Hiring a call center gives you the chance to improve customer service and experience, as most patrons now believe that outstanding customer experience is crucial for brand loyalty and retention.
Call centers are also known for their strict compliance. However, with the stricter protection laws and regulations by different countries, several compliance issues could still arise that can affect your business and teams.
When you have found the best contact center for your business, you should work with them to fix and prevent certain call center compliance issues they could face.
Here are the best ways for this.
Are you experiencing issues with your call center compliance?
Compliance requires a continuous commitment from service providers and their clients.
With the increasing data threats and stricter regulations, call centers are under pressure to follow several compliances. They always need to keep up with the regulations according to the country or location where they conduct business.
Non-compliance can be a big risk for firms and service providers. A few companies have already faced fines for related violations such as privacy lapses and calling people on the Do Not Call (DNC) list. With this, fixing any issue your team will face should be your priority.
Five call center compliance issues you should know about
Compliance issues in a call center affect every aspect of a business. Aside from fines and legal charges, you could lose your customers’ trust and reliability as a result.
Here are the five most common call center compliance issues you could experience.
Recording calls without consent
Most countries require call centers to inform customers about call recording, whether inbound or outbound. There are distinct ways to approach call recording depending on the country or location your customers are in, such as the following.
- One-party consent. This only requires approval from at least one of the parties in a call.
- Two-party or ‘All-party’ consent. A more common form, this approach requires the permission of two or all parties involved in a single call for recording.
Consenting to record calls also prevents your team from violating telemarketing laws that prohibit eavesdropping of any kind. Failure to ask permission can lead to compliance and security risks on your part.
Recording sensitive data
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) compliance requires call centers to use an encrypted transmission to send and receive financial data. Capturing this data using any form of communication such as phone calls or email is prohibited.
You can apply several best practices to prevent recording financial information from customers. This includes pausing call recording and restricting agents from noting down information on paper.
Aside from regulatory consequences, recording financial data could expose your customers to breaches and fraud.
Having loose network restriction
At the same time, PCI compliance requires call center teams to implement strict access control over customer information. Any staff unauthorized to handle financial data should not have access to them.
Having loose network restrictions such as a lack of firewall protection could risk your sensitive information from data leaks.
Exposing sensitive data
Several compliances, such as HIPAA, implement measures to prevent a customer’s sensitive data from exposure. This also prevents consumers from discriminatory practices that could affect their overall experience in any company.
Other compliances with similar regulations include:
- Truth in Lending Act, which requires disclosure of loan information, including term lengths and late fees
- Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which protects consumers from discriminatory practices regarding their gender, race, etc.
Your team risks exposing sensitive information without proper network security and training.
Ignoring compliance guidelines
Lastly, non-compliance with any regulation applicable to your operations can affect your reputation and reliability. It also reflects how you care for your customers and their protection while interacting with your brand.
How to prevent call center compliance issues
Maintaining your call center compliance is another way to provide the best service to your customers. This helps improve your customer experience, causing them to remain loyal to your organization in return.
Through the following tips, your team can stay compliant and prevent experiencing the abovementioned issues.
Provide continuous training
Keep your agents updated and aware of relevant policies and practices through training. You could cover communication guidelines and protocols from regulatory bodies as part of their basic training.
Maximize online tools for compliance
Every call center compliance requires strict implementation and documentation in case suspicious activities arise.
You can maximize the online tools you use, especially with your outsourced teams, such as CRM systems and time-tracking software.
Implement strong network protection
Usually, companies use firewalls, antivirus, and additional network layers to protect and encrypt the data stored through the system. Having unique login IDs and passwords for each agent is also necessary for documentation and source tracking in case of data leaks or thefts.
Maintain a compliance checklist
Lastly, always have your compliance list ready and updated for your team. Even an essential checklist of your requirements and protocols can help you guarantee that you won’t miss each vital step.
