1. Voice recording equipment is kept in the organisation’s offices
The difference in vulnerability between a secure data centre / telephone exchange and a privately rented/ owned office building is substantial. Exchanges and data centres are built to provide major protection against floods, fires, theft etc. but is your office based telecoms equipment quite so well protected? What’s more, the circuit between your voice recorder/PBX and the core PSTN network is at its most vulnerable between your offices and the local exchange. Therefore should anything happen to the cable, whether stolen for copper or cut due to roadworks, you have no way of receiving incoming calls or indeed for voice recording them!

2. Only business landline calls are recorded whilst conversations held over business mobiles are ignored
Voice recording of landline phones is easy to implement: add a voice recorder to your PBX and make sure you have some means of storage and retrieval of the voice recordings. But why aren’t organisations also voice recording conversations made by employees using their business mobile phones? Well to date the technology has been limited and expensive to say the least. But times change and the technology is available now for a fraction of the previous price.

So while you think that your organisation is voice recording all your phone calls, all of the time, you may not be as comprehensively protected as you thought!

But can we paint an accurate picture of what work will look like simply based on changes in technology and current remote working trends?

My thoughts are this:

1. Technology: Anything is possible but not everything is beneficial
When this phrase is applied to advancements in technology it makes you stop and think. The decision to invest in developing a particular technology should always be tempered with the question, is there a demand and use for this device/ equipment that will benefit the lives of those who use it? I doubt many people would argue against the benefits of the mp3 player, but how many of us have a videophone in our houses, or for use at work?

2. Remote Working: Technology vs Culture
Remote working is on the rise and there is no doubt that IT and data technology have a significant part to play in the realisation of this. But now that reliable and usable technology is here, what I see stopping the acceleration of remote working is primarily culture rather than technology. If the vision of the future is of a company with a large remotely based workforce then it will be encouraged from the top down and I predict that it will be newer businesses taking the lead rather than those with long-standing office-based cultures.

3. Flexibility or Structured – which type are you?
I believe that work types do, and will remain split into two camps. Those for whom work is not time constrained, i.e. being available via email, phone and text message regardless of the day of the week (taking time off in lieu when deemeed appropriate) where flexibility aids a good work/life balance, and then there are those who will continue to fight to draw a distinct line between home life/time and work life/time, where turning off the PC means turning off from work.

4. Mobility will prevail
Regardless of whether people remain office based or become more flexible in their working location, the mobile phone will keep us on the move. What I mean is that the small accessory that connects the vast majority of our population both for business and pleasure will be ever more valuable. Unless you have the distinct and expensive priviledge of having your own office, people will want to make business and personal calls without being restricted to a desk. Being able to move to a quieter area of the office building if desired, or walking and talking which often helps people focus their minds and thoughts, particularly during lengthy conference calls.

So will work look very different in 1o years’ time? In my opinion there will always be a ‘base camp’ office for the vast majority of organisations, but workers are on the move and will continue to be so. Usable, beneficial technology is already here to help employees be more mobile, we now just have to work on the cultural change.

Take a look around your organisation and work out how many of your valuable employees work remotely at least some time. When they are not in the office do they look for the nearest available landline to make their business calls? I would suggest that the majority would turn to that essential accessory, their mobile phone, particularly as it is easier to use the work mobile than it is to claim back money spent on personal home landline phones.

If your organisation’s business continuity plans include a large proportion of your staff relocating back home or another remote location where they will be continuing to work using secure data access and their mobile phone, how will you replicate the call recording you currently have set up in the office?

There are many good reasons for including the voice recording of mobile phone calls, just as there are for recording landline phone calls, several of which you can find in my top ten reasons for voice recording mobile phone calls.

In terms of Business Continuity, being able to retrieve information that is exchanged between employees/ customers/ suppliers when under the threat or pressure of a business disruption, can be extremely valuable when the dust has settled and the enquiries begin into who did what and what decisions were made.

Do you think Mobile Voice Recording is a necessity for Business Continuity within your organisation?

The new solution is aimed at organisations who need or want to voice record phone calls made by their employees on their smartphones, particularly when they are working away from their deskphones.

It may be that an organisation currently voice records all landline calls but does not have the capability to voice record calls made on mobile phones.

Recording calls is the best way to retain evidence of who said what to whom and avoids lengthy investigations when there are disputes or customer complaints, saving organisations time and money.

For more information on GemaTech’s smartphone voice recording solution visit our website.

I have just read Tim Armit’s article on Continuity Central which addresses the particular issue of balancing Business Continuity Management expectations and reality, and I have to admit that it rather did smack me in the face.

Tim’s well reasoned argument cited the recent failures of our banks as a business continuity issue which lacked effective planning management as well as the recent Eurostar failures and Toyota’s media-fuelled demise, both of which don’t appear to have been subject to any business continuity planning at all.

