The global market for IVR systems will reach nearly $2.8 billion by 2017, according Global Industry Analysts Inc., and many of these IVR systems will be benefiting small businesses that have come to realize the benefits of the technology.

IVR has long been a staple of larger firms, but until recently it was too costly and complex for smaller companies. That has changed with the cloud, as firms large or small can now add IVR to their phone systems without having to invest in infrastructure or much training and configuration.

The advantages of IVR are several, foremost among them being time savings and better customer service.

Through the use of IVR, small businesses can deflect calls that can be just as easily answered with an automated response. This can save huge amounts of time.

It also can boost productivity, because every time an employee has to stop work to answer the phone there is a drop in performance. If calls looking for basic information are intercepted by an IVR system, huge amounts of distraction can be eliminated.

IVR systems also can be good for callers.

Many of us have memories of the older generation of IVR systems that was relatively dumb and couldn’t properly process natural language; we all have memories of talking to the phone slowly and as if we were robots. Newer generation IVR systems such as that offered by Genesys (News - Alert) are not only better at working with customers, they also can actually improve upon the calling experience.

That’s because modern IVR can deliver self-service that is easy enough that callers actually will prefer using the system over talking with a live person on the phone (we’re all antisocial sometimes).

A good IVR system can not only route calls to the appropriate person, it also can offer a buffet of solutions to common questions so the caller can get the information he or she needs faster than talking with a live person.

Small businesses also have another reason to use IVR: With cloud-based IVR solutions, small businesses can stitch together a geographically-dispersed workforce or even have their phone system connect directly with partner businesses.

IVR has long delivered advantages for large businesses. Now small firms are able to reap the benefits, too.