Recording calls between staff and customers is on the rise: an activity which could potentially be hugely powerful, although it may not seem so at first sight. Regulated businesses such as financial institutions have been required to do so for years, and we all recognise the familiar refrain that “calls may be recorded for training and monitoring purposes” when we speak to a call centre. But now, more and more organisations are realising that this has implications beyond record-keeping or regulatory compliance. It’s about being better able to understand customers and markets, and to spot trends and opportunities through the use of data. As the saying goes, knowledge is power.

Analysing call content and customer sentiment

Of course, there are strict rules in place to control call recording: businesses must have a valid reason to do so, inform the call participants that it is happening and regulate who has access to the recording. Rightly so, given the potential data protection and privacy issues. But assuming these criteria are met, by transcribing the content of calls and running it through algorithms or using artificial intelligence (AI), the information could provide vital intelligence about the content and sentiment of calls.

The most obvious example is in a call centre scenario, where analytics could help to ascribe emotions to callers, so that the most problematic calls can be picked up by quality assurance teams to get issues resolved quickly. More widely, data analysis could also help to uncover customer trends, so that issues affecting particular groups such as those in a specific location can be identified and addressed. Or it could enable sales and marketing or leadership teams to see what people are saying about competitors or market developments, or better visualise their customer base, so that they can hone their strategy accordingly.

Interestingly, while the recording of traditional phone calls is tightly regulated, regulations around the recording of other, emerging forms of communication such as Teams or Zoom audio or video calls has yet to catch up. [However, businesses would be wise to self-police their activities in this respect in similar ways to protect their customers. After all, they must still abide by their GDPR obligations, and specific regulation for this area is inevitable.]

Turning data into insight

Without sophisticated technology to crunch the data, the value of recording hundreds or thousands of calls is likely to be lost: what’s needed is powerful search and analysis functionality that renders data intelligible and therefore makes insights actionable. It’s also important to ask the right questions of the data to ensure it tells a meaningful story. At plan.com, we already deliver vital business intelligence to companies on things like data usage and employee activity and we are exploring ways to enrich these opportunities with further data analytics in fast-developing areas like call recording. Watch this space.

Today, whatever industry they’re in, all businesses generate data in their everyday operations, and it’s what they do with it that counts. Handled sensitively and sensibly, data from call recordings could turn out to be a treasure trove of information that could help organisations better meet demand, fill gaps in the market, improve customer satisfaction, anticipate future developments and maximise new business opportunities. All that’s needed is the right tech tools to unlock its potential.