Protecting Business Assets While Enabling Performance

Addressing Risk Management and Customer Retention

Risk ManagementRisk Management is:• The identification, analysis and management

of the risks threatening the assets of an organization

More simply put:• Determine what your risks are, then decide

on a course of action to deal with those risks

• If you can’t identify your risks, they can’t be dealt with!

Risk in an Economic Downturn• Risk Management awareness has greatly increased

due to:– Collapse of the financial credit market – High-profile business scandals– Rising unemployment rate– Global events that impose new risks

• New regulations and a greater focus on compliance will be a mandate going forward

• End of the road for deregulation across ALL industries

Focus on Accountability

• It is no longer good enough to simply acknowledge and/or fix a problem

• Members of society and government are demanding higher standards of ethics, transparency and accountability

• Somebody must take responsibility, and ultimately it comes down to the CEO

What can a CEO do?

• The CEO is responsible because it is the overall system of processes, technology and oversight that enforce compliance and responsible practices

• So ensure the necessary systems and processes are in place!

Specific Business Vulnerabilities• Privacy– Medical information– ID information– Financial information

• Regulation Compliance– Depends on industry– Healthcare, collections,

telesales, finance, utilities and others

• Customer Retention– Acceptable service

levels– Proper transaction

handling

• Human Resources– Hiring– Termination– Benefits administration

It is a Balancing Act

Conflicting Requirements

Privacy• Retain little or no data• Severely restrict access to

any retained data• Only allow access as

needed with complete audit tracking

Documentation• Retain everything• Allow access to anyone

who may deal with compliance and customers

• Permit access frequently as integrated customer service process

Proven Management Methods

1. Start with a fundamental understanding of explicit regulations governing your organization

Be aware that many regulations affect voice communications and assume fault if no documentation exists

Proven Management Methods

2. Combine with compliance requirements other management tactics based on risk assessment:

a) How sensitive is the data you collect from customers?

b) Can processes be rigid without affecting customer retention?

c) Etc.

Proven Management Methods

3. Document and deploy policies using processes and technology to support the risk management plan

For telephone-based communications, this is where voice documentation becomes relevant

Voice Documentation• The process of creating a media document

from a telephone call– Record the call into an audio file– Embed all available communication data into

the file with time context (i.e. internal parties, external parties, transaction data, etc.)

– Securely store the media file with retention and access tightly defined and logged for auditing

Addressing Risk ConcernsVoice documentation allows organizations to:•Ensure compliance with SOX, HIPAA, TSR and other industry regulations through automatic capture of required communications•Balance privacy and compliance documentation by selectively documenting or NOT documenting targeted calls or portions thereof

Addressing Risk Concerns• Deploy policy controls over access levels by

user and user group to ensure highest levels of privacy and security while enabling documentation review

• Deliver access via encrypted media streaming, not file transfer, so it can be later restricted without loss of control

• Completely audit for both compliance processes and customer retention policies using audio and embedded data

• Control data archiving and retention via age policies to remove information past its useful or required retention period

Addressing Risk Concerns• Implement and monitor strict

communications processes related to regulated information and transactions

• Assess adherence to process to target training and convey compliance levels to upper management

Customer Retention in a Downturn• American consumer

confidence is now at a fourteen year low

• 64 percent of US firms say customer experience plays a critical role in their 2008 strategy, up from 38 percent in 2007

• Service now trumps price as the top reason consumers purchase from one company versus their competition

Addressing Customer Retention • In an economic downturn, businesses change

from “growing” to “harvesting”• To accomplish this, smart businesses aim to:– Grow existing customers– Emphasize service for existing customers– Optimize IT investments– Streamline processes to achieve maximum

efficiency

It Starts with the Customer

• Do you understand what the customer perceives as a high level of service?

• Once you do (and you must), how do you deploy initiatives to consistently deliver?

• What can you do differently to affect delivery?– Rank these by magnitude of effect, time to

implement, cost to implement

Quality Assurance

• At some level it is critical to evaluate the use of processes in actual customer communications

• This requires the act of listening to actual calls either live or historically– Otherwise, all the work to modify processes

to achieve what your customer wants is wasted, because it won’t happen!

Addressing Customer Retention Voice documentation solutions allow

organizations to:Establish performance standards and metrics

for customer-driven processesSystematically evaluate employee

performanceBase training, promotions, and changes on

hard data

Addressing Customer Retention Improve operational efficiency through

reduced errors and wasteful practicesControl training costs by focusing on those

demonstrating abilityControl personnel costs by retaining top

performers while reducing non-performers

Final Results

• Proper balance of addressing privacy risks with compliance and other documentation requirements

• Complete knowledge and mitigation of compliance risks

• Aggressive management of customer defect risks with focus on improving retention to maximize results

Thank You