Voxeo has launched a new branding campaign against outdated, end-of-life IVR systems that trap callers in IVR hell. To counter these systems, which Voxeo calls Zombie IVRs or the talking dead, the company’s new campaign showcases how fast, easy, and cost-effective it can be to migrate to flexible, standards-based solutions that can adapt to customers’ heightened expectations and changing preferences, including the demand for mobile and social interactions.

The company also launched a corresponding Web site, www.zombie-ivr.com.

So what exactly qualifies as a Zombie IVR? Here’s Voxeo’s explanation: They greet your customers with unhelpful, one-size-fits-all menu options, insist their options “have recently changed” when they actually haven’t been updated in years, and require customers to enter their account numbers, only to be asked for them again when they give up and transfer to an agent for help. These Zombie IVRs are unable to understand or adapt to the customer’s needs and merely drone on like the “talking dead” to infect the caller, who is more likely than ever to take his or her complaints to social channels and worse, shuffle off, zombified, to do business elsewhere.

Still not sure if your IVR qualifies as a Zombie system. For a humorous example of IVR at its worst, check out the Voxeo Zombie IVR Demo at 585-4-ZOMBIE (585-496-6243). This system underscores some of the most critical flaws that could be found in a deprecated, neglected IVR system.

“Legacy and end-of-life systems put companies at a significant competitive disadvantage,” said Ashif Dhanani, vice president of marketing at Voxeo. “Additionally, the opportunity costs of an inflexible system that makes it time-consuming, expensive, or impossible to add features that drive customer loyalty and revenue, like multichannel self-service, voice biometrics, location-based services and personalization, must be considered.”

“But just because an IVR system has an absence of critical errors doesn’t mean a company should be lulled into complacency,” Dhanani advises. “There is incredible opportunity cost when end-of-life systems can’t cohesively communicate with customers through multiple channels, such as text, mobile Web, and social media. Your customers are there. It’s up to you whether your company chooses to keep up.”

But, then again, brains are supposed to be tasty, right?