Can A Business Record Phone Calls Without Consent?

Businesses may legally record customer and employee actions in all 50 states today, but can a business record phone calls without consent?  There are myriad laws and statutes governing these practices. For example, it is unlawful to covertly record conversations the business is not involved in. That means, employers cannot record private conversations of employees unless there is a clear reason for doing so, and/or the employee is informed before the taping begins. So, a business owner could not record a conversation between an employee and a non-employee speaking on private communication devices, even if the employee was on company property, unless there is a special waiver from a government body, or law enforcement agency in force.

Can a Business Record Phone Calls Without Consent in the United States?

In approximately 75% of the states, federal and state laws allow businesses to legally record telephone conversations, as long as at least one party is aware the call is being recorded. The other 12 states have more rigorous standards that require all parties to a conversation give content. Unless there is a specific reason business owner don’t want callers to know they capture all telephone conversations, perhaps, the question should not really be “Can a business record phone calls without consent?” But rather, “Should businesses record phone calls without prior consent?”

Establishing Audio Capturing Goals

When capturing conversations purely for training and customer service enhancement, most telecom systems with automated answering and routing capabilities allow businesses to include a pre-recorded message immediately after all calls are answered. Consumers have grown accustomed to this message used by almost everyone in the financial services industry today. The automated information technique ensures every caller learns about the company practice before they even speak to a representative. Alternative methods include training employees to deliver a scripted message asking for consent prior to gathering any sensitive information. It is critical to know why you want to record conversations before implementing a call capturing policy.

Why Businesses May Want to Record Telephone Conversations

Can a business record phone calls without consent, to save money, boost customer satisfaction, improve organizational efficiency and reduce overhead? The answer depends on whether or not you live in one of the 12 states that requires full disclosure. However, if you’re willing to implement an informed-consent policy, which may actually be less expensive and offer more protection against legal challenges in the future, you can reap the benefits listed above. Some of the most common reasons business owners choose to start recording telephone calls include:

• Preventing or detecting criminal activities

• Monitoring agent performance

• Maintaining compliance standards

• Settling customer disputes

• Enhancing network security

How can a business record phone calls without consent, and still maintain an open, transparent reputation among their clients? The truth is, this isn’t always the best approach. Although some circumstances allow businesses to record all conversations without informing external partners, you could be setting yourself up for some bad PR if a disgruntled customer finds out, or you could find yourself in court defending harsh accusations. ATIS Digital voice capturing technology provides superior solutions for businesses who need to capture telephone call data and audio. Call 1-866-871-5390 today to discuss budget-friendly options. And, remember to ask the specialist for details about legally recording your call traffic.

How Often Should You Test Call Center Equipment?

Connectivity has never been as important as it is today. From air traffic control towers and in-cabin phone services to emergency response centers and campus security offices, digital communications keep our world safe and informed. Regardless of the industry you serve, call center equipment must be reliable. How often you “test” your equipment depends on what type of services you provide, call volume and many other factors. Before you can develop a test schedule, you must determine what functions you want to measure.

Testing Call Center Equipment: Establishing Quality Benchmarks

If you have ever run a diagnostic sequence on your personal computer, or business network, you already know that minor problems don’t always shut down your equipment, sometimes they simply make your system slower, less efficient and frustrating to operate. There are some tell-tale signs your system needs some attention. For example, slow page load times may indicate memory is running low or it is time to add more storage space. Ideally, communication software and hardware perform perfectly together. Your internal security, efficiency and effectiveness are improved when you closely monitor performance against expectations. So, the most critical part of testing your contact call center equipment is establishing QA benchmarks.

Continuous Monitoring vs Scheduled Performance Tests

When you install high-performance equipment, such as ATIS Digital call recording technology, you have a user-friendly, low maintenance, communications network designed to keep working, even when call volumes surge and weather events threaten utility services. This means you can easily test your data recovery performance before a power outage or route calls to certain extensions to test overflow operations when volume is low to moderate. Continuously monitoring your system is far superior to scheduling a quarterly or annual test because you can identify issues faster, with less disruption to normal operations.

