E-Paper
From IVR to intelligent agents - BFSI’s voice shift
This article is authored by Maaz Ansari, co-founder and CRO, Oriserve.
For decades, Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) companies have relied on Interactive Voice Responses (IVR) to help them manage high volumes of incoming customer inquiries by routing calls efficiently. However, these systems have proven to be cumbersome for customers because they had to enter multiple numbers, listen to long menus, and repeat the same issue when they reached a live agent.
In 2026, this will no longer be the case as there is a shift away from traditional call handling towards a more customer-centric approach using spoken, Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled solutions. The customers now want rapid, intuitive, and secure communication - which is why the BFSI companies are moving from rule-based IVR systems to intelligent, voice-enabled agents capable of sense and intent based operations in real time.
The use of voice in BFSI is essential because most customer transactions are urgent, private and/or have a high frequency value associated with them. For example, when you call a customer service line to block a card, check the status of a loan, report potential fraud, renew insurance or ask about a late payment, it is often quicker to speak with a representative than it is to type an email. This is particularly true in markets such as India, where the population is multilingual, so to provide great customer experiences, the majority of customers must be able to use their primary language. Voice is particularly beneficial for those who have difficulty using mobile apps or the complex website due to a lack of screen literacy.
Intelligent agents make use of both the traditional IVR as well as many functions not found in IVR. For example, intelligent agents can process and understand spoken language, understand your context, identify your specific need, and provide appropriate, accurate, and simple responses. Intelligent agents also perform various functions, such as checking your balance, sending you an EMI reminder, renewing your policy, following up on payments, and assisting with basic collections conversations.
The transition is not only about replacing traditional IVR systems with a more intelligent voice layer; it is also about ensuring that those systems are compliant, reliable, and transparent. The customer can be trusting; if an AI system does not provide a clear response or allow authentication to take place, or if the customer does not have access to a live human on the call, they will lose faith.
This is why the year 2026 will be more about execution than hype. According to Forrester, this year will be defined by the building of a strong foundation of customer service-related AI, while NICE has reported that customers are not rejecting AI; rather, they are rejecting poor service design and dead ends.
BFSI’s voice transition has also progressed from automation to intelligence. Those who succeed will not be those that add AI to their existing IVR systems, but rather, those that provide AI-enabled intelligent agents to create conversations rather than menus. Conversational voice will replace menu navigation in the future of the BFSI market. The shift has already begun.
This article is authored by Maaz Ansari, co-founder and CRO, Oriserve.
