Interactive Voice Response Technology Cuts Service Center Costs At the Equitable

Equitable Life Assurance Society has installed Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems from Periphonics Corporation, which replace existing automated agent and policyholder services previously provided through a service bureau.

Through the new automated service, agents and policyholders can access general policy information, inquire about dividend and account values, request loans, transfer investment fund values and change investment allocation using a touch-tone telephone. Special system features include fax-back for account statements and Caller Message Recording for policyholder address changes.

"In addition to providing general information through our IVR system, we wanted to allow our callers to perform routine transactions," says Karen Pineda, technical consultant for The Equitable. "Bringing the systems in-house allowed us to expand client functionality while preserving audit control. With the Periphonics systems, we can expand and enhance our services easily in the future."

The automated service is supported by two 48-line VPS systems from Periphonics Corporation. An additional 4-port VPS is used for application development and testing. The systems interface to a Lucent switch and an IBM mainframe host, and are located in Charlotte, NC and Des Moines, IA. Approximately 15,000 calls monthly are processed by the automated service, with call volumes expected to rise to 75,000 as the system is introduced to the company's entire client base over the next 12 months.

"We hope the systems will dramatically reduce the expenses associated with running our service centers," adds Pineda. "We ultimately expect more than 60% of our overall call volume to be handled by the IVR systems. By automating routine inquiries and transactions, our service representatives can make more efficient use of their time by focusing on those callers with special needs."