Utilizing Key Performance Metrics to Identify Potential Equipment Weaknesses

Call centers today do more than simply answer the telephone and take down a message. Operators actively participate in video and text chat conversations, relay radio communications and talk to callers using cloud-based calling services. Examining the data behind each encounter provides clues about system performance. Higher than expected dropped-call rates may indicate connectivity issues, operator error or equipment deficiencies. If more calls are lost during peak volume times, plugins may need updating or it may be time to consider a system with increased functionality and power. Slow retrieval times typically indicate your memory is nearing full capacity. Routinely reviewing call data provides clues to how well your system is serving the needs of your organization and your clients.

Creating a Testing Protocol For Your Call Center Equipment

Every environment is unique. If you are serving the aviation industry, your primary goal may be ensuring safety in the sky. If your call center manages campus communications, perhaps your biggest concern is maintaining connectivity with external law enforcement agencies and emergency responders. Regardless of the industry you serve, ATIS Digital call center equipment solutions will help you establish, and monitor, quality performance metrics without taking your system offline. Do you need help developing a software and hardware call center equipment testing protocol? Call ATIS Digital today and ask to speak to a communications specialist.

Modernizing Your Customer Call Center With Voice Recording Technology: Learn How to Record a Business Call With Skype’s Call Recorder

Modernizing your call center with advanced technology doesn’t mean your business has to totally discard legacy products and processes that work for your team and your clients. For example, Skype was introduced in 2003, some people would say that in the tech world, there is probably something new that would better serve your team and your clients today. But, if you want to learn how to record a business call with Skype’s call recorder , you can have confidence there are innovative solutions that are backed by modern software to help you provide exceptional service, and document business meetings.

ATIS Digital Call Center Support Technology

There are many reasons a call center may want to record business meetings. Remote training is one. Creating an accurate archive with voice, instant messaging screen capture and whiteboard activity is another. Perhaps your team wants to utilize the Skype Business polling option or monitor who else is recording the conversations. Whatever the reason behind your decision to learn how to record a business call with Skype’s call recorder, ATIS Digital call capturing software has you covered.

Learn How to Record a Business Call With Skype’s Call Recorder

The process is simple once you have the call capturing system in place. You simply open your Skype tools and click on “Start Recording.” Using the built in functionality, you can pause, resume or stop the recording as many times as you want during each session. Since any participant can record the meeting, you may want to monitor activity by hovering over the red recording button. When your session is finished, simply click the “Stop” button and end the meeting. It’s so easy that anyone can learn how to record a business call with Skype’s call recorder. It is important to note that anyone signed into the meeting can follow the same process and save the file to their computer.

Why Choose ATIS Digital As Your Call Center Communications Partner?

You don’t have to settle for simple voice recordings when you learn how to record a business call with Skype’s call recorder. With advanced technology, you can streamline call management processes and document all aspects of remote meetings, and instantly share the files in a secure, encrypted format that prevents access by unauthorized users.

ATIS Digital call capturing solutions support Skype Business clients with state-of-the-art technology that provides masking capabilities so your team can shield sensitive information, rapid retrieval and replay functionality and live monitoring in a cost-effective package. If you need more information about building a unified communications platform, or you want to learn how to record a business call with Skype’s call recorder and adhere to strict compliance policies, contact an ATIS Digital consultant today. Just call us at 1-866-871-5390.

Avaya Call Recorder Best Practices for Public Transportation Organizations

Public transportation call centers, like all governmental agencies, demand rigorous quality protocols and heightened security systems. Most organizations utilize analog, digital, VoIP and landline devices today. When you want to architect a conversation capturing system that fully supports existing telecom and future expansion, it is important to follow Avaya call recorder best practices when updating your equipment and software. Look for these three key capabilities when searching for call recording equipment that will work with your existing Avaya PBX models and media gateways.

Avaya Call Recorder Best Practices #1: Call Capturing Must Support Diverse Media

The enterprise call center data is essential for training, compliance monitoring, efficient information sharing, response planning and implementing preparedness plans quickly. To accomplish these goals, best practices require a flexible system engineered to capture diverse media, including voice, text, screen shots, radio and cloud-based communications. Avaya call recorder best practices, then, must include mechanisms to not only record and monitor conversations but also to index and retrieve files for reporting and analyzing performance metrics with internal and external partners.

