Orwellian in Implication Call-Center Recording System Pitch Letter Intercepted

This email is so money. It’s a pitch letter from NICE, the call recording system used by 67% of the Fortune 100. As we suspected, your call gets digitized and can later be accessed by a manager searching for a key word. The email says, “For financial services firms, NICE can help cut legal risk and meet compliance rules. Did that customer say “sell” rather than “buy” as his lawyer now claims? The call is readily accessed for proof.”

Imagine the fun Negativland would have with these tapes…

A fascinating glimpse, revealed after the jump, into the world, our world, where, “This call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes” really means: This call WILL be recorded for whatever purpose we see fit…

The letter goes a little something like this:

    “When you call a customer service center, odds are your call is recorded by Rutherford, NJ-based NICE Systems (NASDAQ: NICE), which serves 67 percent of the Fortune 100. NICE software captures 50 million customer interactions per day worldwide. It helps companies manage their call centers to lower costs, boost effectiveness — and slice legal risk.

    NICE captures and digitizes each customer call — and stores it electronically. A call center manager, using a PC, can sort and examine all calls anytime by key word, agent, call length, time of day or other criteria. Managers can e-mail files containing particular calls to one another or to superiors for quality and legal review.

    Is an agent providing adequate service? Listen to all of his or her calls anytime and check. Are customers calling about one topic more than others? Scan them electronically and see. Are agents busy — or chatting with friends? How long were customers on hold? How many customers were disconnected? Is the Dallas call center moving more calls than Atlanta? NICE makes it easy to check — anytime.

    For financial services firms, NICE can help cut legal risk and meet compliance rules. Did that customer say “sell” rather than “buy” as his lawyer now claims? The call is readily accessed for proof.

    For health care companies, NICE helps companies ensure their agents do not violate new patient info privacy rules.

    For all types of firms — in energy, telecom, pharma and banking — NICE aims to improve the quality of the customer call experience. And NICE helps companies manage cost and risk.”

(Thanks to Scott!)

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