Cloud-Based Call Recording: What Is It, and Why Does It Matter?

Chances are, cloud-based call recording isn't something that keeps you up at night with anticipation, like a 10-year-old on Christmas Eve. As useful and important as it is, call recording simply isn't one of the sexiest cloud technologies today. And you know what? That's okay.

Humble though it may be, call recording can greatly improve both the efficiency and accountability of your business.

Call Recording 101

Think about what call recording is and isn't. In the context of this discussion, call recording is a cloud-based service that typically comes in two flavors: on-demand and company-wide.

As cool as it sounds, this isn't the same thing you'd see in a James Bond flick cooked up by the ingenious Q. While Mr. Bond would likely be jealous of the cloud-based call recording capabilities, they usually serve much less nefarious purposes.

The on-demand variant is typically a user-controlled tool that can be turned on and off as needed, with recordings automatically stored for easy online access. This is very much an "on-the-fly" solution, and users armed with this type of call recording can kick off a new sound bite with the press of a button and quickly retrieve them just as easily. This can be particularly useful for those Monday morning calls when your brain just can't keep up.

On the other side of the spectrum are company-wide call recording solutions. These are more extensive services, with rules set by an administrator based on company-specific needs. Hallmarks of company-wide call recording include standard recording guidelines, comprehensive call coverage, and, much like its on-demand sibling, easily accessed recordings from a central user portal.

Practical Applications

Explain what call recording is — check. Present the difference between the two major types — check. All that's left to figure out is where it actually fits in with your business processes. Fortunately, cloud-based call recording is a surprisingly flexible technology.

If you've ever worked in an industry prone to heavy-handed regulation, call recording can be a powerful compliance tool, most notably in a company-wide deployment. In this scenario, you can set parameters at the admin level to govern which calls are recorded, when they're recorded, and how they're recorded. From there, it's largely a hands-off affair.

Should the need arise to review a call, simply find it in the indexed log, listen to it, or forward it to the necessary parties. This same concept applies to internal compliance as well. New trainees and annual reviews are even more effective when managers can quickly retrieve past calls and analyze them to reveal teachable moments.

While compliance and business protection are great examples of increased accountability, businesses using cloud-based call recording have the opportunity for tangible efficiency gains, too. Have you ever had to verify an offer previously discussed with customers? The process is never easy or terribly accurate. With call recording, simply pull up the log and play the offer.

Similarly, calls that produce particularly strong outcomes can be tagged and collected. Later, you can review these calls to discern exactly what made them so effective. As patterns emerge, call practices can evolve, creating a leaner, more effective call center. The same is true for calls with less-than-ideal outcomes.

Call recording is also impressively well-suited to businesses of any size. Given its cloud heritage, deploying a cloud-based solution in one or a dozen call centers makes little difference. Really, call recording is to voice communication what email has been to traditional snail mail. With it, communication is archived conveniently as both insurance and added ammunition for driving innovation and success.

Contact Vonage Business to learn more about how cloud-based communications can aid your company.