ORECX CALL RECORDING BLOG

Steve Kaiser, former CEO of OrecX and now GM, OrecX Business Unit of CallMiner, recently participated in a CallMiner webinar. What follows are 5 audio snippets from that webinar in which he details the reasons for the CallMiner acquisition and discusses various aspects around modern and open audio capture.

Clip 1: Why OrecX joined CallMiner

Clip 2: Connecting and Enriching Audio Data

Clip 3: Securing your Audio Recordings

Clip 4: Maintaining Control of/Access to your Audio Data

Clip 5: 3 Most Important Points Regarding Audio Capture

OrecX call recording software can easily record VoIP traffic once it's seen on the server interface. Small office users (under 100 seats) can use Port Mirroring Switch (SPAN, port spanning or port monitoring) to get the right traffic to the OrecX server simply and easily. This is best used in distributed office environments with many locations using port mirroring (and leveraging OrkUI) to manage and administrate from a single location. 

Small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) leverage OrecX via a port mirroring deployment model when the capture method is predetermined by their telephony architecture. SMBs utilizing Comcast Business VoiceEdge (BVE), in particular, often choose OrecX for port mirroring recording. 

Port Mirroring, also known as SPAN (Switched Port Analyzer), is a method of monitoring network traffic. With port mirroring enabled, the switch sends a copy of all network packets seen on one port (or an entire VLAN) to another port, where the packet can be analyzed.

Port Mirroring, which is supported in nearly all enterprise class switches (managed switches), allows other computers to see network traffic, which is not visible to them in general cases. Managed switches have a configuration interface (web-based or command-line console), which administrators may use to specify the source port(s) to be mirrored and the destination port, where a copy of all packets will be forwarded.

The pictures below illustrate how a port mirroring switch configuration works.

Four computers (A, B, C and D) are shown in Figure 1. They are connected to a general switch without port mirroring support. In Figure 2, they are connected to a managed switch with port mirroring support, while network traffic is sent between computers A and B (one portion of data is sent from A to B and another portion is sent in the reverse direction from B to A).

In Figure 1, you will see how a general unmanaged switch works. It forwards packets directly between ports, where computers A and B are connected. Other computers (C and D) do not see these packets.

In Figure 2, you see the same scenario but on the switch with port mirroring functionality. The network traffic is sent again between computers A and B. However, there is a computer D, which is listening (monitoring) to that traffic. Every packet, which is sent or received by computer A is duplicated (mirrored) to computer D port.

When configuring port mirroring on the switch, the "source monitoring port" is a port, where computer A is connected to, and the "destination analysis port" is a port, where computer D is connected to.

How Port Mirroring function can be used for recording VoIP calls
OrecX leverages the port mirroring capability of a network switch to accomplish "unobtrusive" recording of VoIP calls. The switch forwards a copy of every network packet sent or received by IP phones to the OrecX server. The picture below illustrates how the network should be configured to allow for the recording of calls.

You have two primary options for recording your customer conversations today - premise and cloud. Premise recording stores your recordings in-house on physical servers at your locations. Cloud recording stores your calls on the web on secure servers hosted by cloud providers.

There are advantages to both, but we are going to focus on the many benefits of cloud recording.

1. Recordings accessible from anywhere - Unlike the physical restrictions of premise recording, with cloud recording you can make your recordings accessible to authorized users from anywhere with a web browser - and include any necessary security protections.
2. No capital expenditure on hardware - Premise recording requires installation and configuration of expensive servers to store your recordings. Cloud recording avoids all this and only requires a login to the cloud hosting provider, where your recordings are stored.
3. Enhanced security protection from the cloud hosting provider - Cloud hosting providers typically have substantial encryption and security protocols in place to protect your recordings while at rest and in transit.
4. Scalable storage without physical server capacity restrictions - Cloud providers have massive infrastructures with unlimited storage capacity which they can increase on demand to accommodate your growing base of recordings.
5. Get up and running recording calls must faster - Without the need to install, configure and integrate storage servers into your call center environment, you can begin recording calls the very same day with cloud recording.
6. No system interoperability issues with other software or hardware - Integration of new hardware and software into your existing operating environment can take time and cause downtime. Not with cloud recording, however. There is nothing to integrate.
7. Increased uptime - Cloud hosting providers have tremendous redundancies built into their vast infrastructures, ensuring your recordings are always accessible. 
8. Geo-Redundancy - You can achieve georedundancy by leveraging multiple local or internal regions and virtual private clouds.
9. Regularly scheduled software updates - Cloud recording offerings push system updates right to you without manual server upgrades on-premise. This way your recording platform always has the latest and greatest updates and capabilities.
10. Ease of integration with 3rd party analytics - Cloud recording enables businesses to easily send their recordings to 3rd party speech analytics providers without expensive and timely integrations.

