ORECX CALL RECORDING BLOG

Believe it or not simple call recording, quality monitoring and screen recording software can help the operations of any company substantially and in many ways.  It can even help you promote growth and meet your financial objectives - really.

Companies of all sizes today employ call recording software, and if you are not one of them, you need to carefully consider making the modest investment now to start realizing all of the value this seminal software can provide.

Definitions:

Call Recording Software - a tool that captures all of your incoming calls and records them for later playback if necessary to ensure high levels of customer service, settle disputes, maintain compliance (HIPAA, PCI...) etc.

Quality Monitoring Software - a tool integrated with call recording software that captures a sampling of calls to measure for quality assurance. The software includes call evaluation tools to assess employee phone performance.

Screen Recording Software - software that records in video the employee's actual desktop screen activity while on the phone with a customer and then offers fully integrated audio/video playback for a complete picture of the call as it actually occurred.

Here are just some of the many ways in which your organization can benefit greatly from call recording, quality monitoring and screen recording software:

Delivering smooth client service - capture a sampling of calls (including employee screen activity) per employee and go back and listen to them to assess sales, customer service or financial management performance, especially when speaking with clients. Immediately address any critical issues that arise to ensure smoother customer service moving forward.

Assessing operational workflow - capture and review a sampling of calls and employee screen activity to identify any operational process breakdowns in terms of support, service, sales...You can then take these discoveries and reengineer appropriate processes to improve efficiency and performance (think of how well this would work in your call center!).

Managing quality assurance - use recorded calls (and employee screen activity) to review staff client interaction performance and identify strengths and weaknesses. Share examples of their strengths with other employees and offer training where needed to improve deficient skill sets. In the end, your clients will be better served and your staff will be better equipped with the skills they need to do their job more successfully.

Minimizing risk - A big worry these days is regulatory compliance, especially when speaking with clients (a la PCI, HIPAA, etc.). Record customer calls and employee screen activity to understand how well staff are complying with relevant regulations. It's much better to proactively identify potential weaknesses early on before any costly infractions occur. Use what you learn to make the necessary improvements immediately to avoid any unnecessary penalties and client dissatisfaction. Recorded calls can also be pulled to refute a customer dispute, saving time, money and brand reputation.

What to Look for When Purchasing Call Recording and Quality Monitoring Software

When you start looking to purchase these tools, consider the following criteria when making your decision:

1. Cost - these software tools don't need to break the bank.  They can be purchased for as little as a few thousand dollars a year (or less). If you'll be paying more, look elsewhere.

2. Interoperability - make sure the software can easily and quickly integrate with your existing telephone switch, CRM system and so on.

3. Searchability - be sure to fully understand the searching capabilities of the software so you can successfully pull any necessary call recordings when you need them.

4. Compliance - ensure the software has the necessary capabilities to help you maintain regulatory compliance (e.g. can customer's personally identifiable information be protected from unauthorized staff?)

5. Implementation - many call recording providers offer software that takes weeks or months to get up and running.  Not all do, however. Some can have you up and recording calls the very same day.

Call recording software helps businesses of all sizes capture customer/prospect calls so the organization can go back and listen to calls in order to settle he-said/she-said disputes, support litigation, prove compliance and more.  While a highly effective tool in its own right, when combined with quality monitoring software, you have a powerful one-two-punch that will greatly enhance the performance and capabilities of your contact center.  And who doesn't want that?

While most Fortune 5000 organizations employ both tools, it is fair to say that many small to mid-size organizations either just have call recording or nothing at all.  The value of the combination of call recording and quality monitoring software is so high, that these organizations need to really start considering employing both.

Value of Call Recording + Quality Monitoring Together

In fact, there are a number of statistics that illustrate just how important quality monitoring software is (along with call recording software), including:

86% of buyers will pay for a better customer experience

89% of customers will go to a competitor due to poor service

Average first call resolution rate in the U.S. is just over 80%

How do you know when it's time to shelve the old call recording software and purchase a new call recording solution?

There are several signs to look out for, some of which may seem obvious while others may not:

1. The product's end of life is coming up and will no longer be supported.

2. The product can no longer scale up to support your growing needs (channels, sites, etc.).

3. It cannot easily integrate with other software you are installing. 

4. It requires too many IT support resources to maintain the system.

5. You are heavy into M&A activity and the current system cannot support the multiple PBXs of the various merging entities.

6. It does not have the added capabilities you need, such as quality monitoring, screen capture, live monitoring or even mobile recording.

7. It costs a lot of money to bring on new users, sites and/or capabilities, and it requires expensive professional services support to do these things.

8. The software does not support all of the compliance requirements you have to deal with, such as PCI-DSS, HIPAA, Do Not Call, etc.

