Call recording in call centers provides managers with insight into customer service quality, common support issues, and gaps in agent training materials.
While it offers legal protection, call center call recording also comes with its own set of laws and regulations.
The right call center software comes with advanced features and benefits that improve the customer experience and optimize–while ensuring you and your team remain compliant.
Here, we outline all details you need to know about call recording in call centers, as well as top call recording providers, their key capabilities, and more.
What is Call Recording in a Call Center?
Call center call recording is the process of recording some or all of the inbound calls, outbound calls, and internal phone calls within your business.
Most VoIP call recording software also includes recording transcription services, which automatically create a written transcript of each call recording.
There are two main types of call recording: on-demand and automatic.
On-demand call recording lets agents/managers manually turn on the recording option prior to the start of each individual phone call.
On-demand recording is ideal for:
- Customer privacy
- Businesses working with sensitive information
- Conducting random performance reviews
- Teams that want to record specific calls only
An automatic call recording system automatically records all inbound and outbound business phone calls, eliminating manual call recording.
Automatic call recording is ideal for:
- Training purposes and monitoring new call center agents
- Ensuring heavy-regulated industries remain compliant (finance, government, etc.)
- Small businesses and startups with a lower call volume
- Teams wanting the most accurate AI insights/analytics
Both automatic and on-demand call center recording will play a brief tone or announcement at the start of each call to inform all parties the call is being recorded.
Admins can also create custom call recording rules according to:
- Department
- Customer name or Caller ID
- Individual agent
- Performance metrics
- Business hours or time of day
- Ring group
- Any other preference
Benefits of Recording Calls in Call Centers
The top benefits of call recording software include:
Improved Call Scripts and Training Materials
Call center call recordings are an ideal way to evaluate the current quality of both call scripts and employee training materials.
If you notice several agents struggle with the same customer questions or support topics, your current training processes are likely insufficient.
On the other hand, call recordings provide an excellent opportunity to create “playlists” of successful customer interactions to make training materials and serve as examples to other agents.
The same goes for refining scripts, internal knowledge base materials, and even auto-attendant options.
Review customer interactions with pre-recorded prompts to identify points of confusion and frustration, then revise them to ensure a more efficient process in the future.
Dispute Resolution and Legal Protection
Having a recorded (and, if transcribed, written) record of customer-agent telephone conversations is an essential part of the dispute resolution process–especially if the issue has escalated to a lawsuit.
Call recordings also help businesses protect customers from identity theft and fraudulent purchases.
Even if the problem is a more minor miscommunication between a customer and an agent, call recordings ensure you can verify what was and was not said on a call.
Some industries, like the financial, telemarketing, and retail sectors, require call recording and storage as a part of their compliance process.
Agent Performance Evaluation
If you’re training new hires, conducting quality assurance, or trying to understand recent changes in essential metrics, call recordings are an excellent form of agent performance evaluation.
Managers can use call recordings to gauge an agent’s:
- Understanding of the product, services, and provided training materials
- Communication skills and other soft skills like listening, empathy, etc.
- Ability to implement previous feedback
- Strengths, weaknesses, and overall skill set
- Overall care and enthusiasm for the job
- Current workload (preventing burnout and ensuring agents have equal opportunities)
Access to AI-Powered Insights
In addition to standard call center metrics and KPIs, AI-powered call and contact center management software uses call recordings and transcriptions to provide high-level insight into all business phone communication and agent activity.
For example, AI call analytics use speech recognition and machine learning to create word clouds of common customer and agent keywords and topics, allowing managers to identify common issues and popular products.
These tools can also create automatic call summaries, evaluate CSAT scores and customer survey results, and even conduct caller disposition and sentiment analysis.
If real-time transcription is enabled, some AI platforms can immediately notify managers of high-priority issues, allowing them to coach the agent through a difficult interaction or take over the call themselves.
A Better Customer Experience
Call recording improves the overall customer experience by:
- Offering detailed insights into customer pain points, interests, preferred products/services, ideas for improvement, demographics, and more
- Allowing managers to optimize agent training materials and the customer service process as a whole, increasing first call resolution and customer satisfaction
- Optimizing pre-recorded IVR menus
- Understanding which agents are best suited to provide high-level customer service and support, as well as identifying the ideal department/product for each agent to specialize in
- Identifying common customer journey roadblocks
Legal and Compliance Considerations
Call recording laws can feel intimidating, confusing, and overly complicated, but its important to ensure compliance because violations of consent and data regulations can result in severe fines both in the United States and abroad.[*] Call recording can also be a legal asset, as it gives call centers proof of their compliance and can be used in a court of law as long as it was properly obtained.