The question I have to ask is whether or not the vision of business continuity management for the financial downfall of a national or indeed international bank is plausible as well as realistic. Tim’s view is clear:

“Last year we saw amongst others Lehmans, HBOS, Northern Rock, RBS and many others fail and either disappear or come into partial and full public ownership to keep them alive. Where were their business continuity plans? Ah now here is the rub, the Financial Services Authority and others would use many of these companies to advise them on business continuity, to hold them up as paragons of business continuity. In fact one senior BC manager from one of these companies (which no longer exists) still insists it was not a business continuity event. This horrifies me, surely a business that does not continue clearly fails in business continuity; is the clue not in the name?”

It raises rather a significant point. If the aim of business continuity managers is to plan for any kind of disruption, then surely that includes stopping a company from going into administration which effectively stops a business from trading?

Yet what Business Continuity Manager would accept a role that ultimately could leave them holding the responsibility for the success or failure of an entire company? Isn’t that what the CEO and board of directors get paid their monumentous bonuses for? If the shift of responsibility is delegated to Business continuity managers I wonder if we would have a far more worrying issue on our hands…

Whereas I agree that the role of the Business Continuity Manager is not as far reaching as it should be and managers are being sold short, I think we may be biting off more than we can chew in terms of responsibility.

What do you think? Are Business Continuity Managers actually just ‘IT and Facility managers’ as Tim suggests or is their remit wider than managing low probability physical disruptions such as flood, fire and pandemics?

The Environment Agency issues the severity of flood warnings and has a very good website for monitoring areas within in flood risk zones. It is well worth taking a look and also knowing what each flood warning means:

Flood Watch:
Flooding of low lying land and roads is expected. Be aware, be prepared, watch out.

What to do:
Monitor local news and weather forecasts.
Be aware of water levels near you.
Be prepared to act on your flood plan.
Check on the safety of pets and livestock.
Charge your mobile phone.

Flood warning:
Flooding of homes and businesses is expected. Act now!

What to do:
Move cars, pets, food, valuables and important documents to safety.
Get flood protection equipment in place.
Turn off gas, electricity and water supplies if safe to do so.
Be prepared to evacuate your home.
Protect yourself, your family and help others.
Act on your flood plan.

Severe Flood Warning:
Severe flooding is expected. There is extreme danger to life and property. Act now!

What to do:
Collect things you need for evacuation.
Turn off gas, electricity and water supplies if safe to do so.
Stay in a high place with a means of escape.
Avoid electricity sources.
Avoid walking or driving through flood water.
In danger call 999 immediately.
Listen to emergency services.
Act on your flood plan.

All Clear:
Flood watches or warnings are no longer in force for this area.

What to do:
Keep listening to weather reports.
Only return to evacuated buildings if you are told it is safe.
Beware sharp objects and pollution in flood water.
If your property or belongings are damaged, contact your insurance company. Ask their advice before starting to clean up.

A number of areas are currently on Flood Warnings including 9 areas within the Anglian region. Are you at risk at the moment?

Here are my top ten reasons why organisations should be considering recording mobile phone calls made to and from their employees’ devices:

1. Reduced liability
Reducing liability is a great cost and resource saving measure for any organisation. If you can produce evidence of the information exchanged between your employees, your customers and suppliers, disputes should be resolved quickly and there should be no need for any legal action on behalf of any involved party.

2. Brand protection
Brand and reputation take many years to build and can be destroyed within a matter of days. (Consider Toyota as an example and the recent widespread media coverage of their car recalls.)
It can take the words of just one or two disillusioned employees to start spreading bad publicity about your organisation and if you are unable to identify the source of the bad PR your brand reputation could be damaged, particularly in an age where social media can make or break the views of the general public very quickly.

3. Improved customer service
Simply knowing that their phone conversations are being recorded should affect the manner in which employees conduct business over their phone, and if that includes voice recording mobile phone calls as well there will be no hiding in the corridors to avoid the ears of colleagues and managers!

4. Sales and Marketing data
Voice recording all phone calls within your organisation can provide valuable sales and marketing data which can be used in targeting customers and potential customers. Listening to what customers are actually saying about your organisation is great feedback in terms of their reactions to product features, services, pricing, customer service and support and can help you tailor marketing and sales campaigns for the best return on investment.

5. Clarifying mis-heard or forgotten information
Have you ever finished a phone conversation and then immediately doubted exactly what was said? A name you can’t remember, a price you had agreed to, did he say go ahead or wait?, what was that phone number again? Being able to easily playback the last conversation you had will help settle the issue quickly. This can be particularly useful when you are out and about making calls on your mobile, on a train or in the street where noise levels are higher than when you are in a quiet office.

6. Identifying rogue traders or fraudulent employees
FSA regulations state that regulated financial institutions in the UK have had to record and store certain telephone conversations made from desk phones relating to taking client orders and the conclusion of transactions in the equity, bond, and derivatives markets. However an exemption has been made so far for those types of calls being made over mobile phones. The FSA is expected to make an announcement shortly on the current mobile recording exemption included in the 2009 regulations.

7. Increased security
It is far less likely that people will want to hack into your phone systems and mailboxes if they know that calls made on that line are recorded. Indeed one GemaTech customer was able to help identify how a phone hacker got into an employee mailbox to make expensive international calls because of certain information exchanged within a recorded phone conversation.

