Accounts Recovery Corporation Gains Competitive Advantage From CallRex VoIP Call Recording and Monitoring Technology

View a printable version of the Accounts Recovery Corporation (ARC) case study.

Overview

Accounts Recovery Corporation (ARC) is one of the fastest growing accounts receivable management companies in Canada. Based in Victoria with branch offices in Vancouver, Burnaby, Winnipeg, Burlington, Montreal, Laval, and Moncton, ARC provides retail, commercial, and government customers with a full range of accounts receivable management services, including collections services, customized customer care programs, and call center services.

In the accounts receivable industry, accurate record keeping is of paramount importance, and ARC has continually sought out new technologies to maintain and improve accuracy as well as improve overall customer service. One significant advancement ARC has made in support of this objective is to implement CallRex, Telrex's VoIP call recording and monitoring software. ARC uses CallRex to record and monitor telephone calls at their headquarters location and all of their remote branch locations in Canada.

CallRex is Affordable

In implementing CallRex, ARC has taken advantage of an important opportunity made possible by the widespread adoption of IP-based telephone systems. VoIP-based call recording and monitoring systems are significantly less expensive to deploy—typically 50 percent less—than legacy systems, therefore allowing small and medium-sized businesses to benefit from sophisticated recording features that were previously available only to large corporations and call centers. In VoIP-based systems, voice traffic is packetized and travels across the corporate data network, requiring no additional hardware to record calls; whereas in analog or digital systems, voice traffic travels over the voice network, requiring trunk taps or expensive third-party telephony cards to record calls.

"CallRex is very economical and simple to deploy," said Joe Polard, ARC's general manager. "It tightly integrates with our 3Com NBX IP phone system and gives us all the benefits of advanced call recording and monitoring capability without the high cost."

The Benefits of "Packet Sniffing"

CallRex works by monitoring the corporate data switch, actively looking for voice packets as they travel across the corporate LAN/WAN to and from the 3Com NBX. CallRex's "packet sniffing" technology extracts only voice packets for recording or monitoring and does not interfere in any way with the 3Com NBX. The benefits of using packet sniffing technology to record calls became apparent to ARC during their product evaluation process when they compared CallRex to a competing system that uses TAPI/WAV technology to record calls.

The TAPI/WAV product requires two WAV licenses to record a call and another to monitor it, therefore generating a license cost that multiplies for every call recorded and monitored. With CallRex, an unlimited number of calls can be recorded and monitored with only one moderate upfront license fee for the 3Com NBX. In addition to this reduced licensing cost, CallRex delivers a number of additional benefits over the TAPI/WAV based solution.

"The difference in licensing costs is significant," said Polard. "We have a multi-site operation where all locations need to be monitored and where we are adding new users almost daily. The ability to add an unlimited number of users without having to purchase additional 3Com TAPI/WAV licenses made choosing CallRex an easy decision."

CallRex's Simple Installation Process

To install CallRex, ARC's network administrator, Travis Davies, worked with Telrex technicians remotely. Using Webex, Telrex accessed ARC's computer to install the CallRex software and to train Davies on how to set up users.

"It was a very simple process from start to finish," said Davies. "The installation process was straightforward, requiring only one server and a couple of data collectors, none of which were proprietary, and all the software ran on standard computers. It was an intuitive process and now that we are set up, there is very little management necessary on my part. Today, we are recording 350 agents at our multiple locations and we haven't even begun to use up the capacity of the server."

ARC's Multi-Site Implementation

ARC's CallRex implementation at its main headquarters location in Victoria, comprises (1) 3Com NBX SS3 Call Processor and (4) 3Com SS3 Chassis, which are connected to a 3Com 12-Port 4900 GB data switch. The 3Com 4900 switch is uplinked to a 3Com 4400 switch. The 4900 switch is connected to the "observe port" on the 4400 switch, and the CallRex Server is connected to the "analysis port" on the 4400 switch. The switch is configured so that every packet going to/from the observe port (3Com NBX) is copied to the analysis port (CallRex Server).

ARC's remote sites are connected to the headquarters site via high-speed data connections. The remote site receives dial tone either locally or from headquarters, depending on least cost routing. At the remote sites, the NBX is connected to the data switch's observe port, on which port mirroring is enabled. The CallRex Data Collector is connected to the analysis port on the data switch. The switch is configured so that every packet going to/from the observe port (3Com NBX) is copied to the analysis port (CallRex Data Collector). The CallRex Data Collector is configured to record, compress, and send calls back—in real time—to the CallRex Server where calls are stored for later retrieval.

Bandwidth Savings

CallRex Data Collector's efficient compression techniques provided ARC with an unexpected benefit. In addition to being able to store an entire month of recorded calls (approximately 600,000 calls) on one DVD, ARC did not have to purchase more bandwidth to accommodate the higher volume of traffic created when CallRex sends recorded calls from remote locations back to headquarters.

"I was very impressed with the compression capabilities of CallRex," said Davies. "I fully expected that we'd have to purchase additional bandwidth, but we were able to use our existing bandwidth, saving us about $4,500 per month. This cost savings will be even more dramatic in the next version of CallRex where "off-peak polling" will be enabled. This upgrade will allow all recorded calls to be sent back at night during offpeak hours for additional cost savings."

Verbal Business Transactions Now Secure

ARC uses CallRex to record and monitor the telephone interactions of their agents and their clients' customers. Since a majority of business transactions take place over the phone and ARC acts on behalf of its clients in transacting business, clients have had a strong desire to have reviewable records of conversations where business is being transacted. Now that ARC has CallRex, they can assure their clients that their customers are being treated well, and furthermore, can provide documentation of phone conversations between agents and customers, thus ensuring that recorded calls can be retrieved at a later date in order to recover important information or to arbitrate disputes that may arise.

"CallRex clearly adds value to our service and since we are a service business, this value directly impacts our bottom line," said Polard. "CallRex enables us to ensure that verbal communications with clients and customers can be documented as accurately as written communications. For example, we are able to capture the verbal commitments of debtors to adhere to payment plans and we are able to instantly find and review every such record as necessary. Today, businesses are being held to a higher standard of accountability and CallRex gives us a strong measure of control that we didn't have before."

Today, more than three-quarters of major U.S. firms record and monitor workplace communications, and this number is growing as affordable, feature-rich technologies such as CallRex are becoming available. Businesses are finding that maintaining records of telephone conversations is just as important as maintaining records of any workplace interaction where business is transacted. Businesses can use call recording and monitoring to improve customer service, ensure compliance with legal or contractual requirements, and improve productivity.

"Having CallRex recording and monitoring capabilities at work for us gives us a competitive edge," said Polard. "It is of key value in improving our customer service and attracting new business—our clients clearly see the value."

Learn more about CallRex call recording solutions for 3Com systems.

View a printable version of the Accounts Recovery Corporation (ARC) case study.