Compliance at the contact center is very important in the present-day digital age, mainly because of the extensive customer data handled at the center. A complete storage solution, along with responsible data collection and handling, is done to prevent all types of unofficial access and data violations.
If the call center does not comply with the ever-advancing regional and international regulations, then it could land them into heavy fines and legal battles, and apart from that, the reputation of the business also gets damaged.
Effectively maintaining compliance is very demanding, but the business needs to put in the effort and adhere to the customary rules & regulations, along with following the best practices internally. Preparing a compliance checklist in advance by making use of the right technologies helps reduce the risks involved and also avoids serious operational and financial reactions.
What is Contact Center Compliance?
Contact center compliance makes sure that all features of the contact center’s operations comply with the existing laws and regulations, as per applicable industrial standards and company policies.
It is a complete approach that has control over how agents relate with customers and how sensitive data (like payment card details or even health information) gets collected, stored, and processed. It also helps in accessing how the outgoing communications are handled, along with how securely the technology gets used.
The main aim of compliance is to protect the interests of the customers, protecting their privacy. Making certain that the security of data is maintained, thus preventing misleading or troubling practices, leads to fair treatment. Apart from that, it carries out essential duties to protect the company from the legal, financial, and reputational risks related to non-compliance.
By making use of secure technologies, compliance calls for putting into effect specific procedures. Along with training, it makes sure that all activity and procedures meet the required standards across various businesses.
Importance of Contact Center Compliance
Tagging along the official rules line put forth by federal and state regulations allows for a competitive edge. It helps in entering freely to different marketplaces.
The legality of the compliance makes it possible to distribute products and services, which helps build up customer trust. Apart from that, other reasons make contact center compliance important, and they are,
Losing Public Trust
If data gets breached or there exist unjust practices, customers’ trust gets compromised. Then, it becomes really hard to regain the lost trust. Apart from that, even negative reviews from media outlets could have an ever-lasting impact on the penetration level of the brand, which derails customer loyalty in the long run.
Monetary Consequences
Being compliant helps to make sure of the contact center is following both the domestic and international laws, which helps in protecting the business. Otherwise, authorities could officially press for fines. Like TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act), violations, make sure, penalties are imposed per call or text message.
Two telemarketers located in Texas were issued a fine worth of $225 million in the year of 2019 by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) mainly for making automated sales-related phone calls. JSquared Telecom, along with other company named,Rising Eagle are the companies, who got fined. They had been found to have made robocalls, that was calculated to be around one billion calls.
Even HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) violations have given rise to fine settlements worth around million dollars. Apart from that, PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) violations could result in fines levied from credit cards and acquiring banks, which results in increased transaction fees.
Avoiding Fines
Business could get sanctions and eventually fined, if they were found to be non-compliant to the rules & regulations. Regulations like CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) & GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) – which is a European Union (EU) law, press financial fines on those business houses that mismanage or misuse customer data.
Right from the year 2022, dated January 28th, the data protection authorities have slapped a fine of around €1.64 billion for GDPR violations across Europe. Fines like this act obstruct the growth of any organization, which directly affects their reputation and revenue, too.
Legal Proceedings
Apart from the fines, non-compliance with the rules & regulations could prompt affected customers to file a classic action lawsuit. Therefore, it is important to train the call center agents to follow the compliance protocols, which will help avoid legal proceedings.
Workflow Issues
Issues arising in the workflow of contact centers could seriously affect the performance of customer service, which reduces the ability and productivity. These disruptions in the routing operations arise from regulatory issues, system failures, or even when a disagreement arises from a process.
Making use of call center software that adheres to compliance for solving issues helps in reducing issues. Apart from that, following a well-structured workflow helps maintain the quality of service. Even the risk of penalties gets reduced, which improves the trust of customers.
Types of Compliance
Sensitive customer information is handled by contact centers, which makes them comply with various legal and industry regulations. These regulations ensure ethical communication and data privacy, which pave the way for secured transactions. A few important regulations that affect contact center operations are,
(1) Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act
Businesses that handle PHI (Protected Health Information) are bound to follow HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act). It is required for clearing houses, healthcare providers, and associates of business who are concerned with healthcare transactions. HIPAA is a compulsory requirement as per law for almost all healthcare call centers.
HIPAA Requirements for Contact Centers
- Patient Identity Verification: Before accessing PHI, it is important to precisely verify the identities of patients carefully.
- Secure Transfer and Storage: It is important to protect PHI with technical, physical, and administrative safeguards, including all types of policies & procedures, audit trails, and encryption.
- Consent from Patient: Before using PHI for non-standard purposes, it is important to obtain valid patient consent.
- Business Associate Agreements (BAAs): It is mandatory to enter into agreements with providers, who usually process PHI to ensure compliance.
Exceptions
HIPAA usually does not apply to workers’ compensation carriers, most of the existing schools, or even certain particular state agencies like child protective services unless they are performing covered functions.
(2) PCI DSS
The business that process, accept store or transmit credit card information is the concern of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)
Requirements for Contact centers:
- Authentication data like CVV codes are sensitive, even if the data is encrypted, it should not be stored. Never store the full card numbers in records, and apart from that, make sure to use secure payment processing systems.
- Controls must be implement to meet the 12 core PCI DSS requirements. It covers,
- Building & maintaining secured networks and systems.
- Protecting stored cardholder data.
