Recording all business voice calls, once only deployed in large call centers and the financial sector, is becoming popular among an increasingly diverse group of industries. The following is a partial list of some of the many uses and benefits of recording calls:

Reduce Customer Conflict When customers and employees know that their calls have been recorded, they are less likely to embellish the details of conversations related to conflict. If an employee is accused of rude behavior, the call can be heard by management and sent to the customer or the employee for review.

Increase Employee Professionalism Employees will focus on handling calls correctly, if they have an expectation that their calls will be monitored by management. To build that expectation, managers should routinely comment on the recorded calls that they have heard. Managers do not need to hear every call, they only need to listen to one periodically for each employee and give some feedback.

Improve Customer Service Recorded calls are an invaluable tool for customer service training. Specific calls can be replayed with feedback. Superior call examples can be used in training classes as well as examples of what not to do. Skills assessments can be performed on calls to rate performance. And managers can determine which skills need training the most.

Legal Support Recorded calls can aid in legal proceedings. They are easily emailed to counsel or copied to memory stick devices. It is wise to make sure the calls were recorded in accordance with federal and state laws. If the parties were located in multiple states, make sure the laws of every state involved were followed.

Create Discipline for Making Calls Departments, like outside sales, are frequently required to make prospecting calls. One of the toughest jobs of sales managers is getting salespeople to make these calls. The problem can be exacerbated when the salespeople work out of their homes or other offices. Managers can listen to recorded calls to make sure each salesperson is making the required quantity and quality of prospecting calls. IP enabled phone systems and some Hosted PBX Services can record calls giving managers the ability to listen to calls of salespeople working from home or other offices.

Reduce Personal Calls Personal calls not only distract the employee from their work, but they may also take up valuable office resources including use of telephone lines and long distance minutes. Recording calls virtually eliminates all personal calls from the company’s telephone system.

Capture Threatening Calls Threatening calls can be recorded for further analysis or be passed on to law enforcement.

Verify Order Details Companies that take orders by telephone may record calls to verify order details. Inaccurate orders can reflect poorly on customer service, damage customer goodwill, lose business and increase delivery costs including product manufacturing and shipping. Calls can be reviewed randomly or systematically to ensure each agent’s order accuracy and improve customer service.

Reduce Management Managers can more efficiently supervise and train their employees with call recording. More efficient managers can either handle additional employees or focus on improving the productivity and skill of each of their workers.

Regulatory Compliance Some financial service industries are now mandated to record calls. Other industries may not be subject to a required call recording, but doing so has become a defacto practice of the respected companies in that business sector.

Once only available to companies with large wallets, technology advancements have made call recording and storage economically available to many businesses. Hosted services such as Hosted PBX systems have bridged the gap to the small business. Regardless of the company’s size, call recording offers efficiency, accuracy and protection.