The ways in which we communicate today are very different from the analog wired telephony world of 1968, when the nation’s first PSAP began serving the public. The advent of mobile text messages, mobile video, automatic crash notification systems, geographic positioning systems and other communications channels provide an exciting opportunity to provide faster and better emergency services. Leveraging these new technologies is just one of many reasons for the federal government-sponsored Next Generation (NG) 9-1-1 initiative. 

911 voice logging recorder systems in NG9-1-1 are evolving to become standardized functional elements connected to other systems on a common network to log a variety of significant events. The problem is, the vast majority of the legacy PSAP recorders in use today were designed for a voice-only world and a circuit-switched network. They were purchased primarily on the basis of reliability and cost, not the flexibility of features and technology that would be flexible enough to adapt to these changes.  Some of these units have the ability to capture and store screen actions initiated by the call-taker but virtually none have the ability to capture, index, archive, or retrieve text messages, video, telematics and other data calls.  There are many other glaring deficiencies in legacy PSAP digital logging recorders.  Here’s a brief summary of five of the most frequently reported limitations:

1. Unable to capture multi-channel events
2. Not architected to readily conform to coming changes
3. Lack the security and authentication requirements of NG9-1-1
4. Are not well integrated with leading VoIP, radio and CAD vendors
5. Lack dispatch and call taker quality assurance evaluation tools

1.  Capturing Multimedia Communications

Legacy Recorders: Majority are not designed to capture, store, and retrieve data messages.  This is because PSAP call servers cannot capture and route data messages.  However, IP-based multi-channel call servers have been available for many years and are in wide use in business enterprises and commercial contact centers.  Many manufacturers do not even produce analog and TDM call distributors today and those that do are in the process of phasing them out.  PSAPs will have to replace or upgrade (if possible) their legacy call servers with current-generation IP-PBX’s or ACD’s to meet the specifications of NG9-1-1.  At that time, they will also need to replace the PSAP recorder.

Next Generation Recorders: Handle analog and digital TDM as well as VoIP voice, data, and text messages in a unified, consolidated fashion –this will facilitate your transition cost-effectively and enable unified capture of and access to all incident information, regardless of the channel that was used to report and resolve it.  

2.  Adaptability to Readily Conform to Changes – Open Architecture

Legacy Recorders: Closed systems designed with either fully or at least partially proprietary hardware and software - not economically scalable and often cannot be modified for IP.  Consequently, PSAPs cannot use industry standard servers with common operating systems and file formats of captured communications.  Legacy 911 logging recorder systems do not have open interfaces –that are recommended by NENA and US DOT under NG9-1-1 initiatives - and so cannot seamlessly integrate with the other PSAP systems that are (or will be) built to open standards.  Examples include the new database formats specified for NG9-1-1 infrastructure, to include CAD systems, mapping software, and more.  With closed systems, each integration point is a custom job adding to costs of acquisition and ownership and creating unnecessary complexity to the task of replacing legacy sub-systems. 

Next Generation Recorders: Designed from the ground up with fully open, service oriented architecture that is inherently adaptable and flexible, open to integrations with other standards-based systems. The standards-based architecture of latest-generation recorders directly translates into lower investment and lower costs of operations – users can leverage COTS hardware and other 3rd party interfaces and data to subordinate the rules and procedures for data access to processes and policies. These recorders will capture inputs from any device; including, voice, data, and video.  Each incident will be indexed with ANI/ALI information, incident number, and other identifiers like call taker name or ID and associated information such as CAD logs and maps.  Incident scenarios will include all communications sequenced just as they happened, all plotted on a map to improve visual analysis

3.  Security and Authentication Measures

Call recordings are often used as court evidence.  It is very important that the recordings be secured from access by unauthorized personnel and if there is an intrusion that there be a mechanism for identifying and tracing the security breach.

Legacy Recorders: Many do not offer encryption of recordings and data, nor they come up with built-in audit trails to monitor and alert on access violations.

Next Generation Recorders: Delivered with encryption, file watermarking, password-protected exports, audit logs and more. 

