MHBS Implement Call Recording
Market Harborough Building Society have had a commercial relationship with local networking partner Abtec Network Systems since 2003 and in that time have implemented technology solutions such as a 10 site wide area network with back up lines, Cisco routing and IP telephony.
With Abtec viewed as the networking partner for MHBS, it’s the strength of the relationship, and Abtec’s acute attention to the details of MHBS’s infrastructure which led Neil Williams (Head of IT at MHBS) to involve Abtec when sourcing an updated call recording solution.
When the FSA directive came in to force in June 2010 as part of the Mortgage Market Review, Neil identified that the existing technology they had in place for recording calls was out-dated and unreliable to be able to cope with the increased demand of recording all calls. To ensure MHBS had consistency across all sites and the ability to scale a technology in line with FSA requirements, Neil set about sourcing a solution to meet their needs.
Neil explains:
“ The existing solution we had in place only recorded a handful of extensions and, with reliability being an issue, MHBS felt that in order to comply with the FSA, and provide excellent customer service, the building society would need to explore the technology available. One option was to upgrade the existing solution, however due to the cost of the upgrade it was felt that it was also worthwhile reviewing other vendor solutions.”
“After careful consideration, we selected the Oaisys call management solution, recommended by Abtec, due to its flexibility and user interface. Our staff in the Arrears and Compliance departments needed a solution which required minimal IT experience to use. The Arrears staff need to be able to not record sensitive information such as credit card details. The staff member could easily stop the recording with no interaction from the customer on the other end of the line. The Compliance staff need to be able to retrieve any calls so the solution needs to be easy to use.”
As the solution works with the existing IP telephony solution, the society has the ability to record calls from any site within the network, and easily store and recall archived conversations.
“We were confident that Abtec’s recommendations would work for us as they have a good understanding of the needs of local building societies and some of the restrictions a society such as ourselves are faced with. Abtec’s approach is not pushy or hard sell, and they act as the network partner for our IT department. As with many other small businesses, it does not make economic sense to employ a dedicated network specialist full time, and with Abtec’s knowledge and professionalism we don’t need to.
We have recommended Abtec to other building societies in the UK who are experiencing similar challenges to that of MHBS and look forward to continuing our relationship with Abtec for future projects”.