With over 30 years’ worth of voice recording expertise, we have supplied a variety of call recording systems from leading manufacturers including NICE, Red Box and Verint.
There isn’t much we haven’t seen when it comes to the voice recording world! With one of the largest in-house engineering resource bases, who are fully qualified and accredited to install and support call recording systems from leading manufacturers, we pride ourselves on being a truly independent technology provider.
So, we’ve put together a quick guide on what organisations need to consider when it comes to the basics of voice recording.
What is a Voice Recording system?
A Voice Recording system is essentially a digital device that records sound, saves it in file format, and transfers it to another device, such as a computer. Popular file types include MP3 and Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF). The software records telephone conversations over a Public Switched Network (PSTN) or a Voice over IP (VoIP) in a digital file format. The call recording software also provides you with the ability to retrieve, playback, store and share calls.
Many organisations install a voice recording system to aid with agent training, record keeping, dispute resolution, fact verification and compliance purposes.
What is the best software for Voice Recording?
The best voice recording software for your organisation will largely depend on your business needs. For example, are you looking for a solution to ensure you can comply with regulations? Or are you looking for a solution to record calls simply for training and quality purposes? Knowing your business needs and the outcomes you are looking to achieve is the first step in helping you build a business case for call recording and to find the right voice recording software.
As an independent provider, our call recording portfolio includes solutions from leading voice recording manufacturers including NICE, Red Box and Verint which are available on-premises or via the cloud. We also offer a range of mobile call recording solutions, where we partner with solution providers to ensure all inbound, outbound and SMS client communications are being recorded. Our range of call recording solutions also target various industry sectors, ranging from contact centres and trading floors to Government and Healthcare.
Below is a selection of industry verticals with links to market leading solutions for that sector:
- Contact Centre Call Recording
- Trading Floor Call Recording
- General Business Call Recording
- Government & Healthcare Call Recording
- Police & Public Safety Call Recording
- Mobile Call Recording
Benefits of Voice Recording Systems
There are many benefits of installing a voice recording system in your organisation. Below we list a few:
- Compliance & Regulation – Protect the business against regulatory fines and reputational damage: Depending on the industry you operate in, call recording provides a critical tool to help meet compliance and a range of regulations, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS compliance), MiFID II, GDPR and FCA.
- Training & Development – Help improve agent performance and happiness, reducing employee churn and ultimately improving customer service: Call recordings can be used to identify areas for improvement and target training appropriately. Voice recording systems can also be an invaluable coaching tool to evidence best practice and help staff identify where they could improve.
- Dispute Resolution – Protect the business against unnecessary financial loss: In the event of a dispute with a customer or client, call recording provides firm evidence which prevents it becoming a case of your word against theirs.
- Addressing customer complaints – Reduce customer complaints, retention and unwanted call traffic: Call recordings can be used to spot any recurring customer complaints to understand the root cause of the issue and be able to fix it quickly and efficiently.
Technology costs for Voice Recording systems
The cost of installing a voice recording system will vary and depend on several factors including:
- How many people or phones you want to record
- The level of functionality you require from your call recording solution
- Whether you want an on-premise or cloud call recording system
- The level of platform resilience you require
- The amount of underlying infrastructure and resources required to run the system
If you are considering voice recording for your business, talk to us about your needs and let us find the best solution for you.
What are the benefits of cloud Call Recording Vs on-premise?
Upfront Costs
On-premise – The cost to set up an on-premise voice recording infrastructure can be high as it includes the purchase of the hardware (including servers, networking, licensing and IT operational costs).
Cloud – There is little to no investment in hardware or complex infrastructure when installing call recording in the cloud, with the exception of some set-up and configuration costs. Ongoing costs are limited to monthly subscriptions and are lower than on-premise costs.
Ongoing Costs
On-premise – Assuming you have purchased perpetual licenses, the majority of ongoing costs will be taken by annual support and maintenance for all the recording and infrastructure requirements, plus internal IT resource to maintain it. Further costs will come from having to upgrade the platform periodically to ensure the system is functionally current and supportable, and that the underlying hardware is up to date. Platform end-of-life policies can add significant costs to your periodic ongoing costs (e.g: Window Operating Systems that must be upgraded to remove system vulnerabilities)
Cloud – The majority of costs for cloud systems are charged on an ongoing basis until the end of the agreed contract. This is nearly always charged as a subscription or Software as a Service (SAS), meaning that your business is charged on a monthly/periodic basis. Therefore, this is an operational rather than capex cost, which can deliver significant tax benefits. It also ensures the business capital budgets can be kept intact for other key projects.
Security
On-premise – there is a common myth that on-premise call recording is more secure in terms of data security breaches. However, this is no longer the case. In fact, onsite platforms can experience more breaches as a result from human error or malicious practices. They can also be expensive to update with the latest security measures.
Cloud – Cloud call recording infrastructure can provide security in many ways including encryption and disaster recovery. However, it is still vitally important that you question the level of Information Security your Cloud Supplier uses. At the end of the day, they will be holding your data, so remember to do your due diligence when it comes to Infosec.
Reliability
On-premise – Voice recording system reliability is a major concern for many businesses. For example – is the system going to be available when you need it? In this case, it is common practice for recording platforms to be deployed with some form of recording resilience, such as 2N or N+1 to protect the business from recording loss. For financial organisations, recording loss becomes even more apparent when dealing with strict call recording legislations and bodies such as the FCA who state that: “A firm must take reasonable steps to record relevant telephone conversations, and keep a copy of relevant electronic communications, made with, sent from or received on equipment”.
Cloud – Cloud call recording systems are prepared to handle huge volumes of data and a high level of redundancy protection. Voice recording downtime is also less frequent on cloud systems.
Integrations & Features
On-premise – Adding new features or integrations can be costly for onsite voice recording infrastructures. They can also take a long time to implement.
Cloud – As opposed to on-premise systems, new features and integrations within cloud-based voice recording systems can easily be added without additional costs on a periodic basis as the cloud platform is upgraded and maintained by the supplier.
What is the best home office Voice Recording software?
Business Systems only offer enterprise grade voice recording solutions. If you are looking to record small projects at home, you can use simple tools like Garageband and Audacity.
Voice Recording Software for Business Organisations
Voice recording software can help achieve a significant ROI within your organisation. This can be achieved through many ways including:
- Helping to train and bring up new agents to speed, ensuring training is performed quickly and efficiently with a library of best practice call recordings to choose from.
- Helping organisations save millions in disputes by resolving them efficiently with an undisputed record of who said what.
- Helping organisations access the voice of the customer with valuable information stored in customer calls and maximising this information for further business intelligence.
If your organisation is looking to install call recording software, get in touch with our team of experts who will be able to assist in helping you build a business case and determine which solution is the right one for you.
