From IVR to AI: Powering the Future of Voice Testing

Insights from Our CTO, Satish Barot, on VUX World

In today's rapidly evolving contact center landscape, businesses are navigating a seismic shift from rigid IVR systems to intelligent, AI-driven customer interactions. At Klearcom, we're proud to be at the forefront of this transformation, helping companies ensure their voice systems deliver quality, clarity, and customer satisfaction at every step.

Recently, our CTO, Satish Barot, joined the VUX World podcast to share our perspective on how voice testing must evolve to keep up with Generative AI. In a conversation that ranged from legacy IVR limitations to our cutting-edge QA platform, Satish laid out a compelling roadmap for the future of voice-based customer engagement.

The IVR We Know: Reliable, but Frustrating

For decades, IVRs have followed a familiar pattern: "Press 1 for Sales, 2 for Support." These DTMF-based systems are still the norm in most global contact centers, and they remain popular for good reason. They are simple to implement, easy to maintain, and inexpensive to run.

But from a customer’s point of view, they’re often a source of friction. As Satish shared on the podcast, when your issue isn’t explicitly listed in the menu, you’re forced to navigate endless levels of options, often only to be placed on hold. This is the reality we set out to change.

Why the Shift to AI Matters

Customer expectations have changed. As consumers grow more accustomed to seamless voice experiences with Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant, they want the same fluidity when contacting brands. This is why Generative AI is now being touted as the next big thing in contact centers, and rightly so.

Generative AI has the potential to understand open-ended customer queries and handle a wider range of intents. It delivers natural, conversational responses, operates around the clock without fatigue or queue times, and scales support without scaling headcount.

But potential alone isn’t enough. These systems must be tested, validated, and monitored to work consistently under real-world conditions. That’s where we come in.

Our Origin Story: Solving a Global QA Gap

We launched Klearcom because we saw a widespread, persistent problem. IVR systems weren’t being tested at scale. Companies with numbers in fifty or more countries were flying blind, unable to verify if customers could reach them, get routed properly, or even understand the voice on the line.

Since 2020, we’ve built a testing infrastructure that connects through fixed-line and GSM networks in more than one hundred countries. We simulate real calls with human-like voices, regional accents, background noise, and variable phrasing to replicate what a customer actually experiences. We score performance and alert teams in real time.

That’s how we help enterprises protect revenue, reputation, and customer satisfaction. And we’re not just testing traditional IVRs anymore.

Evolving Our Testing for Generative AI

Today, more of our clients are exploring or deploying AI-driven voice assistants, and we’ve built new capabilities to support them. Our platform can now test Conversational AI and Generative AI-based IVRs using a suite of highly configurable scenarios.

We simulate thousands of real-world calls using diverse voices, male and female, across a range of pitches. We include regional accents and layered background noise, from city traffic to train stations to busy cafes. We vary phrasing and delivery speed to reflect how real people speak.

We check not just whether the system responds, but how accurately, how quickly, and how clearly. We perform volume testing to see how systems behave under stress. If something breaks—whether due to latency, poor audio rendering, or recognition failure—we catch it before your customers do.

Measuring What Matters

One of the key innovations we’ve introduced is automated response validation. For every test case, such as "I’ve lost my credit card," we define the expected response. Our system then compares the AI’s output with the expected phrasing, scores the semantic relevance, and assesses audio quality. If something is off, we notify the customer immediately.

This ensures your Generative AI system doesn’t just function, it excels.

Why Voice QA Can’t Be an Afterthought

As Satish highlighted in the podcast, Generative AI enables a transformation from routing to resolution. IVRs are no longer just about getting customers to the right agent. They’re becoming agents themselves.

That raises the stakes for testing significantly.

You need to know whether the system understands regional accents under real conditions, whether it provides accurate answers in noisy environments, whether latency and audio rendering are consistent, and whether it can handle unexpected questions gracefully.

The only way to answer these questions is through real-world, telephony-based testing, not lab simulations.

What Sets Us Apart

We’re not just another testing vendor. We offer global voice infrastructure, carrier-grade telephony, AI validation for both live and hybrid IVRs, self-serve scheduling, and fully customizable scenarios. We’re also developing virtual agents that can answer and respond to test calls, run diagnostics, and feed data back into your QA dashboards, automating the QA process itself.

Where We’re Headed Next

While voice remains our core, we're expanding into chatbot validation. This includes web-based bots, app-integrated bots, and Generative AI-powered assistants. We’re also developing intelligent testing agents that will dynamically adjust scenarios, simulate edge cases, and provide continuous performance learning.

Human Insight Behind the Tech

Satish’s vision for Klearcom was shaped not only by a clear technical gap in the industry but by a deeply held belief that quality is not a phase of delivery—it is a continuous commitment. He often emphasizes that reliability, especially in the voice channel, can make or break trust. That ethos continues to guide everything we build.

A Real-World Example of Impact

One global financial services provider came to us with customer complaints they couldn’t trace. Their toll-free numbers were working intermittently across several markets. Within days of implementing our testing, we identified routing failures in three key regions. Those issues were resolved within forty-eight hours, and customer satisfaction improved measurably in the following weeks.

The Bigger Picture: Testing in a Changing World

Contact centers are under pressure from every direction. Regulations are tightening around AI use, customers expect instant and intuitive service, and operational budgets remain flat. Quality assurance is no longer just a best practice—it is becoming a requirement for compliance, reputation management, and business continuity.

Expanding the Role of Testing

As we look to the future, we see testing evolving to include more than functional performance. We’re exploring ways to measure emotional tone, handle multilingual scenarios more robustly, and simulate longer multi-turn conversations. Our testing agents are being designed to learn, adapt, and collaborate with your internal systems to create a continuous feedback loop.

Final Thoughts: Start Small, Scale Smart

At Klearcom, we advise our clients to start small, test early, and iterate fast. You don’t need to overhaul your entire IVR system overnight. Identify simple intents to test first. Run Generative AI alongside your traditional IVR. Measure what’s working and what’s not. Expand intelligently with data to support your decisions.

Customer experience is not about deploying the fanciest technology. It’s about making sure your customers are heard, helped, and happy.

Want to Learn More?

Listen to the full episode of VUX World featuring Satish Barot. Explore our solutions at klearcom.com. Contact us to set up a demo and see how we can help you scale your AI voice solution with confidence.