9. It is complicated to use and learn and takes too long to get new users up to speed.

Your call center is only as good as the customer experience it delivers, and a poor experience can lead to rampant customer defection - which is the very last thing you want to deal with.  We all know it costs upwards of six times more to secure a new customer than to keep an existing one. 

Here are some important call center management statistics to help you understand just how important it is to focus as much on your call center's customer experience as it is to focus on the product/service you deliver/support:

1. 86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience. But only 1% of customers feel that vendors consistently meet their expectations. Source: Customer Experience: Is it the Chicken or the Egg, Forbes 
2. 40% of organizations cite ‘complexity’ as the greatest barrier to improving multichannel customer experience. Source: Econsultancy MultiChannel Customer Experience Report 
   
3. 13% of unsatisfied customers tell more than 20 people. Source: White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC 
   
4. 96% of unsatisfied customers leave without complaining. Source: Harris Interactive
5. Just a 10% improvement in an enterprise's customer experience can translate into more than $1B in increased revenue and other benefits. Source: Forrester
6. 15% of customers from American businesses defect due to poor customer service. Source: US News & World Report
7. 90% of U.S. consumers still prefer to solve their customer service issues using the telephone. Source: fonolo.com
8. A 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10%. Source: Leading on the Edge of Chaos, Murphy and Murphy
9. Reducing your customer defection rate by 5% can increase your profitability by 25 to 125%. Source: Leading on the Edge of Chaos, Murphy and Murphy
10. The average business loses 50% of their customers every five years. Source: Harvard Business Review
11. Top reasons customers leave: 68% because they are upset with the treatment they received; 14% are not satisfied with the product or service; 9% simply begin doing business with someone else; 5% seek alternative products/services or develop other business relationships; 3% move away; and 1% die.  Source: U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
12. Globally, the average value of a lost customer is $243. Source: KISSmetrics
13. Customer Loyalty can be worth 10 times as much as a single purchase. Source: White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, D.C.
    
14. It takes 12 positive service incidents to make up for a negative one. Source: Rudy Newell-Legner
    
15. 68% of Customers leave because they think you don’t care about them. Source: Rockefeller Corporation
    

Call center recording is a must-have today in the contact center.  These profit-driven organizations not only service and support customers (inbound) but many also proactively sell (outbound) the company's products and services.  These two critical business functions require certain tools in order to maintain a high level of customer service as well as ensure compliance (industry, regulatory and corporate).   

So now we know that every contact center needs call center recording and quality monitoring software, but with such high-cost solutions on the market, how can you afford it?  There are certain variables to take into account that will help you drive down the costs associated with call center recording (and quality monitoring).  They include:

1. Select an open-architecture software-based solution that lets you run the system on commercial off the shelf (COTS) hardware.  This industry standard hardware is much more affordable than proprietary voice logging hardware.

2. Supply your own hardware/server.  Call center recording solution providers are not really in the business of selling hardware.  They are driven largely by their software revenue.  Many supply servers just to ensure a total solution, however, many also hike up the price a little so there's room for margin.  Go out and purchase the server on your own.

3. Pick a complete solution with no feature stripping - Pick a product that offers all of the features and functions you need without a bunch of add-on costs. Some call center recording companies offer a base version that really does nothing but audio capture.  They then charge you extra for every little piece of functionality (like call tagging, audit trails, PCI Compliance, multi-criteria searching, etc.), which significantly drives up your cost.  

4. Avoid installation costs - You should be able to purchase a call center recording solution and be able to install it yourself or have it done remotely without any additional costs.  Some call center recording companies charge thousands (or even tens of thousands) for the installation alone.

5. Rapid ROI is critical - The quicker you realize a return on your investment, the more affordable the solution becomes.  Pick a call center recording solution that installs in a day or less and has you up and recording calls within 24 hours.  This enables you to begin realizing significant value the same day, if not the same week.

6. Multiple pricing options - Be sure the vendor you select offers several pricing options, such as one-time-cost versus subscription-based.  There is often a savings if you choose one over the other.  Explore these and other options.

7. Zero maintenance required - You can actually find call center recording software that truly needs no maintenance or troubleshooting resources - really.  They do exist.  Find one of these solutions and let the software do it's job.  Put your other resources to work doing something else that's more strategic and value-add to the organization.

8. Open-API is a must - It's important that your call center recording software easily integrates with your PBX switch, CRM system, etc.  To ensure this smooth interoperability, be sure the solution you choose offers an easy-to-manage open API to help facilitate this integration.

By following these simple rules when selecting the call center recording product for your contact center, you stand a much greater chance of saving some of those ever-so-mission-critical dollars in your budget.