SPECIAL REPORT Call recording market rea
Cloud-based call recording solutions are far from fledgling, a sure sign that this market is maturing and entering a new era.
T
he call recording market is becoming more mature, moving towards buying on
functionality and business benefits rather than just on price, according to Oak Telecom’s CEO Phil Reynolds. “The product has good margins throughout the product life cycle,” he said. “It’s normally seen as mission critical so ongoing support revenues are strong. Investing in product knowledge up front is an absolute must as there’s huge potential not just for the call recording sale but for the associated CRM integration and call reporting that many customers will buy if they are made aware of them.
“Call recording for larger clients is far more that just recording calls, it’s about integration with their CRM or their internal business systems, it’s about taking credit card details in real time and not recording the security code, it’s about recording screens or listening in to calls in real time. It’s hard if not impossible to achieve this with a networked solution.”
There are big security issues with storing calls offsite and end users are becoming increasingly aware that the Internet world is far from secure, believes Reynolds. “Recent events with Sony highlighted this,” he said. “I think there will be a gradual
move to cloud, certainly for backing up off-site. With the right leasing deal the costs are unlikely to be much different on a monthly basis.”
Multi-site recording solutions bring up some interesting issues relating to both storage and network bandwidth. “There are a number of issues here,” noted Reynolds. “Multi-site networks don’t necessarily have trunks on every site. If the call recorder, like Oak’s RecordX, has a web front end they can be securely accessed remotely. In a call centre environment it’s often local staff that evaluate calls for their team, and the teams tend to be project specific so taking the calls off-site doesn’t often make sense. At Oak we work closely with our channel partners especially on the more complex sales which are often looking for bespoke solutions.”
A PCI version of TalkTalk Business’ hosted call recording will be launched this month as part of its new hosted portfolio. The hosted solution is inherently easy to deploy with no hardware installation, offering resellers a capex-light proposition, says Maria Grant, Hosted Call Recording Product Manager at TalkTalk Business. “Trials for the product, which helps to support PCI compliance, are easily configured through the client’s cloud
Phil Reynolds
network, enabling the reseller to best demonstrate the array of value-added features and business benefits,” she commented.
“For example, Replay is a configurable feature that can be provided per number, typically using a non-geographic number for inbound services or as part of an outbound calls package. It is designed to be quick and easy to set up for the reseller, enabling clients to apply the feature to one or two numbers or outbound lines on a trial basis, before committing
Telecoms focused Sales & Marketing Agency 52 COMMS DEALER MAY 2012
to full deployment across all numbers and sites.”
TalkTalk Business believes that cloud-based call recording is the answer for resellers looking for a solution that they can package and sell easily, tailored for their client’s needs. The key strength of the new Replay solution is its simplicity, which does not require complex integration into a customer’s existing network and can operate alongside virtually all telephone systems. “The scalable nature of the cloud provides the scope to accommodate growth and
fluctuating requirements without additional cost,” added Grant. “The hosted service can also be quickly and easily introduced for disaster recovery as required.”
For many end users, entrusting the management of call recording to an external organisation can be a valuable saving, where customers may not have the skills to manage the process. All system components, including servers, storage and databases are located within the TalkTalk Business secure data centres and are fully secured against logical
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