- Maintenance of VMP (Vulnerability Management Program). VMP is an organized approach for identifying, assessing, prioritizing, and correcting the weakness in security within an organization’s IT infrastructure and applications.
- Auditing & monitoring networks regularly.
- Follow the information security policy.
- Train customer service agents on secure payment handling and fraud prevention techniques.
Compliance levels of PCI DSS for contact centers (Based on Card transaction volume annually):
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Level 1: For achieving this level, around 6 million transactions has to be crossed.
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Level 2: For achieving this level, around transactions between 1 to 6 million should be crossed.
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Level 3: between 20,000 to 1 million e-commerce transactions has to be covered.
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Level 4: Under 20,000 e-commerce transactions or up to 1 million total
(3) TCPA: Telephone Consumer Protection Act
When making use of automated technology, the call centers must make outgoing calls or text messages. TCPA helps in shaping the industry standards with compliance practices within the call centers.
- It ensures customers’ protection from unwanted sales tactics.
- Call Centers TCPA Requirements
- Before contacting customers, it is important to obtain their consent.
- Consent in writing is needed for those messages sent for marketing.
- Written consent is required for those types of marketing messages sent through prerecorded voice messages or automatic dialing systems.
- Client consent and all legal information have to be included.
- Prior express consent is enough for non-promotional messages.
DNC Lists
It is important to follow internal “Do Not Call” (DNC) Registry lists (Customers have already requested never to be contacted for future marketing calls).
Automatic Dialing Systems
It is important to keep up to date on the current definitions and other legal limitations that surround ATDS (Automatic Telephone Dialing Systems)
Calling Times
Making outgoing calls during allowed hours — that is, usually between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. as per the call recipients’ time zone, is usually advisable.
Identification
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Identifying the caller is very important.
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Provides valid contact information during the call.
(4) Data Privacy Laws (GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, and Others)
GDPR and CCPA/CPRA are global regulations that help to govern how personal data gets collected, used, and protected. The GDPR has strict standards for being transparent, getting consent, and handling the customer’s data. For non-compliance there exists serious reputational and legal consequences.
The same laws as CCPA/CPRA are applied to specified regions, like California, wherein there exists growing assurance and implementation for businesses, which includes call centers.
Collecting & Protecting Customer Data
- Making sure to have a valid reason for collecting data along with the required consent is an essential requirement.
- There should exist transparency explaining how the customer data will be used by providing policies or privacy notices.
- Proper consent management should be maintained, which obtains an informed and clear consent as and when required, which includes sensitive or marketing data.
- With the minimization of data, the required data is only collected for the specific purpose, which should not include more or not less.
- To protect the call center data, make sure to implement a data security program that helps protect the call center data.
- There should be proper planning to detect, respond, and report all forms of data breach to authorized regulators and also to the individuals affected by this breach.
(4) FINRA: Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
FINRA-managed business houses should follow the rules set for protecting the interest of investors, which helps in maintaining market ethics. A few requirements include,
- Should maintain proper, valid customer records.
- Business providing statements should not promote confusion nor prohibit investment advice.
- There should exist proper supervision rules that help follow strict records, like archiving chats, emails, and call recordings.
- Those agents who discuss or handle security should maintain proper licenses.
Non-Discrimination Compliance
It is important to follow non-discrimination rules by all business houses, as it ensures the existence of fair treatment, no matter what their protected characteristics are. A few requirements include,
- Without any partiality based on color, race, sex, national origin, religion, or any form of disability, along with genetic information and age, equal service should be provided.
- Company policies should be justified based on equity and diversity, and employees should feel involved and heard.
- Individuals with disabilities should have easy access, like support for TTY (Teletypewriter) and TDD (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf) or relay services under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).
(5) Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is a federal law that helps protect customers from rude, deceiving, or unfair debt collection methods.
FDCPA practices are important for those types of call centers that handle debt collection on behalf of creditors. It helps protect the rights of the customers and prevent legal complications.
The FDCPA prohibits debt collectors from:
- Giving out misleading statements and false promises.
- Using rude or harassing language.
- Making too many repeated calls.
- Contacting customers at unsuitable times or places.
- Not providing correct information about the debt.
Call center compliance with FDCPA includes:
- In all its communications, the call center should provide clear and accurate debt information.
- All interactions with customers should be accurately maintained.
- In compliance with regulations, it is mandatory to obtain the consumer’s agreement before making calls.
- Businesses must respect consumer requests to stop contact.
Maintain Compliance with VoIP Office Pro
The key parts for maintaining contact center compliance are to maintain proper records, give effective training, and provide continuous learning. If timely and proper action is not taken, the situation could escalate. As a result, businesses and houses may face greater risks than anticipated.
VoIP Office provides the communication app ‘VoIP Office Pro,’ which includes tools to support customers across various industries. For healthcare companies for whom HIPAA compliance is mandatory, the VoIP Office applies the necessary restrictions, which will help protect patients’ sensitive data. These procedures help businesses maintain compliance without the need to make any extra adjustments.
VoIP Office provides the Business Associate Agreement (BAA). It covers the protected services and helps in maintaining security, privacy, and violation notification commitment for HIPAA compliance. This Business Associate Agreement (BAA) is a legal contract required for HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) in United States.
The advanced call recording feature in VoIP Office Pro helps businesses complete the recording of calls for monitoring and training purposes. There also exists a Pause/Resume option that can be used as and when required.