On The Record

eDiscovery, FRCP and call recording

2010-02-09T18:07:13Z

Electronic records discovery is a major burden that has been placed squarely on all businesses. Through the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), businesses of any size are required to provide all electronic records related to a suit or face draconian sanctions as opined by John Bace, research vice president at Gartner, Inc. (reference: http://www.channelprosmb.com/article/16270/E-Discovery-Is-for-SMBs-Too/). If a business cannot produce the requested documentation its only hope to avoid penalties is to show that it has good document retention policies in place and that they were followed in a routine, good-faith manner. Good luck to you trying to make that case as I imagine the standards being vague and interpreted differently across judges and jurisdictions.

Call recording seems to be a sticky wicket here in that if you have electronic recordings of telephone calls you may be required to share them during proceedings. I agree, if you are concerned that your business is in the wrong this can be a threat.

I see this entirely from the other perspective, however, if you run a tight ship.

Do you experience situations where the person on the other end of the phone conversation does not come through on their commitments? Do you sometimes put in writing your commitments as a follow up email, which may demonstrate you as responsible with no documentation of the other party's responsibilities? I know that our business is asked to be in this position often enough to make me nervous.

Sure, from time to time I listen to a call and cringe. Rarely is it to do with a potentially litigious situation. More routinely, someone simply did not go above and beyond to elate a customer. If it comes to e-discovery as we prepare for a suit, I'll risk that a customer service call was not us at our best in order to protect us from unfulfilled promises by the other party.

What about you?

An Interactive 2010

2010-01-31T05:36:56Z

My company has been focusing a lot of effort on developing an integration, multi-channel communications strategy for 2010. We firmly believe that our marketplace consists of individuals who each may prefer IM, web searching, social media, blog, email, telephone and in-person communications.

There has been much discussion lately about which is more important. I am preaching that each is most important, depending upon the individual who is communicating with us.

Some people believe phone calls carry the highest urgency and drive the fastest response. Others prefer social media and IM because it is what they are most comfortable with. Yet other people prefer email, blogs or other forms of communications.

Tools to record conversations may be even more vital today because of this dynamic. Someone who feels they will get the highest sense of urgency reaching out to a call center may be inclined to post a gripe online to potentially millions of viewers. Using recording to drive higher customer service quality and proactively address service issues can minimize negative public posts.

We are committed to walk the walk as we commit to proactively reaching our marketplace through interactive media. Our recently relaunched website integrates our Twitter posts, Facebook page and direct IM tools to contact our staff. Of course, these all sit along side email links and our contact center number.

Here's to an interactive 2010!

Call recording drives $1.8M sales increase

2009-09-23T23:09:03Z

In the Sept. 14th issue of InformationWeek it is reported that CUNA Mutual Group identified a key barrier to sales conversions in their call center: requiring forms be signed and mailed into their processing center in order to complete the transaction. The leakage rate is reported to be 80%...80%!!!

The company implemented a call recording solution to capture "voice signatures," eliminating the need for paper forms to be sent in. The results include a faster sales process, an immediate increase in monthly sales of 74% and approx. $1.8M in additional revenues. There is no explicit mention of decreased costs but I assume the handle time to receive, open and process the mailed forms created a significant expense reduction to boot.

This touches on a topic about which I am passionate. Call recording is often pigeon-holed into the category of compliance, of being a "big brother" system that is all about control. The reality is documenting conversations has the potential to dramatically affect workflow and collaboration in powerful ways that drive revenue, make teams more efficient, speed project completion and eliminate waste - none of which falls into the historical domain of compliance.

Hopefully as more businesses look to drive performance through IT this valuable perspective will be more widely adopted.

How to value happy customers

2009-08-12T19:28:53Z

Isn't selling shoes one of the oldest retail sectors on the planet? There has been a village cobbler since the beginning of recorded history, right?

So how does an online shoe retailer build up its business to be worth over $900M in a period of 10 years? Zappos.com did just that, having agreed to be acquired by Amazon last month (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/technology/companies/23amazon.html?_r=2&hpw).

