You can only understand if you listen! How businesses are making the most of recording calls...

Call Recording features on Sky One

Sales Related Recording

In the first episode of 'Badger or Bust' on Sky One in May, Ruth Badger travelled to Brighton to visit party organisers Red Seven whom she found to be big on parties, but short on planning. Ruth's undercover spoof customer telephone calls soon revealed some worrying flaws, as staff stuttered and struggled with their products, while a cacophony of laughter in the background makes hearing their mumbles almost impossible. The pressure is on if she is to turn around a team that has even been caught recommending the opposition.

After an initial study of the sales teams performance, Ruth raised the question about call monitoring, to her horror she was taken into the basement and in a dusty box they uncovered some old fashioned cassette telephone recording modules, Ruth expressed her shock at how archaic these devices are but insists they are used. Within hours it became apparent that the cassette recorders didn't actually work with the phone system so Ruth told Catrina (Sales Manager) they needed a new telephone recording system and they need it NOW.

Ian and Catrina searched the internet and contacted Storacall for assistance, within 2 days a 'VoiStore' call recording solution was installed and the solution had an immediate affect! The first call they monitored identified an additional sales opportunity which had originally been missed by the sales person. "What an improvement it's made, not only is it making Catrina active, you are hearing people selling minute by minute, it's one of the most important things I've done" commented Ruth after the installation of the VoiStore system.

“Since implementing the Voice Recording and the revised training methods adapted around call monitoring and staff evaluation, sales have increased by 47% in the space of one month”. Voice Recording is fast becoming one of the most productive tools a company can have. The return on investment can be incredibly high.

Financial

Based in the City of London Seymour Pierce is a leading providing of corporate broking and corporate finance to smaller quoted companies. Having used voice recording in the past, they opted to extend their recording facilities to all telephone lines.

The system installed was a Veritel Pro Voice Recorder, which now records 30 ISDN30 channels and 8 analogue lines connected to the London Stock Exchange. John White, Facilities Manager explains: “We used software in the past, which at the time suited our requirements. 'However, as the company expanded and regulations became more stringent, we felt that we required a more robust system.' Clearvoice presented the Veritel, which was the most cost effective solution and the equipment was installed in May last year.

'Since the recorder has been installed we've had cause to use it several times to resolve disputes and clarify misunderstandings; it has certainly proved to be an asset to the business.'

Hamden Agencies were keen to implement a call a recording solution in order to safeguard their high profile clients and to ensure instructions recieved were acted upon to the letter.

Within a short time of installing the new system, the recorder averted a possible six figure claim and a customer couldn't remember what he had said.

Such is the nature of certain investment markets, that "the customer is always right!", but I guess it can't extened to incorrect claims.

General

Thus offers new call recording service. The new Thus service could aid regulatory compliance and staff training says Phil Muncaster, IT Week.

Business telecoms provider Thus has launched a new online call recording product designed to give large firms call centre functionality without the associated overheads. Network Call Recording provides businesses with the ability to record, retrieve, grade, filter and store in-bound and out-bound calls, according to the firm's head of product management, Dan Cole.

Calls can be stored, accessed, managed and played back via an internet portal and IT administrators can personalise reporting, customise search filters and define their users' access rights, with the Premier version of the product, he added. The functionality will appeal to firms looking to comply with industry regulations, and aid in training scenarios, where individual operators may need to locate and replay their calls.

"It's targeted at businesses to use as a tool to improve the productivity of staff," explained Cole. "Being a fully managed, network-based service means it's cheaper and easier to install than doing it yourself, and there's only a small price per minute usage charge after installation." Cole added that because the solution is built on an IP architecture, it is ready to accommodate further multimedia functionality in the future.

A similar product is also available from Opal Telecom (a wholly owned subsiduary of The Carphone Warehouse).

Blame Culture!

Britains claim culture will drive the market for call recording, a sector that could be worth a potential £2.5bn in the UK within five years, according to call recording vendor Liquid Voice.

The vendor made its claim based on industry estimates from two separate analysts Frost & Sullivan and Data Monitor. Chris Berry, development director at Liquid Voice, explained: There is a huge claim culture in the UK at the moment. Because of this, companies are looking to become more accountable and have more control over what they are delivering.

Demand for call recording is growing and we are certain that this trend will continue, said Berry. Alongside potential claims being made against companies, changes in legislation could also have an effect on the market. Berry is confident the markets value could be worth more because of this. There are a lot of new laws creeping in and, as they start to take effect, companies will be forced to go down the call recording route, which could drive up the market value to double what we have estimated, added Berry.

The news has also been welcomed by distributors, who agree that a claim culture will play a major role if the market witnesses an increase. Guy Koster, vice president of the technology solution group at distributor Westcon Group Europe, said: Any potential growth will be beneficial to distributors as it will mean stronger relationships with vendors and an increase in sales. Call recording allows many companies to save time and money by reducing disputes by up to 75 per cent, he said.