Avaya Call Recorder Best Practices #2: File Access Must Be Efficient & Easy

ATIS Digital unified communications solutions allow public transportation contact centers to search records via key parameters, such as agent, group, ANI, duration, agent comments, DNIS, custom fields, extensions and other relevant data metrics. With only a few clicks, agents and supervisors must be able to retrieve, rewind, playback or share any file. User friendly systems improve accuracy and call center performance.

Avaya Call Recorder Best Practices #3: Maintaining Security & Privacy

Enhanced web-security protects every consumer and your organization with functionality that includes call masking capability that allows agents to temporarily “hide” part of the conversation to protect personal information from unauthorized view, such as social security numbers, addresses, and health information. Your team should be able to establish call capturing schedules ranging from recording all incoming calls across all media to only recording part-time for quality control monitoring.

Whether you choose to record inbound and outbound calls or only record incoming calls, you should be able to encrypt recordings and assign security access keys that protect data from unapproved viewing, while allowing anyone with appropriate security clearance to retrieve and play back files from anywhere there is a secure internet gateway.

ATIS Digital Turnkey Solutions To Support Avaya Communication Systems

Our turnkey solutions combine the power of state-of-the-art hardware and best in class software to capture all your conversations in the public transportation sector. We invite you to call ATIS today to schedule a comprehensive assessment of your communication strategies. If you need a complete solution that fits your organizational needs, workflow patterns, financial circumstances and call volume, we offer best-fit technology that complements Avaya call recording best practices.

Do You Have the Right Call Recording Software for Call Center Performance?

Modern call recording software for call center environments provides many advantages for organizations across almost every sector today. From financial institutions wanting to improve regulatory compliance to e-commerce enterprises interested in increasing conversion rates, conversations drive relationships building. And, having the ability to review each conversation gives business leaders opportunities to improve organization-wide efficiency and effectiveness. The key to getting the most benefit from your software is making sure you have the right software to support your contact center goals and objectives.

An ideal fit helps the customer contact center serve the client and the business. Implementing a call recording policy utilizing software furnished with the following standard features is a good place to start.

Features of Call Recording Software for Call Center Performance

The Capability to Protect Sensitive Information

Every call center should have the ability to mask sensitive information. PCI compliance requires businesses who record calls to be able to prevent personal contact information, social security numbers, dates of birth and other vital data from unauthorized listening. Look for call recording software for call center applications that allows pausing (or periods of silence) during an active call, the ability to stop recording when a caller is sharing personal information and functionality that allows administrators to render audio files “unsearchable” for certain parameters.

The Capability to Enhance Training & Agent Performance

Live monitoring and rapid playback reduce order management errors associated with human error. E-commerce retailers and logistics enterprises benefit from review calls that trigger order shipments or vehicle dispatching. By reducing human errors, businesses reduce operating expenses and improve profit potential.

The Capability to Share Key Segments

Extracting certain sections of a call recording can greatly improve customer service training. Reviewing calls helps trainers identify strengths and weakness in both agent performance and training protocol. With ATIS Digital call recording software for call center applications, Human Resource departments are able to develop self-training resources that allow agents to listen to designated files using password protected access, without compromising security or privacy. Bookmarking file sections improves performance benchmarking and makes it easier to explain performance grades to employees based on recordings.

Training and error reduction are not the only reasons an organization may want to share files. Encrypted file sharing is an essential element in emergency contact centers and public service settings. Some organizations, such as aviation industry businesses, may need to reconstruct an incident using radio, radar, voice and VoIP devices. In this case, sharing files with external agencies is the fastest, most efficient method.

Deploying call recording software to improve call center performance hinges on choosing the right software solutions. The best way to ensure you select the best solution for your organization is to create a workflow chart based on normal operations. An ATIS Digital unified communication specialist can help you explore innovative solutions customized for your call center needs. Please call today to schedule a personal consultation focusing on call recording software for call center needs.