4.  Tight Integration with Leading VoIP, Radio, CAD, and other Emergency Communications Systems

Legacy Recorders: Virtually none or only limited, expensive capability to convert to recording VoIP, CAD data, or P25 Radio voice and data. In some cases, the recorder is compatible with only one VoIP switch or radio system vendor.  However, different vendors handle communications in different ways and with different communication protocols. While the ultimate objective of NG9-1-1 is to unify communication protocols, this transition will be very gradual.  

Reliable and error-free integration between communications systems and the recording platform is rather important   The recorder must be able to read the ANI, ALI, CLID, trunk ID, call taker ID, incident number, and other data captured by the call server, radio system, or CAD.

Next Generation Recorders: The top recording vendors will have proven integrations with the major PBX, CAD, and radio vendors. They would be development partners with multiple such manufacturers – to have full and complete access to the latest specifications and be able to certify that the recorder functions properly with various versions and releases of the vendor’s switch.

One of the many benefits of NG 9-1-1 is that by adopting Internet Protocol as the common voice and data communications language, subsystems and applications will be able to communicate with each other both internally and externally.  The need for costly integrations will slowly diminish as savvy vendors will design their products to accommodate not only today’s complex environment but the all-IP environment of tomorrow. To learn more about NG9-1-1 recording requirements, check out this recent Podcast featuring Guy Clinch from Avaya and Patrick Botz from VPI.

5.  Integrated Dispatcher Quality Assurance Evaluation and Coaching Tools

The ability to maintain or improve quality of emergency response and objectively monitor progress is critical especially at the time of implementation of new NG9-11 infrastructure. 

Legacy Recorders: Typically unavailable with integrated quality assurance feature sets, not designed to assist with the selection of calls for supervisor evaluation, nor to provide management with helpful tools for designing and completing the evaluation forms.

Next Generation Recorders: Automatically present evaluators with targeted evaluation forms and synchronized interaction audio and screen video (if captured) – selected manually or automatically based on rules for identification of critical calls - to enable efficient assessment of single calls or entire incidents.

Thanks for reading! We welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you may have.

Recording NG9-1-1 communications involves much more than capturing voice and some basic data. NG logging recorders now require tighter integration of technologies and processes than yesterday's recorders were designed for. Considering that recording emergency communications is a must these days as it will be in the future, let’s look into 'what's under the hood' in this important, but often overlooked area.

VPI recently participated in Avaya’s TechTalk podcast where the two long-term partners and industry leaders in innovative technologies for processing and managing emergency communications shared their insights on NG9-1-1 recording requirements and considerations in an informal, engaging conversation. You're invited to listen to these 6 minutes of recorded audio or read the Podcast transcript:

Avaya:

Public Safety Emergency Communication centers are known for the use of many different proprietary technologies, specifically developed for use in emergency response process. How is this changing due to Next Generation 9-1-1 standards and how is it impacting the communications recording function?

VPI:

Next Generation 9-1-1 is one of the most significant changes we’ve seen in the public safety industry in years. The functional specification for the NENA i3 solution 08-003 calls for standardization of all multimedia communications, technologies and processes. PSAPs - or Public Safety Answering Points – must be updated to be able to receive and log all forms of communication used today – whether it’s voice, text or other media. And they must be able to accept new forms of evidence from the field, including mobile photos, videos and SMS messages that will be delivered via the SIP protocol standard over the Emergency Services IP Network – or ESiNet for short.

To accommodate these specs, technology vendors, including recording providers like VPI, are required to standardize their architectures, interfaces and communication protocols, so that PSAPs can easily share and exchange information with other agencies when needed.

Avaya:

That’s very interesting. Where does VPI’s recording system fit within the NG9-1-1 communications infrastructure?

VPI:

Recording systems play very important role in Next-Gen 9-1-1. Regardless of call media type being transferred – whether it’s phone call, text, video or IM – the media is converted to SIP signaling within the originating network. Then, it travels through ESInet and is routed to the appropriate i3 PSAP. There, the Emergency Call Routing Function queries what’s called an Emergency Services Routing Proxy like Avaya’s Aura ESRP to determine which PSAP to route the call to. Once the call media has arrived to the most appropriate PSAP, our call recorder captures SIP Invite packets from the ESRP and begins recording media and logging events. When a call is completed, a SIP BYE event terminates the recording of the call. And at that time, any associated call data attributes, such as location information, are recorded and logged into our database and then authorized users are able to access recordings via a centralized, Web-based interface.

