The reasons for recording phone calls are numerous, and we can never discuss all of them as anyone can have a unique reason for recording a phone call. To mention only the most common and obvious ones, we will look at them from both a personal and then from a business point of view.
Personal reasons
- Sharing
You can have an infinite number of reasons for sharing recorded phone conversations. One example might be sharing to your whole family the first words you exchanged on phone with a close relative after a long time of separation (is that dramatic enough?). Another very common example is interviews. If tomorrow I interview the CEO of Skype on phone talking about their success story, you are certain to find the audio file here on this site.
- Souvenir
There are moments you don't want to forget. In the near future, I can see people keeping CD/DVD albums of their phone conversations, voice chat or video conferencing sessions just like they keep souvenir photos.
- Educational
VoIP is doing quite well in some universities where teachers and students can communicate even if they are physically far away. These conversations can be recorded and used later by the students, maybe for revision. These files can also serve for those who were not part of the conversation.
- Podcasting
You need to record before being able to send a podcast. Once recorded, you can podcast interviews or just anything else. Our podcasting guide John Havens gives us on his site,reasons to podcast, and shows us how to make a first podcast, among others.
Business reasons
On the corporate side as well, more and more organizations are having their in and out phone conversations recorded. They do it for the following reasons:
- Customer Satisfaction
You surely know how frustrating it is to fall on incompetent staff each time you phone a service company for assistance. With better CRM (Customer Relationship Management), this can be drastically changed, and VoIP call recording helps a lot in it. When an organization records phone calls, it can increase customer satisfaction by making follow up of calls from customer and hence ensuring sustainable assistance.
- Employee Evaluation and Training
Recorded calls allow management to assess employees and subsequently bring changes or upgrades if necessary. Recorded calls from good employees can also serve during the training of new employees, for example when training new telemarketing officers in call-centers.
- Security
Many security breaches in companies are found in phone conversations whereby confidential information is disseminated outside, both intentionally and unintentionally. Call recording tracks these down.
- Legal
Many companies face arbitration following conflicts with customer or employees. Call recording helps in fact-finding and in verifying contractual compliance.