Now, I'm not a zappos.com customer nor am I a shoe purchasing addict. From what I understand, what fueled zappos.com's rise to the top was its bold commitment to happy customers. Virtually every policy is designed to make the customer happy without regard for the nickels and dimes it may cost the company. Essentially, zappos is willing to trade nickels and dimes in exchange for twenty dollar bills.

My observation is that this should not be a sustainable competitive advantage. But it is because of the entrenched idea that nothing can be "given away" and every activity down to the smallest task must have a hard-dollar ROI. So competitors give lip service to creating customer happiness and encourage token displays but just do not commit to it totally.

Customers are smart, slightly selfish and see through this right away. Essentially, a commitment to making happy customers cannot be faked. A business is all-in or it's not.

What does it take to be all-in? Fanatical focus on happy customers. Employee empowerment to make instant decisions if they make customers happy. Zero tolerance for poor customer treatment. Executive engagement with customers.

Does your company have the courage to go all-in?

Using the megaphone of social networking

2009-08-04T15:56:12Z

Word of mouth has more outlets than ever before. People communicate with each other using tools like blogs, microblogs, social networking sites, text messaging and others. All this on top of traditional medium for communications such as telephone calls, letters and good ol' fashion talking face-to-face. That's a whole lot of words going from one mouth to many, many ears (or eyes).

So the stakes have gone up for each impression your business makes on its customers. Management ought to have a strategy in place for monitoring how its employees engage the community through these new forms of communications. It's not that businesses should restrict communications but that it should be aware of what is said and how its customer base responds. No one person or small executive committee can conceive all of the right and useful ways to engage in this fashion. Allowing customers to experiment with their best intentions will develop innovative, successful programs. But it won't be known, nor can a mistake be corrected when one occurs, without some attention being paid by those paid to supervise.

What may go overlooked is that monitoring new methods of communications is not a replacement for monitoring traditional communications. It is ever more important to monitor face-to-face impressions, telephone conversations and emails. A customer who becomes disgruntled during a telephone conversation has just as much reach with immediate tools for emotional communications as the one who is upset over a blog post. Contact center monitoring and recording is more vital today than it was a decade ago.

Paying close attention to how the company interacts with its customers may be the best way to make sure the new super megaphone is used to preach one's virtues and not its faults.

Customer satisfaction can drive survival

2009-07-22T23:56:09Z

As Congress and the White House debate the fate of car dealers across the country (recent Detroit Free Press article) it has me thinking why this is one of the first issues dealt with by the auto makers. True, more dealers means the credit available to carry inventory is spread a little thin. Until now this has not been an issue and, really, once the credit markets return to normal this will be a non-factor.

Ultimately the reason may come down to customer service. Although the criteria used to select dealers for cancellation have not been transparent there is much speculation that customer satisfaction index (CSI) scores was a component. That makes sense to me. If market share is below expectations and a direct cause is poor customer service, fix the problem. It could be addressed more assertively with the dealers being given notice that they need to correct their scores to avoid penalties but certainly the manufacturers have every reason to maintain a positive customer image.

It is time to stop the academic debate over whether customer service gains have a direct link to return on investment. Unless a company has a tremendous product advantage service, matters. Customers will not continue paying to be treated poorly. And proactive customer service drives revenue that may otherwise go uncaptured by anyone. Business leaders must make customer loyalty through satisfaction initiatives a priority.

In some cases, the life of the business depends upon it.

Making healthcare more efficient

2009-07-02T14:58:38Z

I received this note from a customer of ours this week, Charlene Burgett, Administrator for North Scottsdale Family Medicine.