Avaya:

What are the mandatory elements of a NG9-1-1 recording system?

VPI:

That’s an excellent question - one that we get asked quite a lot these days. 

1. Our recording technologies have been developed on the principles of open service-oriented architecture from the ground up since 1994, encompassing non-proprietary hardware and software elements as well as application services and processes between them. This is the first mandatory requirement per NENA’s i3 specification.
2. The system must be capable of recording analog, TDM, VoIP, radio, wireless calls and SIP-based media including SMS text, email and instant messages, streaming video, and images into standard file formats – and all within the same system.
3. The recorder must be also capable of collecting data attributes from the ESInet such as caller number, date stamp and location information bundled in the SIP signaling.  Other data that is also very useful includes CAD data such as incident ID, type, and severity; and case processing data such chief complaint, scene and victim information and caller safety.
4. If the call is transferred to another PSAP location, the recording system must continue to record and track the call.
5. And for security purposes, the recorder must authenticate all voice and data communications.

Avaya:

Do you have any final thoughts that you’d like to leave with our global community of Avaya customers and partners?

VPI:

Yes, NENA is planning on releasing their final version of the 08-003 i3 specification later this year. With this in mind, our VPI CAPTURE recording solution has been designed to enable you to take full advantage of the i3 network vision. To learn more, you can visit us online at www.VPI-corp.com/PSAP, or feel free to call us anytime at 800-200-5430. And on behalf of all of us at VPI, thanks so for your time today.

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VPI has been one of Avaya’s longest standing Avaya DevConnect partners a member of the Avaya Developer Connection program since 2002. VPI is also an active participant in the National Emergency Number Association’s NG9-1-1 Planning Committee and testing at NENA’s Industry Collaboration Events.  

Want to improve the quality of your mission-critical communications? Still grappling with impending Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) changes?

You’re not alone. Public safety and security agencies nationwide are working hard to meet the challenges of these demanding new regulations. Many are busy updating their voice logging software to a fully compliant NG9-1-1 recording system and integrating their call recording equipment with call quality assurance software. However, despite significant emphasis upon the adoption of new technologies and processes, one thing that’s often overlooked is the impact this huge transition is having on call takers and dispatchers. Their jobs are already incredibly stressful. The last thing they need is to be buried under a ton of new protocols while struggling to familiarize themselves with new software and hardware. With this in mind, I encourage you to check out Katerina Vetrovec’s excellent article, which was recently published in NENA's The Call Magazine. The article,“Public Safety Quality Assurance and Training Best Practices: How to Optimize Communications Center Performance and Job Satisfaction,” examines ways in which call takers can be trained with call center training software more efficiently and effectively in the wake of NG9-1-1. Vetrovec also discusses the latest methods that can be successfully deployed to keep call takers happy and motivated in an increasingly stressful, demanding work environment, such as the implementation of automated Quality Assurance and Coaching Improvement tools.

The article points out that the vast majority of dispatchers and call takers are under-trained and inadequately monitored. All too often, there isn’t even a basic call center quality monitoring process in place. Under these circumstances, it seems pretty unreasonable to expect these PSAP professionals to work to the best of their abilities. Vetrovec outlines various ways in which PSAPs have successfully overcome these problems. She also discusses the advantages of implementing some of the latest enabling technologies, and valuable lessons learned from other industries. I think you’ll find it’s well worth taking the time to check out this insightful, informative article.

Ahead of this year's holiday season, consumers charged more to their credit cards for second straight month. Robust holiday spending is driving the speculation that U.S. consumers are shifting their use of credit and debit toward credit. Early spending patterns do suggest that total credit card spending is increasing, as it has all year. Worldwide, consumers carry more than 1 billion Visa cards alone. More than 450 million of those cards are in the United States. The number of U.S. identity fraud victims rose 12 percent to 11.1 million adults last year. Credit and debit card fraud is the No. 1 fear of Americans in the midst of the global financial crisis. Concern about fraud supersedes that of terrorism, computer and health viruses and personal safety – one in ten Americans have already been victims of credit card fraud. Software.net found that as many as 40% of its transactions were fraudulent. Expedia.com lost $6 million due to fraudulent credit card purchases.

