Call Recording Featured Article

The consumer has gone mobile, adopting the smartphone in droves and demanding access to the latest in connected technology. We not only want to send a quick message, we also want to access calendars, send emails and even login to the corporate network on the go. For the call center, this means call recording has to take a look at newer technologies and what they mean for performance.

The introduction of the iPhone changed the market for the better. Even if you’re a devoted Android (News - Alert) fan, you can’t discount the impact the iPhone has had on the market. Even as BlackBerry set the pace for the introduction of the smartphone, the iPhone (News - Alert) took it mainstream and brought even the non-working consumer into the fray.

A recent AG Beat post examined how the introduction of the iPhone changed the industry for the better, including the ability to pick your carrier of choice (not a common factor when the iPhone was first introduced exclusively on the AT&T (News - Alert) network), GPS location services, high fidelity voice calls, intelligent voice recognition with Siri and video chat. These fives things ultimately changed our way of thinking when it came to mobile expectations.

It’s not enough for a mobile phone to make calls or send texts as this limited capability meets the expectations of only the few. Today, we expect to be able to listen to a favorite song, while still taking a call; launching a conference call while driving down the road, converting voice to text when typing isn’t an option and capturing and sending video when the situation demands it.

In customer service, it has also changed our approach to call recording. The voice quality on today’s smartphone significantly exceeds the flip phone of yesterday; speech recognition is more accurate than we thought could happen so soon and call recording is even available on the smartphone itself.

This introduces an interesting new way of doing things in the call center. Not only are agents taking calls from customers on their smartphones, they can also use the smartphone to take and make their calls. This is a common trend for agents who work from home and the technologies they can leverage on the job can eliminate investments for the organization overall.

The access to better technology at a lower cost is one of the perks associated with smartphone technology. We can now do things that were one only available to the largest organizations at a fraction of the cost. It changes the game for both sides and raises the customer’s expectation when it comes to the interaction experience.

For the call center hoping to stay at the top of its game, embracing these advancements and making them work for them is the smartest move.