How does it work?

IVR in the Cloud allows you to deploy your applications on premise and run them on an IVR platform in the cloud.  A PaaS provider operates the cloud-based IVR platform on your behalf, and it connects to your application server via secure data connection (VPN or dedicated circuits, depending on the level of security you require.)

  1. When a caller dials a phone number to reach your application, the call gets routed to your PaaS provider.
  2. The PaaS provider routes the call (sometimes through their own switch) to a VoiceXML browser (the IVR platform in the cloud.)
  3. As the call arrives, the VoiceXML browser checks to see which application it should run for that particular call, and where that application is located. It does this by checking a routing table that matches the dialed number (DN) to the location (URL) of the IVR application associated with that number.
  4. Once it has the location, the browser sends a request (https) to your application server requesting the first “page” of your VoiceXML IVR application.
  5. The application server sends the first page to the browser, and the browser answers the call.
  6. The browser executes the instructions in the VoiceXML page, thus bringing the application to life.  The instructions in the page define the call flow and the interaction with the caller- they describe which prompts to play, accept input from callers, request information from back end databases, and fetch new pages based on caller input and business logic.
  7. Throughout the call, the browser runs the IVR application by requesting a series of VoiceXML pages and executing their instructions as they arrive.  From a caller’s perspective, all this happens behind the scenes and the experience is no different from an IVR application deployed on premise.