During the holidays and throughout the year, contact centers that engage in catalog sales, up-selling and/or cross-selling, service providers, and collection companies that take payments in the form of credit or debit cards can become unsuspecting targets of cyber criminals. The card information is typically entered by agents into a CRM or other sales automation software and may be recorded by voice and screen recorders. And there it resides - thousands and even millions of card records inviting remote criminals or even greedy employees to extract consumer card data for personal gain or sell into a sophisticated secondary market.

The payment card industry (PCI) established a Council to define technical standards aimed at minimizing the risk of cyber crime to the misuse of credit cards. The Council subsequently issued a Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) which details security requirements for members, merchants and service providers that store, process or transmit cardholder data. Contact centers and other organizations that accept credit card payments are generally prohibited from archiving sensitive information such as account numbers and security codes after payment authorization has been received. Compliance to PCI-DSS is now mandatory for all non-credit card 'issuing' organizations dealing with credit, debit and ATM cards, as defined by the PCI Security Standards Council - size of an organization and its annual sales are no longer a factor for exceptions. While being compliant to PCI DSS - an already daunting task - is the first part, it it also required that you prove your organization's compliance to PCI-DSS. This PCI Audit is performed either with a set of questionnaires or by a Qualified Security Assessor, external to the organization.

On October 28, 2010, the Payment Card Industry Standards Council made a major update to the PCI Data Security Standard to clarify it. PCI DSS version 2.0 went effective on January 1, 2011. In PCI DSS version 2.0, the PCI DSS standards were clarified to require that no sensitive credit card information be stored within recorded calls, even if those calls are encrypted. The standards committee made the change because of the availability of sophisticated malware that could penetrate encryption algorithms. Organizations that do not take action by December 31, 2011 to ensure compliance with these new PCI call recording requirements could face costly fines. 

Achieving PCI DSS Compliance

To help organizations ensure compliance and avoid costly fines, VPI has developed an effective, affordable solution. The VPI CAPTURE PCI call recording system has the ability to detect when an agent enters an application screen with sensitive information, when sensitive information is inputted, and when they leave a screen containing sensitive information.  The VPI telephone voice recording system then has the ability to promptly mute sections of recorded audio and mask screen video during this sensitive portion of the call.


To further secure sensitive information, the VPI CAPTURE PCI DSS call recording system help you:

• Secure File and Data Transport and Storage Encryption – VPI uses built-in end-to-end data encryption and key management to secure the SQL database that holds attributes of all recordings. The media manager provides for AES 128, 192, 256 or variable bit encryption/decryption when files are stored and accessed from the media manager.
•  Ensure Authenticity with File Watermarking - Every call within the VPI system is wartermarked in real time to ensure authenticity. VPI offers a powerful application to validate the authenticity of any WAV file.
• Monitor User Activity with Detailed Audit Log Reporting – VPI records all user activity within the system so that organizations can conduct full trace audits to determine who accessed any recording in the system and when - for playback, export, or any other critical events.

For the past 15 years, APCO has been carefully crafting a list of operational standards in order to ensure the best possible quality in public safety emergency communications. Now, in collaboration with NENA and associated industry bodies, this lengthy endeavor has culminated in the development of Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) standards, along with soon-to-be introduced Quality Assurance (QA) standards. These new requirements are raising the bar for the quality of service required from the nation’s public safety agencies.

Quality of service is impacted by both the performance of employees and the processes in use.  Periodic, systematic quality evaluation of emergency contact center communications can provide invaluable transparency to everyone involved and expose inadequacies in both employee and process areas. This is especially critical in the current transitional period when old, inadequate communication systems are being replaced with Next Generation technologies and 9-1-1 centers are expected to handle various different types of communications - not just voice and TTY communications any more. Plus, the increasingly complex nature of public safety communications entails new regulations that PSAP centers will have to demonstrably comply with. The traditional approach to quality management is being replaced with evaluation of multiple communication streams and types involved in incidents, along with a variety of supporting evidence, such as images, videos, text documents and data. Prioritization of such evaluations is driven by significance of various incident types, so selection of recordings for evaluation has to be subordinated to that. When correctly planned and executed, the latest-generation software-driven quality evaluation can deliver valuable insights into the best course of corrective actions to support the new demands.

