Replace an IVR branch with conversational AI: step by step

Replacing an IVR is a routing change as well as an assistant configuration project. Start with one branch and keep the current service available until its replacement is accepted.

Step 1: Document the current behavior

Record the public number, menu choices, business hours, destination owners and unavailable paths. Include account-specific or authenticated routes that an ordinary exploration may not reach. Compare the document with controlled calls through the live system.

Burki's IVR Explorer can save observed menu behavior. It does not guarantee every branch was discovered: depth, time, authentication and changing menus can limit coverage.

Step 2: Choose a bounded task

Public hours and service-area questions have different requirements from account balances or appointment changes. Select one task with an approved source and an observable outcome. Account data needs authorization; changing a record needs a supported action and confirmation.

Step 3: Review the converted draft

Conversion provides an editable starting point. Check instructions, conditions, action bindings and all proposed destinations. Remove unsupported nodes or promises. Keep draft testing distinct from publishing.

A generated instruction to transfer or book is not evidence that the external route or calendar is connected.

Step 4: Test the actual failure paths

Practice a normal request, a correction and an unknown answer in the browser. Then test the telephone route with controlled endpoints. Verify two-way audio, action evidence, hangup and settlement. Test busy, declined and unanswered human destinations if a supported handoff is required.

A shadow deployment is a separate technical capability; do not assume a product offers it. Use only the evaluation methods actually available and authorized.

Step 5: Release a limited route

Agree on who changes routing, what exposure is acceptable and what failure triggers restoration. Confirm that restoring the old route works before depending on that plan. A phone number assignment alone is not full acceptance.

Step 6: Review real outcomes

Compare correctly resolved tasks, misroutes, repeat contacts, staff rework and full usage costs with the previous branch. Inspect individual failures before expanding. There is no universal migration duration or guaranteed improvement.

Use the migration inventory guide for the underlying business rules and the branch test template for repeatable checks.