What is an IVR?

IVR, Interactive Voice Response, phone menu—dear child has many names, as they say.

You’ve probably encountered this feature before, even if you didn’t know the name. Maybe this will jog your memory:

Press 1 for telephony, press 2 for broadband, press 3 for billing, press 4 for other inquiries, press 5 to hear our opening hours, press 6 to hear the options again, press 9 for English.

Chances are you’ve pressed your way through one of these menus countless times. And few things are more frustrating than getting through ten layers of options only to hit the wrong number. The joy of hanging up and starting over, right? When it happens to me, it’s obviously my fault—but I still blame the IVR.

Even if it occasionally tests your patience, it’s a brilliant feature. It saves time, streamlines workflows, and reduces queue times. No rose without thorns, as they say.

Let’s go through the benefits—but first:

What is an Interactive Voice Response (IVR)?

Interactive Voice Response, or IVR, has been around since the 1970s. It’s an automated voice system that lets callers interact with a computer to navigate to the right destination using their phone keypad.

You’ve definitely used it—maybe when calling your bank, insurance company, or even us at lynes.

The pre-programmed system plays recorded messages with the available options, and you choose where to go by pressing the corresponding number.

The purpose is simple: efficiency.

With a well-designed IVR, you’ll save valuable time—and time is money. Agents receive only the calls relevant to their department, eliminating wasted time spent redirecting or handling misrouted calls.

In many ways, the IVR has evolved the traditional switchboard operator role, turning it into something more specialized.

Over the years, IVR systems have become smarter and more capable. Today, instead of pressing keys, you can sometimes speak your choices aloud. Some companies even integrate BankID for secure identification before reaching an agent—speeding things up even further. In some cases, customers can even resolve their issues without ever speaking to a human.

The benefits of an IVR

Right call to the right department

By giving callers clear options, you ensure every call reaches the right place from the start. No more unnecessary transfers—the caller has already chosen to reach, say, support or billing.

Filter calls and inform customers

Besides sorting calls correctly, IVRs are great for sharing quick info—like opening hours, service disruptions, or announcements—freeing up your team to focus on real cases instead of repeating the same information over and over.

Increased call capacity

When agents no longer spend time rerouting calls or answering basic questions, they can dedicate more time to the customers who truly need their help—improving both service and call quality.

Faster handling

A smart IVR can let callers verify their identity before speaking to an agent, for example with BankID. That means agents can skip that step during the call—a clear win-win.

Bonus: The benefits of IVR in

lynes

Easy to update

Our smart self-service interface makes it simple to edit menu options, activate broadcast messages, temporarily redirect choices, or adjust opening hours.

Create new messages instantly

lynes includes built-in text-to-speech, so you can generate new voice messages right from your phone or computer. Just type your message, choose a voice, and activate it.

Swedish? Norwegian? English?

lynes supports multiple languages. Just pick your preferred language when creating your voice files.

How IVR works in

lynes

Even though IVRs have existed since the 70s, there’s always room for improvement—and we’ve done just that. With lynes’ intuitive interface, you can easily manage everything yourself.

You can create, edit, and delete IVR menus directly from your phone, tablet, computer, or browser. Simple, self-service management.

Just open lynes from any device, go to Settings → IVR menus, click Create, name your menu, choose a number, and record your messages—either as an audio file or using text-to-speech.

Finally, it’s time to assign key options. You decide where each call goes:

to external numbers, internal users, response groups, other IVR menus, or voicemail messages.

(Click here for a larger image)

And remember: Choose wisely.

PS. Don’t forget to set your opening hours for the menu!

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