Recording contact center calls in various consent contexts
View Patent ↗Various embodiments of the invention provide methods, systems, and computer-program products for determining whether and how to record voice calls, or portions thereof, for calls processed by a contact center. Calls can be classified as being in a context that is either single-party consent or dual-party consent depending on whether the call is inter-state or intra-state and which state(s) are involved. In one embodiment, the contact center may access tables that indicate for a telephone number whether the call involves a state that adheres to a single-party consent regime or a dual-party consent regime. A speech analytics system may further be used to ascertain whether aural consent is provided by the remote party, or whether the agent properly requested and responded to the remote party's response. Depending on the context, all parties, one party, or no parties may be recorded.
1. A method for recording a voice call in a contact center comprising:
identifying the voice call involving an agent of the contact center and a remote party communicating with the agent, the call processed by a call handling device in the contact center;
determining by the call handling device whether the call involves a dual-consent context;
in response to determining the voice call does not involve the dual-consent context, recording communication originating from both the agent and the remote party; and
in response to determining the voice call does involve the dual-consent context,
a) providing an indication to a workstation of the agent in response to determining the voice call involves the dual-consent context that the agent should verbally request consent from the remote party to record the call,
b) prompting the remote party by the agent for consent to record the voice call,
c) if consent is verbally received from the remote party to record the call, then recording communication originating from both the agent and the remote party, and
d) if consent is not received from the remote party to record the call, then recording communication originating only from the agent.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining by the call handling device whether the voice call involves the dual-consent context comprises:
reading a table in a memory, the table comprising at least one of an area code or a state associated with the voice call to the remote party, wherein at least one of the area code or the state is associated with a dual-consent context indicator; and
ascertaining by a processing device using the table that the call to the remote party involves the dual-consent context based on the dual-consent context indicator associated with at least one of the area code or the state associated with the voice call.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
monitoring a response from the remote party by a speech analytics system to determine whether consent is received from the remote party.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising the step of:
monitoring communication originating from the agent by the speech analytics system to identify a request for consent from the remote party.
5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising the step of:
ceasing the monitoring of any communication by the speech analytics system in response to determining that consent is received from the remote party.
6. The method of claim 3 , further comprising the steps of:
initiating a timer, wherein the timer is used to define a time period during which consent is determined to be provided by the remote party; and
determining consent is provided from the remote party before an expiry of the timer.
7. A system for recording a voice call in a contact center comprising a processor configured to:
identify the voice call involving an agent of the contact center and a remote party communicating with the agent;
determine whether the voice call involves a dual-consent context;
in response to determining the voice call does not involve the dual-consent context, cause communication originating from both the agent and the remote party to be recorded; and
in response to determining the voice call does involve the dual-consent context,
a) provide an indication to a workstation of the agent in response to determining the voice call involves the dual-consent context that the agent should verbally request consent from the remote party to record the voice call,
b) prompt the remote party by the agent for consent to record the call,
c) if consent is verbally received from the remote party to record the voice call, then cause communication originating from both the agent and the remote party to be recorded, and
d) if consent is not received from the remote party to record the voice call, then cause communication originating only from the agent to be recorded.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
read a table in a memory, the table comprising at least one of an area code or a state associated with the call to the remote party, wherein at least one of the area code or the state is associated with a dual-consent context indicator; and
ascertain by using the table whether the call to the remote party involves the dual-consent context based on the dual-consent context indicator associated with at least one of the area code or the state associated with the voice call.
9. The system of claim 7 , further comprising a speech analytics system, the speech analytics system comprising a second processor configured to:
monitor a response from the remote party to determine whether consent is received from the remote party.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the second processor of the speech analytics system is further configured to:
monitor communication originating from the agent to identify a request for consent from the remote party.
11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the second processor of the speech analytics system is further configured to:
cease monitoring any communication in response to determining that consent is received from the remote party.
12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
initiate a timer, wherein the timer is used to define a time period during which consent is determined to be provided by the remote party; and
determine the remote party has provided consent before an expiry of the timer.
13. A non-transitory tangible computer readable storage medium comprising device-executable instructions for determining how to record a voice call in a contact center, the device-executable instructions being configured to cause a processor to:
identify the voice call involving an agent of the contact center and a remote party communicating with the agent;
determine whether the voice call involves a dual-consent context;
in response to determining the voice call does not involve the dual-consent context, cause the communication originating from both the agent and the remote party to be recorded; and
in response to determining the voice call does involve the dual-consent context,
a) provide an indication to a workstation of the agent in response to determining the call involves the dual-consent context that the agent should verbally request consent from the remote party to record the call,
b) process a first indication provided as input by the agent indicating that consent was received from the remote party in response to the agent verbally prompting the remote party,
c) if the first indication indicates consent was received from the remote party, then cause communication originating from both the agent and the remote party to be recorded, and
d) if the first indication indicates consent was not received from the remote party to record the voice call, then cause communication originating only from the agent to be recorded.
14. The non-transitory tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
read a table from a memory, the table comprising at least one of an area code or a state associated with the call to the remote party, wherein at least one of the area code or the state is associated with a dual-consent context indicator; and
ascertain by using the table that the call to the remote party involves the dual-consent context based on the dual-consent context indicator associated with at least one of the area code or the state associated with the voice call.
15. The non-transitory tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
analyze a second indication received from a speech analytics system monitoring audio data of a response from the remote party to determine whether consent is received from the remote party.
16. The non-transitory tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
transmit a third indication to a speech analytics system to initiate monitoring of communication originating from the agent to determine whether a request for consent is provided by the agent to the remote party.
17. The non-transitory tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
initiate a timer, wherein the timer is used to define a time period during which consent is determined to be provided by the remote party; and
if no indication of consent has been received before expiry of the timer, then determine that consent has not been provided from the remote party.