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The FSA (Financial Services Authority) have come up with some new regulations that come into practice from March 2009 which means that every UK businesses that deal with money issues will have to copy all their inbound and outbound telephone calls and store the files for at least six months.
For those financial institutions that don’t at present have a call recording solution in place, this news could prove expensive if they opt for a bulky hardware system.
A more cost effective way of recording calls is available however which removes the impact of large hardware:
Organisations can simply attach an online call recording solution to a non-geographic telephone number.
Non-geographic telephone numbers (e.g.0845 numbers, 03 numbers etc.) work in tandem with existing landline/mobile numbers and simply sit ‘on top’ of them. This type of number is a more memorable number for callers and works well when in conjunction with advertising.
Using non area specific numbers for call recording is becoming increasingly popular because of the following:
1. It’s controlled completely online or using the phone and negates the need for physical equipment (hardware).
2. Recordings are emailed to a nominated person as an mp3 file – meaning they can stored in a way that is convenient for them.
3. As you are sent the recordings by file it is very simple to forward files to other people within you organisation or via email for training or listening.
4. Recordings can be set in action straight away at the press of a button (e.g. by pressing the hash key).
5. Large volumes of recordings can be stored on an external server – freeing up in-house computer systems.
6. Businesses can meet the new legal requirements of the FSA (from March 2009 using this form of phone call recording can help meet the new legal requirements (from March 2009) of financial organisations (as outlined above).
7. By simply activating the system you can do away with having to frantically jot down notes on an important conversation.
8. Choose the calls that you record ensuring your company stays in complete control of what is recorded and what isn’t.
As these points show non-geographic telephone numbers can dramatically increase the flexibility of phone systems – helping people to answer more calls and become more efficient.
Call recording is just the tip of the iceberg.
Additional features that are easily added to non-geographic numbers include:
online call statistics packages lets companies monitor all the inbound calls to their non-geographic numbers.
This allows them to see: the total amount of calls to all numbers, the location of callers, busy periods and missed calls. This information can assist organisations with their marketing and improving customer service[/spin].
Immediate diversion of calls give organisations complete control over their non-geographic numbers. Whether they have a single number or multiple
numbers, call divert means that they can reroute calls to
another landline/mobile/call answering service at the press of a button. This control is essential in the event of landline failure or in an emergency and for this reason this service can be
without cost with a number, if you know where to look.
As this article illustrates, non-geographic numbers can be a very useful addition to any company – giving them greater flexibility/control over their phone systems and helping them meet their legal requirements - without needing extra office space.