The best rule of thumb to ensure a legal call recording process is to always inform everyone on the call that they are being recorded, then give them the time to ask questions or end the call if desired.
Consent Requirements
Recording laws vary by state, depending on if there is a one-party consent or two-party consent law in place.
One-party consent states require that only one person on the call is aware of and consents to the call recording–even if that person is the agent making and recording the call. One-party consent states include New York, Maine, Colorado, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
Two-party consent states require that both parties (or all parties if over two participants) are aware that the call is being recorded, and that all have given their consent to be recorded. Two-party consent states include California, Florida, Illinois, and Maryland.
Canada generally follows two-party (also known as all-party) consent rules, as do Germany and Austria.[*]
Data Protection Laws
Many consumer call recordings will contain confidential information such as pin numbers, passwords, and home addresses- this information must be secured properly and protected from data breaches.
According to the telemarketing sales rule (TSR), company's that accept payment over the phone must verify the customer's identity and obtain consent to the payment method in the recording. The PCI DSS requires credit card data to be encrypted with the exception of the CVV number, which must not be stored at all (even if encrypted). It also has regulations for maintaining security systems to continuously protect sensitive data [*]
Industry Specific Regulations
HIPAA protects the privacy, security and confidentiality of individually identifiable health information and is important for any company in the health industry to understand. For example, test results must only be given to the patient- they should not be left on answering machine.
Call recording can be used to prove that confidential health information was not given to an unauthorized person in violation of HIPAA. Encryption should be used for call recording which contain confidential health information.
Do Not Call Lists
Do not call registries allow individuals to opt out of telemarketing calls, which they have the right to do. Telemarketers must not contact numbers on the DNC registry, and must check the list every 31 days and remove any DNC numbers from their company's call lists.[*] Call centers must also maintain their own DNC lists. Call recording can be used to document consumer consent in the case that a DNC violation is cited.
Best Practices and Penalties
General FCC regulations and best practices for recording business phone calls include:
- Always obtain all-party consent for all call recordings to avoid violating both federal and international recording laws
- Play a greeting or sound before beginning each call to notify all parties you are recording
- Ensure your business can prove appropriate storage and security measures regarding stored call recordings and transcriptions
- Conduct frequent risk analysis and security audits
- Follow industry-specific retention period regulations
- Invest in high-quality microphones and equipment to ensure clear recordings
- Understand that you are not legally required to provide customers with a copy of a call recording/transcripted when requested, unless you have been subpoenaed
Penalties for violating United States call recording laws and/or the Federal Wiretap Act can include:
- Loss of business license
- Felony or misdemeanor charges/conviction
- Lawsuits
- Civil penalties up to three times the amount of damage done or $5000/violation
- Up to five years in prison
- A maximum fine of $250,000
How to Choose Call Recording Software
In addition to offering both on-demand and automatic recording, quality call center call recording solutions should include:
- Call Recording Storage: Local and cloud-based recording and transcript storage, add-on storage space, recording storage dashboard with ability to search, download, delete, share/export, add comments to, tag, and categorize recordings
- Pause-Resume Recording: Ability to pause call recordings in real-time to protect sensitive customer information/conversation details, then resume recording
- Recording Retention Policies: The amount of time provider stores a call recording before automatically deleting it, users should have the ability to set custom retention policies
- Audio, Video, and Screen Recording: Ability to record and transcribe voice calls and video meetings with screen recordings, automatically sends recordings to all meeting or call attendees post-session, set recording access control
- Call Transcription: Automated real-time and/or post-call recording transcription, ability to distinguish between speakers, edit/download/share call transcripts, translation services
- AI Analytics: Natural Language Processing (NLP), automated word clouds, SLA notifications, sentiment analysis, customer disposition, performance monitoring,
- Security and Compliance Standards: FedRAMP, HIPAA, HITECH, FINRA, GDPR, PCI (credit card protection), password-protected recordings, end-to-end encryption, 24/7 network monitoring, access control
- Custom Playlists: Admins create custom playlists of selected call recordings to illustrate successful customer calls, common mistakes, highlight miscommunications, create new training materials, etc.
