In the development cycle of any new product or service, "Time-to-Market" is often the difference between success and  failure. A brilliant idea, a mega-technology, a novel approach, are of little value to the market if they arrive too late for the users to take  advantage of the competitive advantages that the new product or service offers.  IVRI plays a integral role with many large companies as they ready a new offering for the  market.  Some of the advantages that IVRI provides over traditional data collection methodologies are speed, access, and cost.

 Here's an example ..A few years ago, a very large convenience store chain was having some success with the introduction of a limited selection of fresh, ready to eat, food  items.  The next big step was to expand the menu as quickly as they could and yet still maintain quality and taste.  The food items  were assembled in a central commissary  and then distributed very rapidly throughout the stores of the test market.  The project leaders realized that the customer who purchased and consumed a sandwich at 11 AM  would more than likely have a different opinion of the same sandwich purchased at 3 PM that afternoon.  What they wanted was nearly real time feedback from a large group of purchasers so that they could very quickly adjust the ingredients or other variables under  their control in order to attain the highest ratings possible.  To accomplish this, during the assembly and packaging of the food items, a small adhesive coupon was attached to the outside of the package.  The  coupon explained that their feedback was needed regarding the new fresh food items and if they called a toll free number within 1 hour of consuming the item and completed a short survey, the coupon would be  validated to receive a free food item for their time and participation. When the customers called, a user-friendly IVR system instructed them through the entire process.  Callers  were also able to leave voice messages which were accessed by the project leaders and management through the MyVoice message retrieval system.  The end result was that over 50% of the purchasers responded to the offer from 11 am to 6 PM.  Results  were tabulated on predetermined points and transmitted to the client by 7 PM.  Modifications were made to the food items the very next day while being assembled in  the commissary and the data collection process started all over again.  In some cases, the client was able to modify the product to reach the target satisfaction levels in just a  few days, while in others it took a week to two weeks.