3rd Party Remote Call Monitoring Feature

While many SMBs may not be able to afford the fancy analytics software that larger enterprises use, it’s still necessary to have something in place to assure that outgoing calls are monitored for compliance and other regulations.

Those in the bill-collecting business are probably aware of the magazine Collections, a niche publication aimed at those in the industry. In the latest issue, some valuable suggestions were put forth to help smaller companies stay in compliance and within the law when it comes to calls.

“To help streamline your agency’s phone training, and ultimately make it easier to know what is working and what is not after reviewing calls, it’s important to have consistent policies and procedures in place,” said Communications Specialist Katy Zillmer, “especially since they are open to review by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.”

Among the policies recommended by Collections:

• All agencies should have procedures in place for collectors to follow during a call, which must be tailored to ensure clients’ requirements are met as well. “Training is critical on the front end, and agencies can also work with collectors on self-monitoring,” the story said.

• Agencies must also identify the technology for monitoring and recording calls that meets both their budget and system for compliance expectations. “For a very small agency, the ability to monitor calls is the most basic need,” it was noted. “Absent of any technology, there needs to be the ability for a supervisor to ’plug in’ to the call and listen to both sides of the conversation with the consumer not being able to hear them.”

• A call auditing policy should address consistency, compliance and results. “If management finds collectors aren’t identifying right-party contacts, for example, that could be a sign your managers need to conduct additional training or a policy review.”

The report noted that call recording and call auditing systems might also offer long-term savings. “They are an effective and efficient way to ensure compliance is in place—mitigating issues sooner rather than later,” it was observed. “It may make collectors nervous at first that a ‘bad call’ will be recorded, but it’s essential to keep them, both for retraining purposes and to demonstrate that you aren’t cherry-picking the best calls. It can be red flag to regulators if agencies’ recorded and audited calls are all perfect.”

In short, the old cliché fits perfectly: “It’s better to be safe than sorry.”