6 technologies driving recording compliance in 2018

As the New Year slowly creeps in, we thought it timely to update our article ‘Top 6 technologies that will drive recording compliance in 2017’, and look at it from a 2018 perspective.

We’re excited about 2018. The FIFA football world cup is happening and, according to experts, Mars will be making its closest approach to Earth since 2003. Some exciting events to look forward to.
And, let’s not forget MiFID II in January.

As regulatory frameworks within the financial industry tighten, here is our updated take on top technologies that will be driving recording compliance in 2018.

 1. Interaction Analytics (as well as entry-level)

One such established technology which can help in managing risk is Interaction Analytics. We’re not just talking about enterprise level here. In light of MiFID II, entry-level analytic solutions have also become popular. With entry-level analytics, much of the complexity of the enterprise level solutions have been removed, with packages now available on a competitively priced licence basis, resulting in upfront costs you can effectively budget for.

Implementation is easier in these stripped down versions which centre on keyword search functionality as a means to pinpoint specific trade-related calls for compliance checks and fact verification. By searching proactively through the recordings for ‘high risk’ keywords and phrases compliance can isolate issues and prevent them from escalating.

For those organisations who wish to invest in the whole package, enterprise Interaction Analytics is also a great option as it is able to monitor all forms of trade-related communications such as email, phone, text and mobile rather than only focusing on audio.

 2. Process Automation 

Ensuring 100% uptime of recording infrastructure is still critical, but the process heavily relies on manpower which is time-consuming and prone to human error. This is where end-to-end automated testing solutions come in to provide:

• Automated testing of voice systems – Checks that all voice systems are working and ready for the beginning of the day, by performing active and passive tests on the entire voice domain and instantly alerting on errors such as voice quality or component failure.
• Systems compliance assurance – Checks that the call recording infrastructure performs according to specified criteria, for example ensuring calls are being retained and/or archived according to policy, verifying the audio quality of calls, or checking if unauthorised users have been created.

3. Business Intelligence

With dashboard reporting and performance management applications, financial firms can benefit from real-time business intelligence used to uncover inconsistencies and anomalies in trade-related communications. Such inconsistencies could be repetitive, long duration calls or the breaching of internal policies which could indicate insider trading.
Offering a single view of organisational performance, meaningful information is consolidated from third party data sources or applications across the organisation into one place for users to tap into context driven information from multiple systems (including the organisations telephony, CRM system and back office applications).

For financial institutions this information can be used to identify potential compliance risks, suspicious behaviour, cost savings from under-utilised leased lines and many more benefits.

4. Mobile Call Recording

Mobile call recording technologies have matured and no longer rely on application-based recording. Instead, solutions include an ‘In Network’ SIM-based recording solution which utilises the call routing being carried out by the mobile network provider, with a duplicate stream of the call being sent to the recording solution.  The advantage is a more reliable and seamless user experience, maintaining high audio quality levels*

*Some network-based solution providers are able to tailor the recording solution according to customer requirements e.g working within a financial institution’s existing network infrastructure to dual stream mobile recordings into multiple call recording platforms. 

The very most recent approach to mobile recording is where the software sits on the phone itself regardless of the mobile provider and captures all inbound and outbound calls and messages. As the recording is taking place on the phone, the software sends the recording directly to a secure data centre. The benefit here is that the user can use one device with both their personal and business number and the recording solution can be procured independently of the mobile network operator.

5. Legacy Call Retrieval & Replay

For financial institutions, call recording and retention of calls is still not a choice, but a serious FCA requirement extended under the financial legislation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II). A legacy call recording retrieval solution can ensure the long term retention, retrieval and replay of past and current audio files, via one centralised access portal.

Placed on top of both live and legacy call recording systems, these solutions can quickly and easily access specified recordings through their search and replay functionality, whilst also maintaining data integrity as all calls can remain on the original file structure and format. This means compliance and IT teams can efficiently search, extract and playback audio recordings from multiple legacy and live call recorders, regardless of manufacturer or location. It also means that end-of-support and end-of-life issues will not impede their call recording infrastructure and assets.

6. Call Recording

Last but not least, we still can’t forget about our old friend call recording – at the heart of the compliance game and the driver behind millions of communications.

While many regulations focus on the recording and retention of calls, non-voice data is also becoming predominant and these communications need to be recorded and captured as well. As a result, many call recording solutions are able to integrate recorded chat, SMS, email, mobile and other types of communication into one multi-channel system. For financial institutions this means a major reduction in the complexity of trade re-construction saving large amounts of time which would otherwise be spent searching for singular communications.

With GDPR also making an appearance in 2018, call recording solutions can also help organisations ensure they are following the correct retention periods for data and protecting data from security breaches. To help aid this, call recording solutions can come equipped with:

• Proactive auditing capabilities and notifications, alerting agents and compliance users of any breach or potential breaches
• Advanced security measures ensuring interactions are encrypted at the point of capture and will remain encrypted throughout their lifecycle
• Personalised configuration that ensures interactions are only recorded provided the explicit approval of your customers
• Using storage rules to ensure data is only kept for as long as needed, based on business justifications

Compliance is constantly changing and sometimes it can be hard to keep up.
However, with over 30 years’ experience of supporting voice recording estates of tier one banks there isn’t much we haven’t come across. If you need more information or advice on technology within your organisation to manage risk, then contact our team.

Technologies mentioned in this article:

• Interaction Analytics
• Process Automation
• Business Intelligence
• Mobile Call Recording
• Legacy Call Retrieval & Replay
• Call Recording