- Post-Call Summaries: AI-powered feature that automatically identifies action items, keywords, speakers, etc. to create a shareable post-call summary, eliminates need to listen to entire recordings
- Available Integrations: Ability to integrate with existing third-party business tools or build Custom APIs
- Customer Support: Available customer support channels, hours, add-on priority support, etc.
Call Recording Best Practices
Call recording is an essential tool for contact centers, but there are a few best practices that should be kept in mind when implementing call recording software.
Obtain consent before recording calls
As stated above in the Legal and Compliance Considerations section, it is a best practice to obtain consent to recording calls even if your call center is located in a one-party consent state. Obtaining consent not only ensures legal compliance, but it fosters transparency and will build trust with clients.
Set clear data retention and deletion policies
Read up on the latest PCI DSS data retention regulations and then make your company's policy a little stricter. Make sure that your recordings are protected with firewalls, encryption, and two-factor or multi-factor authentication. Reputable CCaaS providers will include this in call recording platforms. You will also want to ensure that your platform is reliable with an uptime guarantee, multiple points of presence, and redundancy.
Review and audit recordings for quality and compliance
Once you have a library of recordings make sure you have a system in place for reviewing those recordings. Before analyzing the recordings for KPIs, keywords, and performance metrics, you will want to ensure that the audio quality of the recording is sufficient, that the data is properly encrypted, and that there is no unauthorized data being recorded such as credit card CVV numbers.
Train agents using real call examples
After you have a wide variety of call recordings you can find the ones that resulted in conversions or positive resolutions and use them to train your agents. Real-life examples of customer interactions, help agents understand nuances like tone shifts, frustration, or complex queries.
Recordings can also demonstrate soft skills such as empathy and active listening better than traditional training methods. 83% of top performing agents attribute their success to quality training with call recording playlists.[*]
Limit data collection
It is best to avoid recording sensitive information such as credit card or pin numbers, health information, personal addresses, etc. unless absolutely necessary. Make sure you put systems into place that enable agents to mute or pause recording when sensitive information is being shared.
Integrate with CRMs and other third party apps
Integrating call recording systems with CRMs and other apps such as AI-powered transcribing and analytics will allow you to get the most out of your call recording software. CRMs can use call recording transcripts to update customer profiles while AI-powered tools can create automatic transcripts, track customer sentiment, and deliver post call summaries.
Reporting and analytics tools can scan transcripts for common questions, pain points, trends and keywords, while alerting supervisors when agents are out of compliance or need help.
Top Call Recording Software for Call Centers
Below, we’ve outlined the top call recording software providers, their pricing and plans, standout features, and ideal user base.
Talkdesk
Talkdesk is an omnichannel CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) provider focused on AI-powered customer self-service, automation, and workforce optimization.
Talkdesk offers incoming call and outbound calling on-demand, custom, and automatic call recording alongside pause-resume recording.
Talkdesk claims its AI-powered recording services provide some of the most accurate transcriptions in the industry thanks to machine learning and 4 billion prior minutes of voice and digital transcription.
Users have access to real-time call transcription for 1:1 and conference phone calls, agent screen recording, video recording and transcription, and voicemail transcription.
Transcriptions are automatically shown on agent screens during live calls to decrease miscommunications.
Standout Recording Features
- Screen Recording: Live, in-interaction of agent desktop activity across channels, automatic mouse/movement detection, managers can provide feedback/comments on screen and call recordings
- Dual Channel Recording: Creates two separate audio channels (one for agent, one for customer) in call recordings so managers can isolate speakers by separate tracks, ideal for QA and playlist creation
- Customer Experience and Interaction Analytics: Omnichannel keyword search and sensors, customer intent and sentiment analysis, Utterance Audio player automatically detects key conversation moments, in-call coaching, live customer feedback analysis
Pricing
Talkdesk offers 4 plans from $75-$125+/user/month. A free interactive demo is available on their website.
Best For
Talkdesk is best for:
- Enterprise call and contact centers heavily reliant on customer self-service
- Businesses reliant on high-level omnichannel analytics to provide real-time agent performance alerts and historical workforce optimization insights
- Teams with 10 or more third-party tools requiring CCaaS solutions with out-of-the-box integrations and APIs
NICE CXone
NICE CXone is an omnichannel cloud contact center leveraging the power of AI to offer high-level customer self-service, workforce optimization, and advanced analytics with insights to optimize the customer journey.