In response to the introduction of the new NG9-1-1 and QA standards and the difficulties faced by cash-strapped organizations in attempting to comply with them, VPI is launching its ‘Upgrade to Quality’ program for public safety and security organizations.  The program, valid from now through June 30th, 2011, stretches the tight budgets of public safety and security organizations by enabling them to affordably upgrade their legacy recording systems with VPI’s state-of-the-art VPI CAPTURE™ voice logging system and provides double the value by including free VPI QUALITY™ call taker quality assurance software. VPI CAPTURE is an affordable, NG9-1-1 ready recording system that installs quickly to reliably and securely capture, manage and share critical incident information and to provide insights to optimize workforce efficiency.

For more information, conditions and restrictions on VPI’s ‘Upgrade to Quality’ program, visit http://www.VPI-corp.com/Quality or contact us at 1-800-200-5430. 

Want to Learn More about the Call Center Recording Software, Quality Assurance Call Monitoring and Call Center Workforce Optimization Software Market, Key Trends and Products?

VPI is pleased to be able to offer you this exclusive opportunity to get your copy of the executive summary of DMG Consulting's comprehensive annual Call Center Quality Assurance/Telephone Call Recording Product and Market Report. Offering 35 pages packed with valuable information, this guide is essential to navigating in the complex market of contact center workforce optimization software technologies.

Use the promo code LINKEDIN to download your complimentary report summary authored by renowned industry analyst and research firm DMG Consulting, to learn:

• Which call center optimization technologies help call center managers achieve contact center optimization 

• Key technology trends that are altering the direction of contact centers

• How to take your call logging software program to the next level and increase productivity while enhancing the customer experience and agent satisfaction

• The direction workforce optimization software technologies are heading and how to best leverage them, including Telephone Voice Recording, Call Center Quality Assurance, Call Center Performance Management, eLearning, Call Center Coaching, Surveying, Contact Center Analytics and Workforce Management (WFM)

• Comparison of workforce optimization software suites vs. stand-alone solutions

• How industry regulations are impacting voice call recording 

• The new strategic role of contact center managers

• Return on investment (ROI) analysis and workforce optimization software 

• What to expect in the future and more!

Ready to upgrade your contact center? Looking to implement new TDM and VoIP Call recording, call center quality assurance, call center performance management, or call center coaching solutions or replace some of your existing applications?

If so, it's now time to zero-in on the most appropriate call center optimization technology and ask management for the money. This must-read resource guide is crucial for any contact center professional looking to take their organization to the next level.

Use the promo code LINKEDIN to download your complimentary resource guide at http://www.VPI-corp.com/ROI-Guide authored by prestigious industry analyst Dick Bucci from The PELORUS Group, to learn about the key components for developing a compelling and convincing business case for your successfully obtaining your contact center investment funds, including:

• The importance of building both business and ROI cases
• How to prepare your funding request
• The many financial benefits of call logging software, call center quality assurance, call center performance management, contact center analytics, call center coaching solutions
• How to prepare your ROI analysis, and much more!

Phone call recording software plays a key role in many industries. It is a mandatory requirement in the majority of public safety organizations and within various industries, such as financial services and healthcare. With so much valuable information in vast number of customer interactions, the overwhelming majority of many organizations are now using call logging software. Telephone voice recording software helps many organizations optimize the customer experience, improve agent call quality, and minimize risk by providing receipts of oral commitments for dispute resolution, preventing privacy leaks and highlighting questionable employee conduct.

Analytics-Enhanced Call Recorder Software Solutions

Full-time voice call recording software with rules-based records retention, combined with the use of integrated desktop screen analytics, is in high demand by organizations to comply with increasingly complex privacy compliance regulations, including PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry - Data Security Standard). These new, analytics-enhanced telephone voice recording software technologies are helping organizations of all sizes identify sensitive information that should be protected from access or replay by unauthorized users, such as consumers’ credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, references, family members, etc. Analytics-enhanced call logging software technologies are also helping with the identification of certain types of interactions that matter most with regard to business goals and economic circumstances.