I just have to tell you of my recent "win" and [our voice document system] made it happen! Just last week, I receive a phone call from a patient who was extremely upset because she received a statement from the imaging facility we sent her to for a CT scan. She states that her insurance denied the claim because WE did not get a prior authorization and now she wants us to pay the $1,400.00 since it was our mistake. I told her that these calls are normally called into the health plan and that we record all the incoming/outgoing phone calls and if she gave me a little time, I would research the issue and call her back. I first pulled the patient's chart and found where the medical assistant documented the date and time that she called the insurance company for the prior authorization and we were told that we didn't need a prior authorization. From there, I went to [our voice document system] and searched the date and extension of the phone call going outbound, looked at the times and found the telephone number that was called to the health plan. I listened to the entire 4+ minutes of the phone call and we, indeed, were told that we did not need a prior authorization. BINGO! I called the patient back and played the pertinent part of the phone conversation and told her to call the health plan to let them know I had it recorded and would be more than happy to play it on the phone for them. They did call back with the patient on the other line and I played the recording. Of course, there was some hemming and hawing, but I just received today that they will "make a one-time exception" and pay for the test! (I can guarantee you that they will pay again if I have a similar situation!)

So, the patient does not have to pay the $1,400.00 and the insurance company wasn't successful making it look like it was our fault (which is usually how they play it)!

Our healthcare system has too many competing interests and the power is in the hands of the payers. Simply using electronic records for health management will not change the situation. Medical providers must be vigilant documenting their communications in a manner that makes it easy to rapidly provide documentation when necessary to speed access to payments and externally provided services.

Voice documentation has a lot of promise in this field to streamline the flow of money and remove some of the operational inefficiencies plaguing the system.

Contact center roots

2009-06-24T01:04:52Z

I constantly feel tension between the sophisticated needs of the contact center and the demand for simplicity from the rest of the business in this sector. It's easy to be pulled too far in either direction and leave a significant portion of the user base dissatisfied.

Today I got to spend time using the Alpha-release of our forthcoming software version. It really got me thinking about how much room there is for us to make easier the job of contact center management. Our industry has done much to capture and aggregate information but not nearly as much to identify singular instances of success or issues whenever that may be convenient. There are simple ways to build intelligence into our quality assurance products that will identify and serve up those contacts that require attention, be that based on specific factors or random selection for general oversight. Things like selecting live calls for monitoring because they are lengthy or from top customers and serving recordings for evaluation to meet sample rate requirements.

This seems poignant to me with staffs currently shrinking or stretched and knowing that a growth spurt is looming sometime relatively soon that will stretch us all even more.

breaking the silos

2009-06-23T02:05:31Z

Hello! Sorry for the absence...vacations, conferences, etc. have made posting a challenge.

The good news is my time away has me refocused and charged up. I spent time last week at Mitel's business partner forum showing some of our recent innovations. These interactions validated my thinking that what may be most exciting to customers of call recording solutions may not be adding to the never-ending list of features within our applications but rather making our rich set of content available to any applications in context.

Imagine finding a record of every voice communication with a contact within your sales force automation or customer relationship management application...a field service rep accessing the order request by keying the work order number into his mobile phone...a sales manager synching her iPod to the randomly selected calls for review as she prepares for her hour-long commute home. In each case the rich content captured by a recording solution was disseminated into the appropriate app or device for the moment.

There is great potential to extend voice documentation throughout the enterprise in exciting new ways...

Ramifications of social media in business

2009-04-30T01:21:11Z

Social media in business has been my pet topic of late. I believe network convergence has matured and is driving very creative application development focused on combining people and ideas rather than forms of communication. As these apps take root latency in decisions becomes less and less and organizations become smarter due to the network effect. It's the virtual equivalent of putting everyone in one room until a given problem is solved. Brilliant!

There are, of course, potential problems with this entering business. First, we already create enough content and data as it is. And most of that we struggle to find when it is useful -- thus, we have a new market for search technologies. Second, once content exists it must be governed.

Don't get me wrong...I think these are good problems to have; but they are problems nonetheless. As these new communications architectures are designed and applications developed we have a chance to think through solutions to these problems before they are massive.

Call recording and social media applications

2009-04-09T00:08:27Z

Social media in the enterprise is a frequent topic these days. In my opinion the conversation is normally too narrow as it should include UC and VoIP in addition to the methods of interacting made famous by the likes of Facebook.

