The potential for “he said/she said” disputes between companies and their customers is growing exponentially as an ever increasing number of transactions and interactions are undertaken over the telephone.
And this, says Matthew Balcomb, CEO of Call Cabinet Southern Africa, coupled with the plethora of consumer protection legislation means that no business can afford to be without an effective – and compliant – call logging solution.
“For example, the Consumer Protection Act states that consumers have a right to disclosure of information; and a right to fair an honest dealing. For example, a consumer may claim that your company did not comply with these requirements during a telephonic transaction. This is not only a risk that the agreement may be declared null and void, it could also open your company to a substantial fine,” he adds.
According to Balcomb, the best and most effective way to protect yourself and your company is to have quick and easy access to a recording of the entire conversation – a recording that will be legally tenderable evidence if required by a court of law, regardless of the device from which the call was made: a landline telephone or on a cell phone or data call (Facebook, Skype and so on).
“However, it is preferable to be able to resolve disputes before they get to court. This means speed is essential. You cannot spend hours or days trying to locate a recording of a conversation which may have taken place a few hours, a few days or even months before.”
The problem, Balcomb warns, is that it is not unusual that customers might be unable to recall exactly when and with whom the conversation took place.
The call logging system, therefore, should have powerful search functionality that enables calls to be located via a diverse range of search criteria such as time, date, branch, telephone number and length of call.
In addition, particularly for small businesses owners, it is essential that recordings can be accessed and downloaded from any location so as to avoid delays when out of the office or even travelling overseas.
Because of these demands, companies that had first- and second-generation call logging systems – onsite systems that recorded only random customer interactions because of capacity constraints – are re-examining the effectiveness of these systems as more efficient, affordable, flexible, scalable and hassle-free call logging solutions become available.
“What businesses need are call loggers that enable unlimited, totally secure storage and quick, easy retrieval of all calls and other sensitive data without the need for any additional hardware or installation services,” Balcomb concludes.