Maintaining records of your organisation’s calls is good practice. You keep email records and paper-based correspondence as an instant archive, so why ignore phone calls?
Creating archives of calls to and from your organisation makes for accurate record keeping, and can provide invaluable evidence in these increasingly litigious times.
“Recording calls is quickly becoming standard across many business sectors as they look to ensure best practice, fulfil compliance requirements and reduce potential litigation risks,” says Nigel Stevens, THUS’ Product Director.
Until recently, recording and archiving calls was the preserve of large enterprises because of the enormous upfront capital expenditures and complexity of call recording systems.
Call Recording
Now THUS has introduced Network Call Recording, a feature-rich, call recording solution, designed for small and medium sized customers with advanced needs who want to play back, copy, delete and email calls. Its easy-to-use, web-based interface also provides access to powerful online tools for grading calls and agents. Network Call Recording is available not just on THUS direct services and inbound services but is also easily configurable on services like Calls and Lines.
Network Call Recording records all or selected business telephone calls. It stores calls remotely on THUS servers, providing secure access for customers via the Internet.
Protect yourself
“Network Call Recording offers customers a simple and cost-effective way to protect themselves but it can also be used as a management information and training tool. Essentially, it offers call centre functionality without the call centre price tag,” Stevens says.
Network Call Recording is a particularly suited to sectors like the financial services industry. “In this industry, it is absolutely essential that you keep records of all your calls, as there are so many legal and regulatory issues over selling financial services,” says David Hepburn, THUS Product Manager, Network Call Recording. “THUS Network Call Recording is fully compliant with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) guidelines,” adds Hepburn.
Other businesses, which can particularly benefit from call recording, include call centres, legal practices, GPs, dental practices, travel agents and outbound sales. Any company, which has significant customer contact over the phone, can enjoy the significant benefits of accurate record keeping and monitoring employee call performance.
“For example, lawyers can use call recording as proof they have offered accurate advice to their clients if any disputes were to arise. Public service organisations, such as parking management, can also use Network Call Recording to protect their staff from abuse by enraged members of the public,” suggests Hepburn.
Features and benefits
THUS’ Network Call Recording service enjoys considerable benefits over traditional products that require the installation of customised hardware on-site. These include virtually no capital costs or installation issues, compared with costs which can rise to more than £1000 per channel. There is no need for the installation of equipment on your premises, no accompanying maintenance contracts, and no more tapes. Network Call Recording offers a pay-as-you-go model.
The Network Call Recording Standard option is a 100% network-based service, which uses switch-derived information to tag calls. This is available within 5 working days. THUS also offers a Premier service, which uses a CTI link, placed on your PBX/Switch to provide call information. This latter service makes it possible to tag a call by agent name and to track in-call transfers. Screen recording is also an option with this version. The Premier service is available within 20 working days.
The solution is easy to configure: it can be used with both non-geographic numbers (such as 0800, 0845 etc.) and directly connected THUS Geographic incoming numbers, as well as outgoing calls on lines, which are routed indirectly (e.g. Calls and Lines) with THUS.
Playing back calls is simple, thanks to straightforward Internet access to a password-protected site. Calls are typically visible on a playback list after the call has been concluded.
THUS includes an advanced and flexible call grading service: this includes the ability to create an unlimited number of Q&A templates to ‘score’ agent responses to incoming calls. These reports can be presented in a range of more than 40 colour charts and reports, making it easier to improve service standards. These reports can also be used to prove compliance with FSA regulations.
Continuous development
The launch of Network Call Recording underlines THUS’ increasing commitment to the introduction of innovative and customer-friendly services to everyday telephony. THUS is working to make the fast-changing technology and regulatory environments help customers rather than confuse them.