Vicidial open source contact center customers can begin recording their customer calls with a robust third party recording solution like OrecX. The OrecX audio and screen recording software integrates easily with VICIdial, and each recording is tagged with the correct meta data even if agents are on a single uninterrupted SIP session on the extension side. 

VICIdial is a set of programs that are designed to interact with the Asterisk Open-Source PBX Phone system to act as a complete inbound/outbound call center suite.

Oreka VICIdial Call Recording supports both inbound and outbound campaigns, is capable of tagging recordings with agent IDs, and it allows clients to search, find and categorize recordings based on time or date of call, incoming phone number, outgoing phone number or other customer requirements. OrecX runs on either Linux or Windows operating systems and integrates with any phone system.

"We recommend OrecX, which is a passive VoIP recording product. We have several clients that use it, and it allows for many other options like agent screen recording too," said Matt Florell, President VICIdial Group. "The basic recording core of OrecX is free."

Oreka GPL is a free, VoIP-ready, open source call recording software, which can capture and retrieve calls via a browser-based interface. Downloaded for free, the Oreka GPL open source voice call recording software is the only free open source recording software on the planet that can be downloaded in just 30 minutes and requires no maintenance.

The inherent advantages of open source platforms are well chronicled, and include:

Strategic:

• Control for long-term planning
• Speed to market
• Meet the broadest set of use cases

Technical:

• Easier to operate since no proprietary knowledge is required
• Agility to innovate as the enterprise evolves
• Higher quality design, from extensive peer review and testing

Economic:

• Solution design adapts to existing operating environment
• Lowest cost licensing and support models
• Software longevity (i.e. evergreen)

Collaborative:

• Access to broad-based value-add ecosystems
• Innovation-based business model
• Vendor lock-ins are eliminated

Most Comcast Business VoiceEdge customers will find themselves scrambling for a voice recording solution. The platform has no built-in recorder except for a USB drive recorder with very limited functionality. This leaves these Comcast VoiceEdge customers vulnerable as they have no way to capture customer interactions to resolve disputes, monitor agent performance, identify customer service workflow disruptions or uncover compliance issues. 

OrecX offers a call recording solution for Comcast Voice Edge customers that features:

1. Selective/on-demand recording to comply with PCI-DSS
2. REST API for easy integration and to pull in 3rd party data that is important to the company (from CRM, speech analytics systems, etc.)
3. Ability to access and control your own recorded voice data (without paying extra) for analysis, evaluation and compliance purposes. Some vendors charge an arm and a leg just to gain access to your recordings.

Comcast Business VoiceEdge is a hosted voice and unified communications solution. Fully managed over Comcast’s network, Comcast VoiceEdge eliminates the need for expensive on-site PBX equipment or key systems, provides a manageable monthly cost and delivers high service quality to improve communications and productivity.

OrecX has tested its Oreka TR recording solution with Comcast Business VoiceEdge in the Comcast lab and in a production environment with the Comcast advanced tech group. We now offer fully compliant and lab-tested Comcast VoiceEdge call recording. All recordings are accessible via web browser.

Like just about everything in life, sometimes it makes sense to make a change - sometimes for sheer betterment and sometimes simply to try something new. It doesn't mean you made a mistake. It could just mean that something better comes along. This is certainly the case with call recording software. No two are created equal, and some have capabilities others simply can't match. 

Your current business call recording solution may be doing a nice job at capturing your customer calls, but there could be limitations that keep you from getting the very most out of your customer interactions - like discovering customer insight, sales and marketing trends, compliance issues, dispute resolution evidence, workflow disruptions, agent performance issues, etc.

To be sure you're current total call recording solution is up to the task, ask yourself if your software can do the following:

1. Record your calls on separate channels - that is both parties are captured on separate tracks so they can be distinctly heard without over-talk - this helps power highly accurate transcription and speech analytics to maximize rich discovery of customer intelligence. 
2. Integrate 3rd party data sources (CRM,, analytics, etc.) with your call recording audio and meta data (using a common, standard REST API for simple integration) to gain a 360-degree view of the customer.  
3. Easily record calls centrally across all your distributed locations regardless of the varying telephony infrastructure and business/technical requirements from site to site - this helps management gain a single, integrated view of interaction quality and customer intelligence across teams and regions.
4. Continuously improve features, functionality, security and interoperability from extensive peer reviews, iterations and enhancements from a global user community.
5. Record calls using open source SIPREC, which requires configuration of only the traffic you need to record, is extremely scalable to thousands of concurrent calls and offers auto-provisioning of users.
6. Run in parallel with any existing recording system so you do not have to disrupt your current audio capture environment while gaining much-needed interoperability and functionality. 

If your audio capture system cannot do one or several of these things, it may be time to take a look at OrecX. 

The goal of any voice capture platform is to record the customer and agent's voices in a high quality format and store that audio for later recall (for order verification, proving compliance, settling disputes, etc.) and to feed one's third party apps (speech analytics, voice biometrics and so on) to derive advanced customer intelligence. As such, capturing audio without any restrictions on storage, playback and portability is imperative to not hinder its ultimate utility. 