The Benefits of Desktop Screen and Telephone Call Recording

Many organizations are now adopting high-volume desktop screen recording software. Using phone recording software to review screens in conjunction with the corresponding call audio can expose and improve application navigation and workflow processes to reduce call and post-call handling time. Screen recording software is also a very valuable tool for evaluating the quality and efficiency of Web chat interactions. Voice and Data call recording equipment enables managers to see how front-line employees are handling multiple chat sessions simultaneously on one or multiple desktop monitors. Voice logging software is also being used to optimize the use of email and Web chat. Training managers are using the multimedia screen and voice recordings as best practice training clips, and to monitor the quality of email responses and Web chat sessions.

A Secure Digital Call Recording Software Solution

Full-time voice call recording software is essential for helping organizations manage compliance and liability issues. However, it’s imperative to implement a system that will guard data from unauthorized access with granular user and data security rules and end-to-end AES 256 encryption with key management. A comprehensive audit trail log should record all user activity within the system so that organizations can conduct full trace audits to determine who accessed any recording in the system and when – for playback, export, or any other critical events.

To learn more about the latest advancements in phone call recording software, visit: http://www.VPI-corp.com/Phone-Call-recording-Software.asp

Dispatch quality assurance call monitoring software is more important today than ever before. Recognized as an essential component in the quest for improved performance, efficiency and productivity, public safety organizations are now placing an increased emphasis on the capabilities and deployment of dispatch quality assurance call monitoring software. In the midst of today’s consolidation and changes, many public safety and security organizations are being asked to do more with less resources. Therefore, it is even more important than ever before to maximize the productivity and effectiveness of current employees and resources. There is tremendous value in assessing recorded interactions with dispatch quality assurance voice logging software. As public safety organizations roll out new programs, new communications recording and dispatching technologies, and Next Generation 9-1-1 initiatives, a quality assurance program using automated dispatch quality assurance tool integrated with your call recording software can be invaluable for monitoring the adoption and success of your initiatives.

Benefits of Dispatch Quality Assurance Software

Integrated dispatch quality assurance call recording software can be extremely valuable in improving the efficiency and accuracy of emergency communications. Quality assurance helps improve productivity and reduce staff turnover. With new Web-based dispatch quality assurance software tools that automatically assign the appropriate customized evaluation form, public safety and security organizations can objectively evaluate individual call taker quality or performance of multiple call takers during entire incidents, regardless of how many locations, units and jurisdictions involved. In addition to enabling thorough evaluation of call taker performance with regard to fast, efficient, accurate and high quality call handling, dispatch quality assurance software helps public safety and security organizations ensure that call taker and dispatcher processes are working properly and within compliance.

Advantages of Console Screen Analytics

Today’s advanced multimedia phone call logger and dispatch quality assurance call monitoring software solutions use screen analytics to easily capture important fields, values and data from desktop monitors and console screens. This can be achieved without requiring organizations to perform expensive back-end integrations to the applications running on employee desktops. By being able to tag data like “Incident Type” from the CAD system to recorded calls, organizations now have the ability to evaluate calls by incident type. For example, an organization may determine a need or desire to listen to all or a high percentage of calls recorded by their voice logger related to a certain incident type such as robberies, domestic violence, medical-related calls or homicide.

Additional Advantages of Automated Coaching

Public safety organizations are using the assessment scores from their dispatch quality assurance call monitoring software to improve their training programs and automatically assigning targeted, supplemental coaching to those call takers that need improvement in certain areas identified by quality assurance evaluations. With an integrated, automated coaching solution, public safety and security organizations can quickly and automatically deliver feedback and training content that addresses the needs of each call taker, dispatcher and supervisor. Advanced coaching solutions enable authorized users to access training content and reports on results of training via customized Web dashboards or desktop tickers.

To learn more about best practices for using and the latest advancements in dispatch quality assurance call monitoring software, visit http://www.VPI-corp.com/911-Quality-Assurance-Management-Software.asp