The Global Association for Contact Center Best Practices & Networking

Operating for over 15 years and part of the Abbey Protection Group, Abbey Legal Protection (ALP) is a business-to-business insurance provider specializing in the delivery of legal protection products and services. ALP has a team of over 60 in-house lawyers, solicitors and tax experts who provide round the clock professional advice to clients. Supporting employers against potential legal action from employees and 3rd party contract disputes, ALP mitigate insurance claims by giving guidance and advice.

Although some areas of the insurance industry use call recording for compliance purposes this was not the primary case here. ALP took the step to implement call recording because they felt it would help improve the quality of service they were providing their clients. Inbound callers are identified using DNIS lookup and are routed to agents who need to identify whether the call is commercial or employment. Handling over 1,000 calls per day, each scheme has a dedicated hot line allowing a bespoke service to its customers. It is the responsibility of the inbound team to capture the basic caller information, which is captured in a central database so that an appropriate lawyer can be assigned to call back within the SLA.

With such a large amount of data and calls being handled on a daily basis, an effective call recording solution was imperative for quality measuring purposes and on-going training. Working with Business Systems, ALP implemented the Vocal EvoIP solution, providing the caller ID functionality needed and a VoIP platform consistent with their long term IT strategy.

Using an entirely software-based solution, the Vocal EvoIP categorizes IP calls by date, start/end time, call duration, channel or IP address; and then stores them on the company’s server. Vocal EvoIP uses the Windows operating system and is fully integrated within a Mitel environment and offers extension side recording so that ALP can selectively record based on their business rules. This was important as not all extensions in the building needed to be recorded.

The Vocal EvoIP offers multiple searches and re-play applications, which means that staff don’t waste time handling unnecessary calls. Calls can also be converted to WAV audio files and distributed via e-mail, which means the calls can be sent to customers who can replay them on a standard PC with sound card. According to Toby Clarke, Group IT Director, Abbey Protection Group "one of the key benefits of the system is the ease of recalling and playing back call. The application is a business tool and users can quickly access the required calls without IT intervention."

The system roll-out took a matter of weeks and the training given was straightforward and was assisted by user-friendly attributes such as graphical user interfaces and web-based operation. Toby Clarke commented "Business Systems have left us with the capability to train up new users with the minimum of fuss."

ALP now use their call recording solution as a unique selling point when talking to prospective clients. They can talk about the quality management element of their service, as call recording is not an industry requirement; ALP is unique in that respect. Toby Clarke comments, "From a customer service point of view the call recording is now paying dividends."

ALP now have a focus on staff training, by listening to the quality of the calls they can ensure advisors are giving a consistently high level of service and potential issues can be addressed before they propagate.

The call recording solution has also meant that the company spends a lot less time and effort on potential complaints. Managers can quickly review whether what was said was accurate and in line with guidelines and can counteract any possible disputes before they occur.

Going forward there are opportunities for adding increased functionality to the product and ALP is currently reviewing the merits of implementing a quality monitoring solution.

About Abbey Legal Protection:
Abbey Legal Protection have been providing legal expenses insurance for businesses and affinity groups since 1992, protecting them against both litigation and the cost of litigation.

About Business Systems UK Ltd:
Business Systems is the U.K.’s largest independent provider of market leading call, screen and VoIP recording solutions. The company offers unbiased advice on the ‘best fit’ solution from industry leading manufacturers accompanied by fully project managed implementation, consultancy and maintenance services. Professional services include assistance in implementing quality monitoring and advanced analytics programmes or enhancing existing ones whilst setting up measurable objectives to ensure a speedy return on investment.