The Best Data Logger Is The One That Complements Your Organization’s Business Model

Business analytics, data behind sales numbers and customer service ratings are used to help organizations make better decisions, develop stronger client relationships and lower operational costs. To achieve optimal efficiency and effectiveness, companies should deploy the best data logger for their individual needs and working environment.

Choosing The Best Data Logger: Know Your Goals

Every highly-successful enterprise today upholds best-practice policies that ensure online security, consumer privacy and optimized internal performance. Before you start searching for the best data logger for your organization, identify the critical business processes and the unified communication technology that supports them. The ideal data capturing system complements your business model, supports your customers and empowers your staff to meet or exceed industry standards consistently.

Every environment is unique and every organization has different goals when establishing a unified communications strategy. In an effort to improve efficiency and performance, an emergency contact center may look at the data behind speed, accuracy and capacity during a crisis response, or incident review. The transportation industry may focus on collecting information from multiple devices to monitor conversations to track inclement weather events or hazardous road conditions. A customer contact center often considers call values, such as number of rings, duration and lost connections. Some environments demand system functionality that allows center agents to capture text, radio conversations, VoIP calls and landline audio simultaneously.

Answering the Right Questions to Achieve Benchmarks

Businesses of all sizes across almost every industry can benefit from capturing conversations and supporting data. An intuitive, scalable turnkey solution like the ATIS Model 3200 supports 48 channels and records analog, VoIP, and digital conversations with advanced software that allows key personnel to dive deep into the data to improve performance and client experiences.

When considering which data logging system is best for your organization, ask yourself which data is critical for benchmarking. Do you want to record data from every conversation? How much data should the system be able to handle? Are there some variables that are more important to monitor than other trackable activities? Do you need real-time monitoring and post-contact auditing capabilities? How important is it to restrict access to archived files?

Answering these questions will ensure the data capturing equipment you choose will serve your organization and your stakeholders.

Supporting High Standards With Best-Fit Technology

An ideal unified communications solution is responsive, intuitive and flexible. Responsive systems allow call center employees to communicate efficiently with people using a variety of devices. Intuitive systems have features that automatically start recording conversations based on predefined triggers. Flexible systems rapidly scale when call volume suddenly escalates or more capacity is essential to maintain quality and connectivity.

If your organization is considering adding data capturing equipment to your contact center technology toolbox, consider ATIS Digital. We offer a full range of communication solutions for air traffic control centers, transportation and public safety agencies and many other industries. Email an account specialist to schedule a phone consultation; we’ll help you find the best data logger for your organization.

3 Key Reasons to Record Customer Service Calls to Improve CX

The customer contact center is an extension of your brand. Essentially call centers are tasked with going above and beyond normal operations to better serve your clients. Front-line staff may be trained to answer questions and resolve problems, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some room for improvement. Exceptional CX means you position your company to outshine the competition and grow revenue potential. Here are some insights to help your organization deliver the best customer experience possible when you record customer service calls.

Building Relationships = Valuing Your Customers

According to a Cohn & Wolf consumer survey, the top three things consumers expect from brands are directly tied to customer service. It might surprise you to learn that communicating honestly about brand products and services is the number one thing that drives customer satisfaction. Along with this transparency, contact center callers expect companies to follow through with promises and act with total integrity at all times.

The only way to live up to these great expectations is to train every team member to value your customer base through consistent, accurate, courteous and respectful conversations. Reviewing recorded audio files helps your organization identify gaps in training and reward high-performing contact center employees to ensure every caller gets exactly what they want and deserve.

Record Customer Service Calls to Manage CX & Payroll Spend

Often call center conversations begin with a customer who is frustrated or confused about how to use your products or services. You need a patient, focused agent on the phone to help your client resolve their issue efficiently without making the caller feel rushed or incompetent. When you record customer service calls with advanced technology like the ATIS PhoenixPro, call data streams help supervisors monitor important details like the average length of call, peak call times and agent availability to manage contact center schedules that meet the needs of customers while controlling payroll costs.

