Our thanks to the curator of the Austrian Submariners Museum for sending this picture (the extent of the Monitor’s readership is truly amazing). Just one glance at this photo and the nostalgia is so thick you can almost smell the mixture of salt air and diesel fumes; it makes you want to say things like, “when I was a lad, we made voice recorders out of girders”. In an attempt to trace the history of these wonderful examples,we once again called on the knowledge of our oldest techie and all round sage of the voice recording industry William Hall (15 years with BSL and prior to that wireless-man first-class in the Irish Navy). William’s view is that this is a sea-borne type Mark 1 six-valve recorder used by submarine command; the give-away being the small lateral mounting gimbal brackets on the side. Hhmm, the News Hound thinks there is some definite leg-pulling going on here but we give William full marks for the story line and hey; it’s a great photo! And the most amusing extract from the Monitor’s mail bag this month is:- One of our readers asked us to add the word ‘squat’ to our website ‘jargon buster’ and supplied the definition as follows: – Squat ‘the accumulated call-recording knowledge of a PBX manufacturer that attempts to sell this application to it’s customers under the guise of a one-stop-shop communications strategy.’ There is no denying the fact that this had the Monitor’s news team rolling around in hysterics for days but it was finally decided that this was a somewhat jaundiced view from an individual with a bitter experience and in the interests of entente cordiale with the PBX manufacturers we decided to decline the entry. VocalMobile Brochures are not yet available but if you are interested either email us or call us –[email protected] or Tel 0208 326 8280 Written by: Business Systems UK
Blog 22 July, 2026 The Cost of Attrition: Why Workforce Engagement Management is a Self-Funding Strategy Contact centre attrition remains one of the most expensive challenges facing customer support leaders. CX Today reports annual turnover rates of 35-45% remain common across the industry, with each departure costing between £10,000 and £15,000 in recruitment, onboarding and lost productivity. For a 200-seat operation, that equates to roughly £700,000-£1.35 million in annual attrition costs
Blog 30 April, 2026 Customer Experience Tools: How to Choose (and Implement) the Right CX Platform for Your Business Choosing the right customer experience platform is a major decision for many businesses. The platform you choose shapes how customers interact with your business across every channel, determines what insights you can extract from those customer interactions, and influences whether or not your teams can deliver consistently excellent service. Yet many organisations approach this decision
Blog 16 April, 2026 Conversational AI in UK Contact Centres: Moving Beyond Basic Chatbots Many contact centres in the UK have implemented chatbot technology in some form or another, but with varying degrees of success. Recent industry research reveals that nearly 70% of customers become frustrated with chatbots and prefer speaking to human agents, and abandonment rates for basic chatbot interactions continue to remain stubbornly high. The problem isn’t
Blog 10 April, 2026 Proactive Customer Service: How Contact Centres Can Use Proactive AI to Anticipate Customer Needs The traditional model of customer service is almost entirely reactive: a customer discovers a problem, contacts your organisation, and waits for a solution. This approach places the burden squarely on the customer, requiring them to identify issues, navigate your contact channels, and often endure multiple interactions before their problem is solved. Proactive customer service powered
Blog 29 January, 2026 Microsoft Teams Recording Without the Risk: A Practical Guide for Regulated Organisations Microsoft Teams has become the backbone of collaboration across financial services, insurance, the public sector and other regulated industries. Trading conversations, client discussions, internal decisions and approvals are now happening daily across voice, video, chat and shared files. That shift brings opportunity, but it also introduces risk. For organisations operating under regulations such as FCA,
Blog 5 December, 2025 The clock is ticking: Why end-of-life recording systems are a critical compliance risk Outdated recording technology isn’t just an inconvenience, it’s a ticking time bomb for regulated firms. For financial services and other heavily regulated industries, end-of-life (EoL) voice recording systems can create dangerous blind spots. When vendors withdraw support, these unsupported platforms become vulnerable, exposing your firm to major compliance penalties under frameworks like MiFID II, FCA,
Blog 20 November, 2025 Proactive AI vs Reactive AI: Understanding the Difference Artificial intelligence is changing the way organisations across the UK engage with customers, but all AI solutions aren’t created equal. Many still rely on reactive models that respond only once a customer makes contact. Proactive AI takes a more advanced approach, identifying needs and acting before the customer does. Understanding the key differences between proactive
Blog 20 November, 2025 5 Ways Proactive AI Can Reduce Manual Workload in Contact Centres Contact centres today face a familiar challenge: maintaining exceptional service while managing high volumes, rising costs, and limited resources. Agents are spending valuable time on repetitive, manual work instead of focusing on complex, high-value interactions that truly build customer loyalty. This is where Proactive AI makes a measurable difference. By combining automation with intelligence, it