Recording and Transcribing Business Telephone Calls – Some Important Considerations

by | Last updated Apr 3, 2023 | Published on Nov 25, 2016 | Audio Transcription

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Recording and Transcribing Business Telephone CallsBusinesses need to record telephone calls for a number of purposes, and most organizations utilize general transcription services to have transcripts promptly prepared. The phone call conversation has been around for over 100 years and has become an integral part of today’s world. Many important discussions and meetings are held through telephonic conversations and these calls can now be recorded and transcribed for future reference.

What are some of the reasons for recording telephone calls?

  • To stay compliant with industry regulations: Regulatory requirements make it necessary for many industries to record all their telephone calls. Financial institutions for instance, need to record all customer transactions and telephone communications that are regulated. Other entities that need to record all calls include retail businesses, e-commerce businesses, communications companies and catalog houses to record sales verifications.
  • To resolve disputes: Organizations providing sales and service support via telephone will find recording calls useful to resolve disputes.
  • For billing support: Recording all calls and tracking and reporting of these calls help to time the calls and create reports for billing.
  • Evidence related to insurance claims: Calls related to insurance claims are recorded to have evidence regarding what was agreed to and discussed in a claim.
  • To provide phone-based training for employees: Recorded calls are a great way to train employees on real-life situations without entailing risks associated with customer-facing interactions. Employees can be trained on how to handle situations that they may encounter on a daily basis.
  • Useful for healthcare and insurance organizations: Phone calls may be made and recorded when sharing healthcare records as required to provide and promote superior quality healthcare in keeping with HIPAA. Insurance companies also find recording all inbound and outbound calls useful to track details related to health insurance claims.

When audio recordings of phone calls are transcribed with the support of an audio transcription service provider, you have a permanent record of what was said. However, you can make a choice of what calls need to be transcribed. Some of the types of calls that must be transcribed include the following:

  • Policy conferences: Transcribing policy setting conference calls such as project planning calls or policy meetings is important because it often involves multiple speakers and critical decision making. Accurate transcription of policy conference calls ensures that all necessary decisions are recorded and also lets the team management know about the decisions made.
  • Meetings between companies: Audio transcription of cross-company phone calls is essential when it comes to managing a relationship with other companies. Record keeping of every meeting is essential as it serves as a proof in the event of any dispute or misunderstandings at a later time. One-on-one phone calls as well as conference calls involving the entire team must be transcribed so that you can refer to these transcripts later on.
  • Planning sessions: Planning sessions like planning future projects involves sharing of information from a number of speakers and there is the possibility of missing critical information during the calls. Therefore recording the planning session and transcribing it into a document would help save important information for quick reference in the future.

Businesses have the legal right to monitor phone calls that are related to the business, where the monitoring is part of the ordinary course of business. However, take the following into consideration before recording telephone conversations.

  • Federal and state laws that are applicable
  • In any business/financial transaction, verify the accuracy of various details by referring back to the telephone call transcripts
  • States that require two party notifications
  • States that require one party notification
  • The role of the FCC
  • Federal exceptions
  • Business telephone exceptions
  • When parties making the calls are in different jurisdictions

It is important to record telephone conversations clearly so that errors are eliminated in the transcripts. General transcription companies providing transcription services employ audio experts who are skilled in enhancing telephone recording quality by eliminating background noises, echoes and other sounds and by digitally boosting low speech volumes. Moreover, they also provide multilevel quality checks to ensure maximum accuracy possible.

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