AI IVRS - Say Goodbye to Press 1, Press 2
Let’s be honest - traditional IVRS was never fun. The robotic menus, the endless loops, the ‘sorry I didn’t get that’ after you just said it clearly. Everyone hated it.
But that’s changing. Fast.
AI-based IVRS systems are finally making voice support something customers don’t instantly want to escape from. You can just say what you want - in your own words, in your own language - and it actually understands and responds. It feels smooth, natural, and yes, sometimes even a little magical.
And the best part? It’s already happening across India.
What’s Different Now?
Unlike the old-school press-1-for-this systems, these new IVRs actually listen. They don’t just wait for inputs - they understand intent. You can say I want to check my balance or even just balance check, and it gets it. It replies in real time, in a human-like voice, and it works across languages and accents.
This is possible thanks to a mix of smart tools - speech recognition, large language models (like GPT-4o), and high-quality text-to-speech. And it all clicks in under 2 seconds. No delays. No waiting music. No operator required unless absolutely needed.
Who's Already Doing This - And How It’s Playing Out
Vodafone Idea
Vodafone Idea (Vi) rolled out a voice assistant built by ORISERVE that now takes care of 60%+ of basic customer queries. Stuff like plan info, data balance, and recharge options.
And it’s working. Call volumes to human agents have dropped significantly - but more importantly, customers aren’t hanging up in frustration. The voicebot actually understands Hinglish. And if the issue’s complex, it passes the baton to a human. Smooth.
ICICI Bank
They partnered with Active.Ai to launch a conversational phone banking assistant. Users can now just say what they need - balance, card block, last transaction - and the system takes care of it. What really clicked here was regional language support. Whether it’s English, Hindi, Tamil, or Bengali, the bot adjusts accordingly. Millions of calls are now being handled every month without a single human lifting the phone.
Swiggy
Swiggy uses a voice AI bot to help delivery partners confirm customer addresses - especially when location pins or instructions are unclear. It automatically calls the customer, speaks in their language, confirms the details, and updates the delivery flow.
This helped reduce delivery delays and failures - and gave delivery agents one less thing to stress about.
Zomato
Zomato does outbound calls to restaurants using Skit.ai’s voice tech to confirm orders. The bot checks item availability and confirms ETA - all in a conversational tone. It handles thousands of these calls a day, with minimal errors. No call center, no wait time, no chaos.
Tata 1mg
For their healthcare support line, 1mg added a voice bot (via Vernacular.ai) that handles appointment bookings, lab report queries, and reminders. And it doesn’t feel like talking to a wall - the voice actually sounds calm, empathetic, and responsive.
It especially helps people calling from Tier-2/3 cities who aren’t always fluent in English - the bot talks back in Marathi, Bengali, Hindi, etc. Real inclusivity.
Why This Matters (And Why Now)
Because customers today don’t have the patience to press 5 different buttons to get a simple answer. They want to speak naturally and be understood. AI IVRS makes that possible.
Also-
- Companies cut down their support costs by a huge margin
- Human agents get freed up to solve real problems
- Customers walk away feeling heard, not ignored
- And for users in rural India, this becomes the most accessible form of support
The Stack Behind It (Lightly Techy, But Important)
In case you’re wondering how it all comes together -
- Voice Input: Google STT, Whisper or Deepgram turn speech into text
- Understanding: GPT-4o or Claude interprets the query
- Voice Output: Google TTS or ElevenLabs speaks back
- Telephony: Twilio or Exotel handles calls, connects to your CRM or backend
- Workflow Orchestration: Tools like n8n route everything in the background
You can also plug in your existing knowledge base, FAQs, ticketing system, or CRM to personalize things further.
Exploring AI IVRS for your business?
YBM Labs could help you explore and implement AI-powered IVRS - ones that actually understand your users, Let's talk: https://ybmlabs.com/