Cisco Cisco Administrative Workstation Installation Guide

The IVR interface is not specific to a particular IVR system or manufacturer. It is 
based on an open IVR model. Many IVR systems support Cisco’s Open IVR 
Interface Specification, including Cisco Internet Service Node (ISN). For a list of 
IVRs that support this interface, contact your Cisco representative.

You can integrate IVR systems into the ICM software in several different 
ways. 

 provides more information on IVR 

integration along with examples of how you might integrate IVRs with the 
ICM system.

The ICM Application Gateway option allows the ICM software to interact with a 
host system that is running another contact center application. Within the ICM 
software, the Gateway feature is implemented as an Application Gateway node in 
a call routing script. You add an Application Gateway node to a script to instruct 
the system to execute an external application. This allows the script to evaluate 
responses from the external application and base subsequent routing decisions on 
the results produced by the application.

The Gateway option allows the ICM system to interface with any external 
application, not just database applications. You can use the Gateway option within 
the ICM system to:

Allow other applications to select a call’s destination.

Control or trigger external applications through ICM call routing scripts.

Pass data to and collect data from other contact center applications.

For example, a simple Gateway application might return a variable to the 
CallRouter that identifies the caller as having a premium account. The routing 
script can use this information to control where and how the call is routed. 
Optionally, the ICM can pass the retrieved information to the site that is receiving 
the call. Data such as account numbers, dates, billing phone numbers, and 
addresses can be passed along with the call to an answering resource.

 

provides more information on planning for the Gateway feature.