1. Protecting Business Assets While Enabling Performance Addressing Risk Management and Customer Retention

2. Risk Management Risk Management is: The identification, analysis and management of the risks threatening the assets of an organization More simply put: Determine what your risks are, then decide on a course of action to deal with those risks If you can’t identify your risks, they can’t be dealt with!

3. Risk in an Economic Downturn Risk Management awareness has greatly increased due to: – Collapse of the financial credit market – High-profile business scandals – Rising unemployment rate – Global events that impose new risks New regulations and a greater focus on compliance will be a mandate going forward End of the road for deregulation across ALL industries

4. Focus on Accountability It is no longer good enough to simply acknowledge and/or fix a problem Members of society and government are demanding higher standards of ethics, transparency and accountability Somebody must take responsibility, and ultimately it comes down to the CEO

5. What can a CEO do? The CEO is responsible because it is the overall system of processes, technology and oversight that enforce compliance and responsible practices So ensure the necessary systems and processes are in place!

6. Specific Business Vulnerabilities Privacy – Medical information – ID information – Financial information Regulation Compliance – Depends on industry – Healthcare, collections, telesales, finance, utilities and others Customer Retention – Acceptable service levels – Proper transaction handling Human Resources – Hiring – Termination – Benefits administration

7. It is a Balancing Act

8. Conflicting Requirements Privacy Retain little or no data Severely restrict access to any retained data Only allow access as needed with complete audit tracking Documentation Retain everything Allow access to anyone who may deal with compliance and customers Permit access frequently as integrated customer service process

9. Proven Management Methods 1.Start with a fundamental understanding of explicit regulations governing your organization Be aware that many regulations affect voice communications and assume fault if no documentation exists

10. Proven Management Methods 2.Combine with compliance requirements other management tactics based on risk assessment: a)How sensitive is the data you collect from customers? b)Can processes be rigid without affecting customer retention? c)Etc.

11. Proven Management Methods 3.Document and deploy policies using processes and technology to support the risk management plan For telephone-based communications, this is where voice documentation becomes relevant

12. Voice Documentation The process of creating a media document from a telephone call – Record the call into an audio file – Embed all available communication data into the file with time context (i.e. internal parties, external parties, transaction data, etc.) – Securely store the media file with retention and access tightly defined and logged for auditing

13. Addressing Risk Concerns Voice documentation allows organizations to: Ensure compliance with SOX, HIPAA, TSR and other industry regulations through automatic capture of required communications Balance privacy and compliance documentation by selectively documenting or NOT documenting targeted calls or portions thereof

14. Addressing Risk Concerns Deploy policy controls over access levels by user and user group to ensure highest levels of privacy and security while enabling documentation review Deliver access via encrypted media streaming, not file transfer, so it can be later restricted without loss of control Completely audit for both compliance processes and customer retention policies using audio and embedded data Control data archiving and retention via age policies to remove information past its useful or required retention period

15. Addressing Risk Concerns Implement and monitor strict communications processes related to regulated information and transactions Assess adherence to process to target training and convey compliance levels to upper management

16. Customer Retention in a Downturn American consumer confidence is now at a fourteen year low 64 percent of US firms say customer experience plays a critical role in their 2008 strategy, up from 38 percent in 2007 Service now trumps price as the top reason consumers purchase from one company versus their competition

17. Addressing Customer Retention In an economic downturn, businesses change from “growing” to “harvesting” To accomplish this, smart businesses aim to: – Grow existing customers – Emphasize service for existing customers – Optimize IT investments – Streamline processes to achieve maximum efficiency

18. It Starts with the Customer Do you understand what the customer perceives as a high level of service? Once you do (and you must), how do you deploy initiatives to consistently deliver? What can you do differently to affect delivery? – Rank these by magnitude of effect, time to implement, cost to implement

19. Quality Assurance At some level it is critical to evaluate the use of processes in actual customer communications This requires the act of listening to actual calls either live or historically – Otherwise, all the work to modify processes to achieve what your customer wants is wasted, because it won’t happen!

20. Addressing Customer Retention Voice documentation solutions allow organizations to: Establish performance standards and metrics for customer-driven processes Systematically evaluate employee performance Base training, promotions, and changes on hard data

21. Addressing Customer Retention Improve operational efficiency through reduced errors and wasteful practices Control training costs by focusing on those demonstrating ability Control personnel costs by retaining top performers while reducing non-performers

22. Final Results Proper balance of addressing privacy risks with compliance and other documentation requirements Complete knowledge and mitigation of compliance risks Aggressive management of customer defect risks with focus on improving retention to maximize results

23. Thank You