Public evidence from North America and Latin America shows that IVR is not being replaced. Instead, it is being absorbed as a specialist capability inside broader payment platforms.
For years, part of the market has assumed that digital transformation would eventually eliminate the telephone channel from payments. Public evidence suggests something more nuanced. IVR payments continue to be part of modern payment architectures and are being integrated as a complementary capability within broader omnichannel strategies. Paymentus, for example, defines IVR payments as a cloud-based, real-time, computer-operated phone system that allows customers to make payments and manage accounts by phone without a live representative, while also describing IVR as helpful in reducing delinquencies, lowering call center volume, and improving operational efficiency.
North America: IVR as part of the omnichannel stack
Paymentus makes this especially clear in its own positioning. The company states that clients using its platform can accept payments through online, mobile, IVR, text, kiosk, point of sale, and agent-assisted channels, all within a single platform architecture.
Its scale reinforces the point. For full-year 2025, Paymentus reported $1.1965 billion in revenue, processed more than 724 million payments, and disclosed Adjusted EBITDA of $137.4 million. Paymentus is not a pure-play IVR company, but it is strong evidence that automated voice payment functionality still has a real place inside large-scale payment platforms.
Latin America: voice remains part of payment infrastructure
A similar pattern appears in Latin America. In December 2019, EVERTEC announced the acquisition of 100% of PlacetoPay, a platform based in Colombia and primarily active in Colombia and Ecuador. The official announcement did not disclose the purchase price, so no transaction value should be presented as an official figure.
What matters is that PlacetoPay still explicitly markets its IVR capability as an automated phone system for securely capturing sensitive card data and enabling payments by phone or mobile. Its technical documentation also states that, in call center environments, sensitive payment data should be captured through an IVR or audio response mechanism, separating the operator interaction from the entry of payment details.
EVERTEC’s own scale adds context. In 2025, the company reported $931.8 million in revenue and $373.4 million in Adjusted EBITDA. That helps show that IVR capability is not outside the payment mainstream. It exists inside relevant regional payment operators.
A strategic takeaway for the sector
The lesson from North America and Latin America is that IVR does not compete with omnichannel payments. It complements them. In sectors where the phone call still matters commercially, operationally, or from a service standpoint, IVR’s value lies in completing the payment architecture with an additional layer of self-service, continuity, and accessibility. That is an inference based on how Paymentus and PlacetoPay publicly describe their platforms.
Conclusion
IVR Payments should not be analyzed as a residual technology. Their value lies in solving a specific and critical part of the remote payment journey and in fitting into much broader payment architectures. For investors and strategic buyers, that specialization may be exactly what makes the category attractive: a niche technology layer that is demanding in terms of security and integration, yet fully relevant in the real economy.
The future of payments is not a single channel, but an integrated architecture.
In that context, specialist IVR remains a strategic component wherever voice still plays a role in the payment journey.