NICE CXone offers some of the top call recording features in the CCaaS space, including omnichannel voice, interaction, and agent screen recording, custom recording rules, and user permissions to protect customer privacy.
It offers automatic and on-demand recording, as well as pause-resume recording capabilities.
Standout Recording Features
- Omnichannel Recording: Encrypted audio and screen recording by stereo and mono, dual channel recording, recording screen masking, automatic Recording Activity Reports allow admins to view which interactions have been recorded and view recordings by skill, team, reason, or alerts
- Advanced Recording Management: Bring Your Own storage, recording lifecycle management, search, annotate, add sticky notes to, tag, and filter recordings, create recording playlists, export/share recordings, agents can review own recordings with attached evaluations
- Enlighten AI: Measures 100% of customer interactions in real-time, offering predictive analytics, instant access to live coaching and feedback, soft skill scoring, complaint management
Pricing
NICE CXone offers 6 plans that range from $71 to $209 monthly per user. Call centers can choose between voice only, digital only, or omnichannel plans.
Best For
NICE CXone is best for:
- Large/enterprise-level teams needing a complete omnichannel contact center solution, not just a business phone system with UCaaS capabilities
- Businesses wanting to leverage insights from AI conversation analytics, call recordings, and omnichannel communication transcripts to create a more efficient workflow management strategy
- Companies requiring call recording compliance with specific industry standards like HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI
Dialpad
Dialpad Business Communications is a cloud-based voice, meeting, and messaging platform with advanced call recording and transcription services.
It is best known for its AI-powered analytics, which include automated post-call summaries, real-time call transcription, and live predictive CSAT scores.
All Dialpad plans include 1:1 and conference call automatic, one-click on-demand, and pause-resume recording as well as custom recording rules.
Standout Call Recording Features
- Dialpad Inbox: Call recordings and transcriptions visible as MP3 files in call log dashboard, calls labeled/searchable by caller’s name/call duration, create objection-handling playlists, add custom call recording greetings
- Conversation Analytics: Real-time transcription, sentiment analysis, call monitoring and coaching, automated agent support pop--ups with keyword triggers, Custom Moments post-call analytics for long-term keyword/phrase tracking,
- Recording with Dialpad Ai Meetings: Audio, video, and shared screen recordings, automatic recording alerts to meeting participants, download, review, and share meeting recordings, review real-time meeting transcripts and post-meeting summaries
Pricing
Dialpad Business Communications offers 3 paid plans from $15-$25+/user/month. A 14-day free trial is available.
In addition to the Business Communications solution, Dialpad also offers add-on Ai Meetings capabilities for $15/user/month, quote-based Ai Contact Center software, and a quote-based Ai Sales Center solution.
Best For
Dialpad is best for businesses looking for:
- A highly scalable business phone system
- Advanced AI and automation features offering insight into customer/agent behavior
- The ability to monitor/coach/take over calls in real-time
RingCentral
RingCentral is a UCaaS and business communications platform with automatic, on-demand, and pause-resume call recording functionality on desktop and mobile devices within the RingCentral App.
In addition to the default 90-day call recording retention period, RingCentral users can extend the retention period to up to 1 year, download audio recordings or upgrade to the Ultra plan to access unlimited cloud recording storage.
Note that call recording transcripts are not available with RingCentral RingEX, and are only accessible by upgrading to the Standard RingCentral Contact Center plan and above.
Standout Recording Features
- RingSense Conversation Intelligence for Sales: Add-on feature for all RingEX plans, omnichannel and CRM-integrated, automatic call summaries, notes, suggested next steps, key moments
- RingCentral App Recording Storage: Accessible in the call recording dashboard, users can listen, rewind/fast forward, delete, download/share recordings, filter by name/phone number, automatically send recording notification emails, record on desktop/mobile devices
- Custom Call Recording Announcement: Admins can record a personal recording notification announcement, upload/import it, and edit it at any time
Pricing
RingCentral RingEX has 3 paid plans from $20-$35/user/month, and a free 14-day trial is available.
In addition to RingEX, RingCentral offers a Contact Center solution with 4 tier-based plans, a video conferencing and webinar platform, and an AI-powered Conversation Intelligence add-on.
Best For
RingCentral is best for businesses:
- Needing unlimited cloud call recording storage/extended recording retention periods
- That don’t require real-time or post-call call transcriptions
- Requiring a UCaaS platform with advanced team collaboration tools across chat and video
FAQs
Below, we’ve answered the top call recording FAQs.
