Improve Customer Service with IP Call Recording

Call into a customer service line, and you’ll often hear the caveat that your call may be recorded for quality purposes. Call recording is an important practice both inside and outside of call centers, and as companies adopt IP telephony for voice communications, many are looking to solutions that allow them to record and archive calls easily.

Businesses that did without a call recording solution in their circuit-switched voice network are discovering first-hand that deploying an IP telephony network with a call recording solution can deliver a host of advantages to help their companies comply with regulations, improve customer service, and meet corporate objectives.

Benefits of Call Recording

Call centers record calls for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is to have real-world examples of customer interaction for training. But call recording has applicability beyond the call center. Businesses can use call recordings to improve customer service to make sure that high levels of service are extended to each and every caller who may want to do business with that company.

By listening to the recorded call after it takes place, call center managers can better train agents to respond to customers’ needs and in turn meet their corporate performance goals.

Organizations have a lot of other reasons to look to call recording. As more and more companies have to meet regulatory and legal requirements such as those outlined in Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act (HIPAA), Sarbanes-Oxley and others, call recording may be necessary to ensure compliance with customers’ or business partners’ requirements. The ability to record calls quickly and easily enables businesses to meet these mandates and have the auditable proof to demonstrate compliance.

The need for call recordings to provide proof of transactions for regulatory compliance, such as brokerage orders, is pretty obvious. However, any business with a call center will gain perspective when using IP telephony software with a call recording solution. For example, managers can play back call recordings to staffers as a very effective way to offer constructive suggestions to help them improve their interactions with customers.

Call recording can also prove beneficial in avoiding business disputes with customers or suppliers. It can provide a way to record verbal agreements and ensure that all parties consent to the terms of a business deal or contract.

Recording can also play a vital part in dispute resolution, improving employee productivity, increasing security, reducing costs and limiting legal liability for companies.

Though companies in the financial services and other heavily regulated industries are leading the call recording charge, businesses in other sectors are eagerly integrating the technology into their new IP phone systems. They include industries like trucking and distribution, which are making a push toward centralized operations.

Gain a Business Edge with Call Recording

Call recording gives businesses accurate insight into their call center operations, offering the kind of concrete information they need to speed their responsiveness and better meet their customer needs. Only when that happens can a business guarantee its success.

Companies of any size that need to document IP-based calls and play them back at a moment’s notice can rely on the built-in call recording capabilities in the ShoreTel IP phone system. ShoreTel’s call recording feature lets users record their calls for later references. Recordings can be filed in Microsoft® Outlook® folders for later review. This capability, along with call notes and call history, such as recipient, date and duration for all calls made, received or missed, helps create a completed, easily referenced summary of business interactions.

For more advanced call recording needs, ShoreTel has certified several call recording products as part of its Technology Partner Program. Tight integration between ShoreTel and these leading third-party solutions means customers have a full-featured solution that will meet their needs today and in the future.

Learn more about ShoreTel’s certified technology partners for call recording solutions.