July 1999

FOR THE RECORD: Next-Gen Logging And Monitoring

BY BART RYAN

Deep Pockets, Inc. is engaged to work on the initial public offering (IPO) for a promising startup. To generate broad awareness for the IPO, Deep Pockets, Inc., conducts a phone campaign targeted to influential attorneys. Unfortunately, soon after the IPO is completed, the newly public company fails. A group of attorneys Deep Pockets, Inc., had contacted promptly sue, claiming that they had been misled. To win the lawsuit, the company needs to prove it had properly disclosed the new venture's risks. But without impossibly detailed notes of the phone conversations, how could it do this?

In the above scenario, the answer is for Deep Pockets, Inc. to turn to its innovative voice logging and recording solution, developed using the latest CTI technology. With a voice logging and monitoring solution in place, the company can review thousands of call records and identify every conversation with every attorney, in only a few hours. With this data readily available, Deep Pockets, Inc. should win its case.

Voice logging and recording has been around for many years. Today, new legal requirements affecting call centers and telephone sales techniques- in addition to operational and training considerations - are fueling a significant rise in demand.

Conventional voice logging and recording solutions have always relied on large, open-reel tape decks. This approach has a number of shortcomings:

• Busy call centers or larger corporations can easily fill one or more tapes a day.
• These tapes must be stored in costly, climate-controlled warehouses.
• Slow tape speeds also result in very poor audio quality.
• Researching calls can be extremely labor-intensive and time-consuming. In fact, without meticulous records such as the date, time, and duration of calls, it can be virtually impossible to locate a given conversation.

Today's next generation of voice logging and recording solutions use CTI to greatly simplify the process. These sophisticated systems digitize and compress calls, then store them as a .WAV file on a hard drive, where they can be conveniently located, recalled, and played on any Windows-based PC.

The solutions come in a number of different configurations, including switch room applications (for recording centralized stations, trunks, or T-1 lines), PC/workstation applications, or cellular applications.

To enhance audio quality and provide greater flexibility, several systems offload digitizing and voice compression from the system's CPU to powerful voice processing cards. By avoiding the server's various channels and filters, clarity and crispness are noticeably improved. The add-on boards also free the central processor to handle scheduling and other tasks.

Leading solutions can also be integrated with popular databases, such as ACT! or GoldMine. Connected over a LAN or WAN, the voice logging and monitoring application searches these databases for a company or individual name, date, time, location, account number, or any other characteristic associated with a particular phone number. Multiple fields - some customizable by the user - simplify tracking or cross-referencing of callers and usage.

Systems can also give users the option of accessing either Station Message Detail Reporting (SMDR, also referred to as Call Detail Reporting) or CTI information. SMDR is unidirectional and provides summary information - number called and duration - after each call is completed. CTI-based information is even more versatile. It includes alpha-numeric fields and provides a running account of each call in progress: station and trunk used, number dialed, whether a call is transferred, and when the line is hung up. This allows administrators to act immediately on calls. And because the CTI information is bi-directional, it is even possible to terminate a call in progress, if desired.

Call centers and other businesses can not only monitor usage, but many solutions provide powerful reporting capabilities to give users extensive day-to-day control over an organization's phone system. For instance, an administrator can arrange to be e-mailed or paged if a certain number is dialed. That call can be recorded and put on a disk or attached to an e-mail if someone else needs to review it.

Reports can be set up to run at specific times or if given parameters are met, such as if a call lasts more than 15 minutes, a particular number is called frequently, or an agent is making too few or too many calls. This flexible reporting has broad applications in call centers, allowing managers to identify agents who are slacking off, making personal calls on company time, or who need more training.

Business in the 21st century is likely to become increasingly complicated and challenging. With the help of the latest voice logging and recording capabilities, call center representatives and other heavy phone users will be able to gain better control over this critical communications tool. And they won't need deep pockets to do it.

Bart Ryan is president of Communi-cations Advice and Design, Inc. (CAD) of Calabasas, CA, a software company specializing in computer-telephony integrated products for next-generation voice logging and recording solutions. CAD solutions incorporate powerful voice-processing boards from Brook-trout Technology (formerly Lucent Technologies Computer Telephony Products). For more information, please visit these companies’ Web sites at www.cad-routemaster.com and www.brooktrout.com.