Call Recording can be a high-value feature on business phone systems if you use it as a monitoring tool with an eye on quality of service improvement. Cloud based business phone systems like VoIP (Hosted PBX) make Call Recording easy to use with a simple on/off setting. All inbound and outbound calls are then recorded and stored in the cloud. Access and playback is as simple as using any of your favorite music streaming services. You search the call you want to listen to and click play.

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Some businesses have to record all calls for security, regulatory or even insurance reasons. Everyone who does record calls must disclose the fact which is why we hear such notifications from the auto attendant. A recent survey showed that more than 69% of high-level business professionals said they record customer calls to ensure quality of service.

Listening to interactions with customers can help monitor how employees communicate. It can pinpoint how problems arise; clarify if something was misunderstood or overlooked. Call recording can demonstrate how a new customer was won, or lost. Recorded calls are useful for training because they eliminate the hypothetical by profiling your business team actually ‘in-action’. Hearing a skilled employee explain the essentials of your product or service well to a customer teaches other staff how to do it. Or how not to, as the case may be. Playback of even a small sample of calls recorded with customers can inform best practices and help create a ‘customer communication playbook’ for all employees to follow. A standard set of communication options can prevent unfortunate incidents. That can prevent bad reviews, which in turn can prevent lawsuits.

Recorded calls are a little like video surveillance in cases of dispute. They eliminate the ‘he said, they said’ risk. The words are the words. There’s no margin for confusion. With a cloud-hosted PBX phone system you can access recorded calls from anywhere at the touch of a button, which is pretty useful if a dispute arises while you’re away from the office.

Team leaders can listen to recorded calls with prospects to better advise staff negotiating deals in the pipeline; hearing the tone and level of engagement of the client can help ascertain acquisition probability; identify speed bumps that might be holding things up; or clue you in to an incentive idea that might persuade the client to close the deal.

Recorded calls have customer survey value. If several prospects express a similar sentiment, positively or negatively, you learn what works and what needs attention straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. As one business owner put it:

“Recording calls allows us to assess, review and improve everything we do.”

Properly harnessed, all of the advantages of Call Recording add up to a better customer experience. Beyond that, recorded calls are evidence that your company follows laws and procedures correctly. Highly regulated industries such as insurance, finance, or healthcare rely on call recordings as proof in matters of HIPAA, legal, financial, or taxation regulatory agency oversight. The simple knowledge that all phone interactions with clients are being recorded can inspire employees to take protocol more seriously. This protects them. And you.

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As one CEO put it:

“With every call recorded, an agent knows they’re protected against allegations of abuse, while the client is protected against false sales claims.”

80 business professionals gave these as their top reasons for Recording Calls:

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By a clear margin, ensuring quality service and monitoring agents is primary; followed by protection in disputes; then training and coaching value; then compliance and regulation adherence, order verification and so on. Harnessed properly, call recording can help you achieve a higher quality customer service whilst protecting your employees and ultimately, your Company’s reputation.

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