IVR overview

​

When to use an IVR

• You want to route calls by department (sales, support, billing) without a human operator.
• Call volume is high enough that a receptionist becomes a bottleneck.
• You need 24/7 call handling — IVRs don’t sleep.
• You want to surface self-service options before connecting a caller to an agent.

​

What an IVR can do

• A greeting — TTS-generated audio that plays when the call connects.
• Up to 10 menu options (digits 0-9) plus * and # — each routes to a destination.
• A timeout — how long to wait for input before repeating the greeting.
• Max retries — how many times to repeat before hanging up.
• Optional direct extension dial — callers can dial an extension directly from inside the IVR.

​

Menu option destinations

​

Example flow

Caller dials +91 80 6597 8001
  ↓
IVR "Main menu" plays greeting:
  "Welcome to Acme. Press 1 for sales, 2 for support, 3 for billing."
  ↓
Caller presses 2
  ↓
Call routes to queue 5002 (support)
  ↓
Next available support agent's SIP phone rings

​

Lifecycle

1. Create the IVR with a name, extension, and settings.
2. Record or generate the greeting (TTS).
3. Build the menu — assign digits to destinations.
4. Publish the IVR to make it live on the dialplan.
5. Route a phone number (DID) to the IVR.

​

Related pages

• Create an IVR — step-by-step guide to the visual builder.
• IVR greetings and TTS — generate audio from text.
• Menu routing — design the digit options.
• Configure phone number routing — point a DID at your IVR.
• IVR API reference — programmatic access.