IVR system: the menu that answers, understands and routes.
Service summary
The IVR is the first thing anyone calling your company hears. Done well, it settles the repetitive calls on its own and takes the rest to the right agent with the details already on screen. It comes with the TelHarbor IP-PBX and is built in the browser, with no programming.
«Thank you for calling. So we can help you faster…»
Each option can resolve, transfer, take a message or move the conversation to WhatsApp.
An IVR is more than a recorded menu.
It is the layer that decides what happens to every call before anyone picks up.
It always answers
Nobody hears a ring that goes nowhere. The IVR picks up on the first tone, greets with your company name and applies your schedule: if you are closed, it says so and takes the message.
It identifies the caller
It can ask for an account number, validate it against your system and hand the detail to the agent, who knows who is calling before answering.
It routes with judgement
By the key pressed, by schedule, by calling number or by the result of a lookup. The call lands in the right queue, not «at the switchboard».
It resolves without an agent
Repetitive questions — order status, balance, opening hours — are answered inside the IVR. Whatever it cannot settle goes to a person with the context.
What you get with TelHarbor
The IVR ships with the IP-PBX; it is not a separate module billed later.
- Visual flow editor: build the menu by dragging steps, with no programming and without depending on us for a change.
- Recorded or synthesized voice: use your own recordings, or type the text and the system speaks it.
- Schedules and holidays: one flow for office hours and another for after hours, with its own calendar.
- Data lookups: the IVR asks your system over an API and answers with the real value.
- Handover to WhatsApp: callers who will not wait on hold continue the conversation by message.
- Queues and reports: every option feeds a queue with its waiting time, abandon rate and recording.
- Optional AI Agent: answers the repetitive questions in natural language and hands over to a person when needed.
The mistakes that make people press 0
A badly built IVR makes the call longer, not shorter. What we see most often:
- More than five options at the first level: nobody remembers the fourth one.
- Three levels of menus for something a single question would settle.
- No way out to a person: the caller hangs up and calls back through another option.
- Repeating the full greeting at every level, when the caller already knows where they are.
- No measurement: if nobody checks how many abandon on each option, the menu ages unnoticed.
Want to hear how your menu would sound?
We build the flow for your operation and show it working before you sign anything.
Frequently asked questions about IVR
What is an IVR?
It is the system that answers the call automatically, plays a menu and routes it based on what the caller presses or says. IVR stands for Interactive Voice Response.
Does the IVR cost extra?
No. It is included with the TelHarbor IP-PBX, along with the flow editor, schedules and queues. What is billed separately are numbers, minutes and, if you want it, the AI Agent.
Can I change the menu myself?
Yes. The editor is visual and changes take effect immediately; no ticket, no waiting for a technician.
Does it support speech recognition?
Yes, alongside the keypad. The IVR can understand spoken answers and can also hand the conversation to the AI Agent, which replies in natural language.
Can it connect to my system?
Yes. The flow can query your system over an API to validate an account or return a status, and pass that value to whoever takes the call.
Does it work if I already have my own PBX?
It depends on the equipment. It integrates with Asterisk-based systems; otherwise the way forward is moving telephony to the cloud and keeping your numbers.