I think call recording can be a critical link between voice communications and these social media applications. Creating digital media out of voice communications that is indexed and automatically associated with the proper topic threads with the necessary layer of access permissions would streamline business communications by speeding information sharing and reducing miscommunications in an asynchronous way that works better in today's ever-more-busy lifestyle.

What do you think? Would you want to have some or all telephone conversations automatically published to subject-appropriate portals?

Recording the voice of the customer

2009-03-05T18:53:27Z

As the leader of my business, I know I am supposed to seek out and listen to the voice of our customer. They will tell me - one way or another - what they like and dislike about our products and services, as well as where we need to be headed to continue to be relevant to them.

I also know this is not easy. Many customers do not want to take the time to tell me how to improve my business. Many contacts within my customers are content but somewhat disconnected from day to day use of our products. And what I do get is usually filtered because of my role in our company.

But our contact center connects with customers daily who are sharing their needs, their pains and their successes. And, with call recording, it takes virtually no effort for an agent to tag a call as "Voice of Customer" so that it automatically populates my inbox.

Now I am able to hear those closest to our products and services share their direct, unfiltered feedback. I have a more complete picture of my customers than ever before.

If only I had a complete picture of how business will play out the rest of this year...

Helping to solve big challenges

2009-02-23T20:55:12Z

Our healthcare system is a constant news topic today as the government looks at ways to make it more efficient and patient-friendly. One of the issues with the system is that of insurance. There are many statistics being tossed around noting how many have and do not have insurance, etc. What is sometimes overlooked is the burden the current healthcare insurance system puts on the overall healthcare system and thus those that do not have insurance.

Per research conducted a few years ago by the American Medical Association it is quite common for insurers to reduce, delay and deny claims that should be authorized. Sometimes this is due to errors in how the medical providers handle coding and other administrative tasks. Sometimes it is due to errors by the insurance company.

A coworker recently shared a story describing how one such incident recently occurred. The insurer pre-authorized the treatment, then told my associate they would not be paying for it, then capitulated and took responsibility for the claim. Sometime later a collection letter was received. Luckily, having made the calls from a business communications system that includes call recording, my coworker was able to produce documentation of the agreements to resolve the issue and finally get the insurer to pay the medical provider.

Seems to me that part of the problem - maybe the majority - has to do with accountability. Isn't that what documentation and call recording are all about?

Serving customers in the consumer services industry

2009-02-11T00:57:28Z

Maintaining high customer satisfaction levels in consumer services can be quite daunting. The first experience is typically a phone call to check prices, determine availability and schedule service. Then, an employee with little or no direct supervision will go onsite with a mission to deliver the service to the customer's satisfaction and collect payment, often after attempting an upsell to a premium service or to include an add-on.

Take for example, carpet cleaning. When scheduled, the consumer is usually thinking "I just want a clean, comfortable home for my family." But there are so many options and the prices can vary substantially.

We recently documented the case of a Stanley Steemer franchise in San Diego, CA, who uses our recording technology to ensure proper customer communications and immediately resolve any disputes over included services, schedules and pricing. Now, when the consumer questions whether the "add-on" should be included in what they were quoted, Stanley Steemer can pull up the call during which the apppointment was scheduled and comfort the customer by allowing them to hear exactly what was included in the offer.

Delivering a clean, comfortable home and the peace of mind that they got a good value, that's a way to grow a business and retain happy customers.

Hot topic at ITEXPO East

2009-02-04T14:25:51Z

I've spent much of the last day or so speaking with distributors and other partners interested in whether the economy is making it easier or harder to get attention from channel partners. My honest response is that channel partners are more eager than ever for applications and business solutions that make immediate impact in the form of ROI because their traditional product lines - communications platforms and phones - are not driving the same rate of sales as before.

End users need solutions to real problems around customer retention, business protection and cost reduction. Channel partners and VAR's are a sharp bunch; they want to sell what customers want.

So I am excited about our present opportunities. I'm interested to know what others think. Please comment on this post with your thoughts on VAR's appetite for innovative business solutions today.

Thanks!