Many recording solutions put constraints on audio recordings and their associated meta data, thereby obstructing is usage and value. OrecX is very different. Founded on the principles of openness, Oreka AC (Audio Capture) is the most open, transparent and collaborative recording platform - freeing enterprises and contact centers from any and all restraints.  OrecX gives users unbridled access at any and all times, without any additional access-related costs.  This is a unique value proposition in the recording industry and one that many vendors do not follow. Some of the biggest players in the audio capture space actually charge thousands of dollars to access one's own recording data and it can take weeks to finally receive it. By then it's largely rear-view-mirror information that is too late to prove effective. 

OrecX puts users in full control of everything related to capturing, replaying and porting voice recordings. 

This open approach and our REST API offer a myriad of benefits to organizations, including: 

• Unlimited use case potential - use OrecX in an unlimited amount of use cases and on every operating system, database, device and communications platform (e.g. across a multi-site contact center operation, in a hybrid telephony environment, etc.).
• Leverage existing systems - only OrecX enables organizations to utilize their existing technology infrastructure and applications (including an existing recording solution) and layer Oreka AC right into their current environment. OrecX works in parallel of existing recorders.
• Extended value - Users can feed their voice data directly to any 3rd party application in real time to provide the most valuable and actionable customer insights possible. Voice data is most useful when it can be analyzed immediately.

There is truly no time like the present to assess your current voice capture environment and determine whether OrecX is right for your business.

We all want a deal. It's human nature. And when we get one, we feel great! That being said, some things are certainly worth paying for.  

The best-case scenario when making purchases in business is to find a solution that is both affordable and high quality - a rarity in B2B technology. But these products do exist.

When it comes to call recording, you can find some of these affordable gems, but you can also come across a lot of cheap call recording solutions that are indeed cheap in price but also cheap in functionality and stability. These are the cheap recording solutions to be very leery of. Sure, their price may be attractive, but you aren't really getting the audio capture tools you need to meet your order verification, compliance, dispute resolution and customer service needs. Plus, many of these wannabe vendors lock you into their proprietary world by holding your recordings and audio meta data hostage if you ever want to leave.  Some providers even charge you to gain access to your data. 

What's more, many cheap call recording products also provide recorded audio quality that is not up to par with the needs of today's sophisticated voice transcription and speech analytics technologies. These systems require high-fidelity, dual-channel recordings which enable them to accurately transcribe and analyze without failure.  

QUESTIONS TO ROOT OUT CHEAP RECORDING VENDORS

The best way to root out those cheap recording vendors who aren't up to task is to ask yourself a series of questions about your current or prospective recording vendor, such as:

1. Does this vendor have similar customers I can speak with?

2. Does this vendor enable me to export my recordings and data without cost or restriction?

3. Can I easily share my recordings with 3rd party apps like transcription, speech analytics, voice biometrics and business intelligence solutions?

4. Are the solutions modular so I don't have to pay for functionality I don't need?

5. Does this software support cloud, premise and hybrid environments to support all of my locations?

6. Are my recordings dual channel (or merely mono)?

So as the title says, beware of cheap recording solutions. If you're going to go with a low-cost vendor, just make sure it is high on functionality and stability. 

According to techtarget.com, “Data gravity is the ability of a body of data to attract applications, services and other data.”

Many of today’s larger companies grow through acquisition and merger. Consolidation of these disparate businesses then typically necessitates integration of many different technical environments, spanning the various locations, facilities and platforms.

To record, store and replay customer interactions across multiple, varying facilities and architectures, organizations need an open audio capture solution that supports a diverse set of technical requirements.

Such a technology agnostic audio capture platform would need to be open, flexible and versatile enough to capture customer calls centrally across an organization and its different locations and technical environments.

Technical considerations for this type of audio capture solution provider include:

• Telephony Platform - Must offer open-API support of any platform, such as Avaya, Cisco, Genesys, Metaswitch, Asterisk, Microsoft Teams, Mitel, Nextiva and any others. 
• Architecture - Must be easily and rapidly deployable in cloud, premise or hybrid environments.
• Database Support - Must support both Windows and Linux CentOS operating systems.
• Deployment - Must be deployable across any workstation or server - both virtual and bare metal.
• Codecs - Must support many of the leading standard and narrow band audio codecs including G.7111, G.729, G.723, iLBC, GSM6.1, etc.
• Protocols - Must support standard recording protocols such as SIP, Cisco Skinny, SIPREC, CALEA, H.323, MGCP, IAX2, RTP, Nortel UNISTIM, etc.

Only an audio capture platform that provides this level of openness can adequately support a multi-site customer service organization. Otherwise, businesses face significant heavy lifting, complex integrations, costly deployment, and lengthy rollout timelines to get up and running and recording customer interactions.