Managing Social Media Engagement With Exceptional Service

In this digital age where everyone can instantly share their positive – and negative – interactions with brands, it’s vital to deliver on your promises. If your call center staff isn’t doing everything they can to make sure your customers are satisfied after the call, you can expect Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to hear about it immediately. Leverage team excellence. Record customer service calls, then post those stellar response times – demonstrated by the data – on your brand pages to let your loyal followers know you’re working hard to earn their trust.

An integrated communications system, and particularly equipment that allows you to record customer service calls in conjunction with scheduling, compliance and tracking software improves internal and external partnerships. With a user-friend system, your organization can save time, money and frustration, while capturing data to enhance customer service and brand loyalty.

If you would like to speak to an ATIS Digital representative about cost-effective solutions for your call center, simply fill out a contact form, or call us toll free at 1-866-871-5390.

Legally Recording Conversations For Training Purposes

Legally recording conversations in a call center environment extends beyond just notifying the party or parties being recorded. Organizations have to consider both the positive and negative benefits of documenting telephone, text and radio communications. On one hand, archived records may help you protect yourself from legal challenges. However, those same files may be used against you if a caller claims you improperly handled files during review or storage procedures.

Protecting Employee Privacy: Establishing a Contact Center Recording Schedule

The differentiating factor between a good call center and an excellent one is often customer service. Using recordings from your top contact center agents as a training resource is one way to benchmark service standards. If you’ve decided to implement a policy that includes monitoring and reviewing calls, your next step is determining which calls are captured. You may choose to record every call, set up a part-time, revolving schedule or only record key personnel.

When the sole purpose for recording conversations is to enhance customer care, your lawyers may have informed you about all the technical aspects of legally recording conversations, but did you discuss personal calls on company phones? Different courts interpret privacy laws differently. If you implement a full-time, all lines recording policy, you must inform employees that every incoming call, even personal calls, will be recorded prior to capturing 100% of your inbound and outbound calls. It may be better if you provide a lobby or break room phone for personal use to avoid potential privacy issues.

Legally Recording Conversations: Protecting Consumer Information

Along with protecting employee privacy, you must respect consumers’ right to privacy also. ATIS Digital voice capturing technology enables supervisors and authorized employees to monitor and review archived files before handing them over to HR for training purposes. Masking technology maintains vital information, without compromising security. This means that identifying information, such as names, account numbers and addresses, aren’t heard during training exercises, but if a situation arises where the company needs to defend a legal challenge, the file can be restored and shared with authorities.

Establishing A Stellar Call Center With Voice Capturing Equipment

State-of-the-art call center technology empowers businesses to efficiently, reliably and securely serve customers in every industry. With integrated systems that allow simultaneous, multi-channel recording and monitoring, contact center teams position themselves to turn each customer touch point into an exceptional experience that builds brand loyalty. The key to successfully implementing a training policy that includes legally recording conversations, without compromising service standards, is partnering with an equipment and software provider that understands your business and respects your clients. ATIS Digital offers a full range of best-in-class call capture technology designed to meet the needs of your demanding customers. Call today, or send us a secure message via our website email, to learn how our products can help you serve your clients better while legally recording conversations.

What Will Voice Recording Solutions Look Like in 2020?

Computers play an integral part in everyone’s lives today – professionally and personally. In the past three decades, computing devices have evolved from an intriguing novelty reserved for those with large pocketbooks to a vital component for businesses of every size, across all industries. The aviation industry utilizes computers for everything from monitoring weather conditions to recording cockpit conversations and tracking airships. Voice recording solutions have been interwoven into air traffic management for many years. In 2007, the Federal Aviation Administration contracted with Israel-based NICE System to upgrade equipment designed to enable the agency to “compile multi-media incident information including voice, photos, flight plans and other information all in one place,” for the first time in the agency’s history.

With the announcement last year that the FAA plans to upgrade legacy systems in 2021, this is a good time to look forward to other changes we can expect.

