Nowadays almost all companies make recordings of their business calls. The collection of this backup serves multiple purposes and is very common in customer service centers. In this sense, the premium virtual call recorder is usually a very useful tool even for a legal protection of the companies.

However, it should always be clear about the legal reasons for which calls can be recorded. Likewise, companies that need to keep this record must comply with certain stipulations also stipulated in the law.

Is it legal to use the call recorder?

According to the laws in Spain and Europe, there are scenarios under which it is legal to record calls. Also, under certain conditions, recording conversations with customers may be unlawful. According to a Spanish jurisprudence from 1984, recording your own conversations is legal, but recording other people’s conversations is not.

That is, conversations in which a person participates can be recorded, and even disclosed if they do not compromise a third party. However, if the conversation occurs between third parties and is recorded, such recording is completely illegal. Of course, this is not a scenario that usually occurs with companies, much less in front of their clients. However, it is important to know a little about the basis of legality in call recording.

So, it is legal to use the call recorder in business calls, as long as this basic principle of the legislation is complied with. However, entrepreneurs should keep in mind that the company is not a natural person and this is important. Likewise, there are correct purposes and ways to ensure that the recordings are lawful.

How to maintain the legality of call recordings?

The legal issue with the premium call recorder has to do with data processing. According to the Official Data Protection Act (LOPD), the processing of personal data requires the consent of the person concerned. Moreover, the legal instrument is very clear in stating that this consent must be «unequivocal».

However, it is important to understand the logic of each type of call to know what can and cannot be done. It is understood that incoming calls that are made by customers to a company do not require explicit consent during the call. This type of call is understood to be of a professional nature where no risky information is at stake.

However, if the call is made by telephone agents of a company to a client, the consent must be explicit and never over-understood. It is in these cases that announcements such as «you are informed that your call is being recorded» are used. Sometimes, it is good to inform the customer of information such as the place where the recording of the conversation will be stored. This is a good way to use the call recorder.

Three healthy practices for business call recording

Of course, anything that is done to maintain legality within customer service is always positive. It is important for businesses to act in accordance with the law and be able to have each other’s backs at all times. The following are three healthy practices to avoid problems with the use of the premium virtual call recorder:

Announce to the customer that the call is recorded: Even if it is not necessary and even less so if it is the customer who is calling, it never hurts to remind them. Remember that this action will also be recorded as part of the conversation and will endow the record with legality. Announcing this does not take much time, so it should not affect the effectiveness of the call center.
Reserve the data only for a period of time: At the enterprise level, call recording usually serves a purpose. Once this happens, it is crucial to delete the record. The law itself establishes the need to set a useful time limit for the storage of recordings.
Use the recordings for what is important: Companies should only use the recordings for strictly necessary matters. Therefore, it is important to avoid abusing their manipulation or selling them for other types of activities. Likewise, it is recommended that there be restricted access to the files, remaining in the hands of a small number of people in charge who are also qualified.

Why use call recorder records?

It is clear that it is necessary to understand what the recordings stored by the premium virtual call recorder are used for. In fact, most companies use this backup for the following reasons:

To establish contracts: There are many services and products that are sold via telephone. All of these involve verbal contracts, which are legal and valid in Spain and many other countries. In these cases, the recording allows to prove that a verbal contract was established.
To meet legal requirements: Data protection laws require backing up information such as calls made to customers. What is important here is that the storage is secure and kept only for as long as necessary.
For customer security: Call recording is well regarded when it is aimed at preserving the vital interest of the customer. For example, banks should record the calls of each of their customers, because key information may be of use to them.
Quality control: Recorded calls in the call center primarily serve the purpose of allowing the quality of customer service to be evaluated. This is one of the most important tasks that are fulfilled by the premium virtual call recorder.

As long as the backup of recorded calls is used for this type of purpose, everything is in order on a legal level. Of course, depending on the type of business the data will be more important for one task or another. In any case, the important thing is not to abuse by mastering personal data.

Premium virtual call recorder: more space

The premium virtual call recorder is a module that records and saves incoming calls to the virtual PBX. As a rule, the record is stored on a virtual server. From here, authorized company personnel can access the backup and review it in detail to perform tasks such as those mentioned in the previous point.

In general, VoIP PBXs have limited space for storing recorded calls. This changes depending on the company contracted to provide the virtual PBX service. For example, with Neotel’s virtual PBX, customers have recordings stored for 60 days.

On the other hand, customers who contract the specialized premium virtual call recorder service, the recording limit is two years. This module also gives our customers a storage space of one terabyte. This makes it possible to cover the recordings of any company, regardless of the volume of customers served.

The advantage of a virtual PBX

Hiring a virtual PBX makes it possible to group together all the recorded conversations of each telephone operator in the company. This is because the job of this program is precisely to unify the company’s communication through IP telephony. In this sense, the premium call recorder is a module of the software.

VoIP PBXs allow to have control and organization of business communications. In addition, this type of software has other useful functions and add-ons to improve the quality of service and marketing. In fact, this is more than just a program for telephone operators, being more like a business assistant.

Being able to have total control of communications also allows you to keep legal issues under control. This is precisely because all telephone operators must connect through the virtual PBX. In addition, the virtual recorder makes it possible to verify the management of each agent and to carry out training activities to improve customer service.

Advantages of Neotel’s premium virtual call recorder

Neotel offers customers its PBX with the premium virtual call recorder module. This add-on module is designed for those entrepreneurs and business people who need more storage space. Among its advantages are:

More time and space for storage: Neotel offers storage of up to one terabyte which will remain for two years. This is one of the best proposals in the market in terms of capacity.

Elimination of information: Another positive aspect of working with the virtual PBX is that every so often the information is automatically deleted. This makes it possible to comply with current data protection laws.

Access to recordings anywhere: The best thing about working with Neotel’s virtual PBX is that since it is a program hosted on the Internet, it can be used anywhere. All you need is an Internet connection.