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.)
- When a caller dials a phone number to reach your application, the call gets routed to your PaaS provider.
- The PaaS provider routes the call (sometimes through their own switch) to a VoiceXML browser (the IVR platform in the cloud.)
- 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.
- Once it has the location, the browser sends a request (https) to your application server requesting the first “page” of your VoiceXML IVR application.
- The application server sends the first page to the browser, and the browser answers the call.
- 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.
- 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.