Integrated Performance: Voice Recording Solutions and Multi-media Data

While voice recording solutions have been an integral part of incident reconstruction for a long time, technology continues to improve, enabling faster file retrieval and sharing among agencies. The new FAA system is expected to reduce operating costs and improve efficiency. Innovative solutions are expected to facilitate responding to Freedom of Information Requests quicker with capabilities that include “legally approved” editing, splicing and masking techniques and both voice-to-text and audio-to-text functionality that reduces transcription processing times.

One of the primary goals is to shift data storage away from paper-based solutions toward web-based data warehouses that support both WAN and LAN access. Another improvement involves integrating advanced audio capabilities to improve recording quality. With the upgrades, the aviation industry will be able to efficiently capture audio and text conversations consistently and accurately from telecom equipment, radio, mobile devices, landlines, cloud-based text and chat networks and other communication tools.

Computing experts say in the next few years we will see fewer isolated networks as the aviation industry moves toward a fully integrated globally connect network functioning as one machine.

Technology Will Respond to Our Changing Needs and Accelerate Change

Legacy systems with limited channel capacity should be upgraded to meet growing demand for speed and accuracy. In the future, all air traffic control centers and airport facilities will still use voice recording solutions to support incident investigations and training, but they will have access to enhanced technology that reduces physical storage footprints and risks associated with computer failure during a crisis event as more facilities install equipment with ample headspace to allow drop-in repairs without disrupting recording activity.

If your aerospace organization is looking for a cost-effective solution to upgrade your existing voice and text capturing network, ATIS Digital offers state-of-the-art VoIP, RoIP, Digital Analog, and other voice recording solutions that are scalable, intuitive and reliable. The time to prepare for the future, is now. Call 1-866-871-5390 to schedule a meeting with an aviation communication expert to discuss options today.

How Recording a Telephone Call Improves Contact Center Performance

There are a number of reasons an organization may choose to implement call recording policies. Financial institutions often capture voice calls to document regulatory compliance. Emergency command centers utilize audio and visual records to facilitate agency coordination during extreme weather events. In the air traffic control tower, digital voice files can be critical for reconstructing in-flight accidents. With the proper technology, recording a telephone call is an easy, and cost-effective solution to enhance training, improve customer experiences and generate new revenue streams.

Recording a Telephone Call to Enhance Training Programs

Advanced technology empowers company leaders to address quality assurance and contact management challenges head on. Organizations of every size from small businesses to mega-corporations and government entities utilize voice capturing software and equipment to accomplish a broad array of business objectives such as reducing legal liability, improving risk management and ensuring every customer touch-point creates positive experiences. Regardless of the business objective, enhanced training will help you reach your goals.

Here are three ways Advantage MDR applications assist organizations in redesigning training programs to achieve quality benchmarks.

1. Report generation capabilities enable contact management teams to analyze every call for opportunities to improve quality of service delivery. Customizable reports allow users to review calls based on performance-specific parameters that include incoming call number, ring duration, agent taking call, active channel, date, time and other factors. This means supervisors can establish recording schedules, monitor specific phone numbers or agents and access files for rapid replay or sharing based on hard data and not supposition.

2. Live monitoring and playback. Recording a telephone call won’t provide benefits unless system features are user friendly and support a unified communications program. The ideal system offers one-click channel access, capability to monitor multiple channels simultaneously and to listen to both active calls and completed customer interactions.

3. Reports and audio files are indexed for easy search and electronic sharing. Recording a telephone call for the purpose of sharing encrypted audio files enables emergency response teams in the field to access data through any web-connected device. User-friendly systems enhance rapid response training while graphs and charts provide a visual representation of the entire interaction with each customer, allowing administrators to quickly assess agent readiness and competencies.

Equipping the Contact Center Staff with Best-Fit Call Capture Technology

The best way to improve service quality is through on-going training and support. Equipping contact center staff with the resources and skills to serve your client base is critical whether your organization provides public safety services or supports an e-Commerce enterprise with customer service agents.

When you need a full suite of products to manage the customer journey, consider ATIS Digital. Our communications technology will help you create a training program that serves your staff and your customers from the first point of contact until the interaction is successfully completed. Visit our website to watch a video demonstration or call a professional ATIS unified communications expert today toll-free at 1-866-871-5390.