8. Better training
As consumers we often hear that calls are recorded for training and monitoring purposes with the cynical view that it really is just the company covering themselves,. But actually recording phone calls is a very useful training tool, particularly for new, customer-facing employees, and by including mobile phone calls as well, employees don’t have to be restricted to training and working at their desks.

9. Reduced managerial interferance
Ever had that feeling that your boss is evesdropping on your phone conversations from the desk next door, or even over your shoulder? It can be intimidating even when they try and conceal that they are doing it, so wouldn’t it be better if you had the freedom to make your calls wherever you like, even though you know that the boss still has the ability to hear the conversation at a later date, or even at the same time but you need not know?

10. Increased organisational transparency
The way that your organisation does business can come under scrutiny in many situations, not least during an inquiry following some kind of major disruptive event or disaster. Questions will be asked as to who said what, who made what decisions and why, why did certain people react in this or that way, what information was passed around? For example if your office was on fire few people would be using their desk phones to relay information. It would be conducted via mobile. By keeping voice recorded evidence of such information you will save time, money and investigations into inaccurate accusations.

It makes sense to keep voice recordings of mobile phone calls just as it does for landline phone calls and the technology is available now to achieve it for smartphones and BlackBerry devices alike.

For more information on the types of technology available for voice recording mobile phone calls, give me a call! (0845 345 3333)

GemaTech’s in-house designed smartphone voice recording solution enables a user to voice record any call made on their mobile smartphone through a secure page on the web browser of their device. Call recordings are stored in GemaTech’s fully distributed, cloud-based data storage network, and can be easily and quickly accessed via GemaTech’s search and retrieval portal from any location.

Our alternative solution is delivered in conjunction with Voxsmart in order to provide secure smartphone voice recording for BlackBerry users. The Voxsmart VoxRecord application is pushed to the individual device via the associated BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) in a matter of minutes. Variations of the application include Compliance (where all phone calls are recorded automatically, and a phone call cannot be made unless it is recorded), aimed at the regulated financial sector, and On Demand (where a user can choose which calls they want to record).

For more information on our new mobile phone voice recording solutions visit our website and download our free whitepapers.

Secure and resilient mobile voice recording technology is now available for any smartphone or BlackBerry user.

As consumers we now expect to hear the words “this call is being recorded for monitoring and training purposes” when we call a call centre for a large organisation, and I imagine that very few of us now object to the fact that our words are being recorded, particularly when we know it can work in our favour should a dispute ever arise.

But with the rise of the virtual call centre and ever increasing numbers of people working remotely should we be limiting people to working via landline phones only simply because we can record calls that way? Latest figures show that there are nearly 5 billion mobiles in use globally today, and as demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, manufacturers are clammering to bring out simpler and better smartphones and technology to make accessing information and connecting people easier.

If our culture is shifting so quickly towards taking our work with us wherever we may be then organisations need to ensure security is paramount on those business phones, just as they would ensure for laptops to guard against mis-use and theft.

By closing the loop and ensuring that all business calls are voice recorded regardless of whether they are performed over a landline or mobile phone safeguards organisations against rogue traders and costly disputes.

The technology is here and the demand is increasing, is your organisation ready to insure against damage to brand and reputation in a mobile workforce environment?

Introducing the right for those in their 60’s, 70’s and 80’s to be able to carry on working, and to also benefit from the same right to ask for part-time hours as parents with young children can do already, how will businesses find ways to ensure the personal safety and productivity of such employees?

Let’s take for example someone who is in their mid 70’s. At some point over the next 10/15 years it is likely that one of any number of obstacles could arise that would stop them from getting to work or performing their job properly (taking for an example an office job require telephone and computer work):

1. Unfit to drive - How will they get to work? Will public transport get them there on time?
2. Poorer eyesight - Working on a computer all day this could lead to slower output, or missing vital information.
3. Poorer hearing – Will they find it hard to hear people on the end of a telephone in a busy office?
4. Health and safety - There is an increased likelihood of an accident or illness occuring at work, therefore requiring better medical first aid at work?
5. Technology barriers - Will they be able to pick up new technology and systems quickly enough in a fast paced business?
6. Insurance – Will a business need extra insurance to cover employing older staff and the vulnerabilities that it brings?

Surely the answer to accommodating those people who are fit to work and are over a certain age is to provide flexible working. Not just flexible hours, but flexible ways of working. If they do not have to commute to an office but can perform their job at home this would go a long way to solving some of these issues: No need to drive or take public transport, they can be comfortable in their own environment, they are able to concentrate and work in a quiet environment, they could have specialist equipment such as larger monitors, keyboards etc. without the embarrasment in front of younger colleagues.

I must admit, my mother-in-law has hit 65 and is on ‘the other side’ with no intention of retiring as an Eexcutive PA until at least 70. She is young at heart and as far as I know has no reason not to carry on, as long as her employer is willing!

This will become much more of a reality as fewer people of the older generations have savings and investments to carry them through retirement. Businesses must adapt. Are you adapting as a business? What do you think of employing older staff? let me know your thoughts….