Case studies and what our customers say about us

1.
    Barclays Bank
How Barclays improved the quality of their Customer Relations

2. Eastern Energy
Eastern Energy benefit from better communication skills training

3. Channel Strategy
How a contract call centre was able to win a £300,000 contract because they installed desktop based call recording software

4.
    Bromwall Ltd
Why an insurance broker decided to record calls

5. Tony Dowding Journalist
Freelance journalist Tony Dowding explains how recordings help speed and accuracy.

6. Ray Chapman Volvo
What a quality Volvo car dealer thought of Retell's quality of service

7.
    Smiths (Cheadle) Ltd
How recording is used as a kind of insurance polic

9. Caxton
"Testing the demo version of the recording software showed us how useful..."

10. Redmayne Bentley
Why a stockbroker says his "magic machines" have saved hundreds of pounds already.

11. PH
"We are using the 957 Pro to improve our telephone skills. I can safely say ..."

12. ALD Automotive
How easy it is to us the 703N telephone recording kit.

13. Churchill Management Ltd
How a management company find the recorders easy to use so saving on training time.

14. Gary
All of us were very touched to receive this letter from Gary who is autistic. We were so pleased to read how the recording of calls helped him as it shows that being able to show "who said what" applies in the home as well as the call centre.

1.
    TELE-RECORDING TAKES BARCLAYS BANK
CUSTOMER SERVICE INTO A NEW ERA

One of UK's leading banks is setting ever higher standards of customer service thanks to ongoing coaching of Customer Service staff supported by the use of digital tele-recording equipment.

With tele-banking fast becoming a cornerstone of the modern banking system, top quality telephone contact with customers is taking on fresh importance.

Barclays Bank PLC has recognised this and recently introduced digital recording systems supplied by Retell into more than 140 Customer Service Sections across England and the UK to drive performance and improve the quality of its telephone customer service.

"We had been looking to introduce telephone recording as a coaching tool into our Customer Service Sections for some time, but had been unable to find the right equipment to satisfy our requirements," said Dave Dawson, Business Performance Manager for Barclays Bank PLC, Retail Network Operations.

"When Retell provided us with their digital recorder it provided better sound quality and was much more convenient than the other versions we had previously tested. We subsequently rolled out the Retell recorders to all our sites within a matter of weeks."

The digital recorder can be attached to a team member's phone line in seconds by a Barclays Customer Service Section Team Leader and will record all their telephone calls. The team leader can then digitally scan and erase unwanted conversation in order to focus on and discuss selected parts of calls with team members in their regular performance reviews.

The small digital recorder is unobtrusive and does not require the team leader to sit beside a team member with a second handset in order to listen in to calls live.

"How we answer the telephone and speak to customers is a key aspect of our work. With each team member receiving around 125 calls a day it would not be practical to monitor all of them for coaching purposes," said Sue Jameson, Business Performance Assistant, Barclays Retail Network Operations."

"The digital recorder allows team leaders to record each team member's calls for a random period and then easily select those parts of the calls to be focused on at the team member's next review.

The recorder is easy to use and our team members tend to forget it is there. Team leaders have found it to be a useful tool to have in support of coaching and monitoring team members' performance."

Digital recorders are at the leading edge of tele-recording and offer additional business benefits. Their speed of use and excellent sound quality make them ideal for dictation, recording meetings or note-taking. Recordings are automatically "date and time-stamped" and can be transferred to a PC.

Simple operation provides multi-functions which include the ability to record continuously unlike tapes that need rewinding or turning over - and automatically switch on and off to record calls..

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2. EASTERN ENERGY'S TRAINEES COMMUNICATION SKILLS
ASSESSED AND IMPROVED USING RETELL'S TELE-RECORDERS

Hundreds of call centres staff with Eastern Energy are set to benefit from improved communications skills training thanks to the use of innovative new tele-recording equipment.

The user-friendly recorders, from UK-specialists Retell, are an essential part of the structure two-day training courses arranged by Eastern Energy to maintain and enhance their customer service operations.

"We use the Retell equipment to record telephone calls between our staff and trainers or customers. We then review the calls and assess the performance of the trainees and, if necessary, advise on the ways to improve," said Amanda Codling, Training Officer for Eastern Energy.

Communication skills training is an ongoing project for Eastern Energy which recognises the important of high standard customer service in the modern business world. More than 500 staff, mainly based at Rayleigh and Bedford, will have completed the training by the end of 2001.

"The training is not just for call centres. Back-office staff are included as well. We have used the tele-recording equipment in our Electricity Division as well as Gas for some time now and there have been no problems. I would definitely recommend the Retell recorders. They are easy to use and connect, delivery was quick and the price was reasonable," said Miss Codling.

"Our role as trainers is to help provide an excellent customer service and Retell has assisted greatly in achieving that," she added.

The Retell Tele-recorders can be attached to a training candidate's phone line in seconds by an Eastern Energy trainer enabling them to record calls over a period of time or listen in to specific calls live.

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3. Channel Strategy

Background to the ease of finding recordings by customer name
Channel Strategy is a 100 seat 2 site contract call centre in Peterborough whose clients include 3M, ICI, Philips, IBM, Axa, Sun Life, Novartis, Lucent, Nortel and British Sugar. The quality of the calls they make is very important as they are calling their clients' customers as if they were the client themselves. Channel Strategy are committed to setting the highest professional standards by acknowledging the level of skills required in this kind of call centre and by using the most appropriate state of the art technology. Channel Strategy were asked to carry out a series of campaigns on behalf of two high street banks, but the contract specified that all calls had to be recorded so that the bank themselves could assess the calls for content and quality.

The challenge
The challenge was how to record calls in a hot desking multi client call centre so that they could select recordings by client and by campaign. Channel Strategy looked at a range of recording equipment but most are telephone system orientated so they could only offer recording of all calls with searching by date, time and dialled number. This did not enable the selection that was required, and without this selection, Channel Strategy could not accept the contracts.

The answer
Channel Strategy choose Retell's 957 recording software as they could integrate it into their Access database which acts as a front end to their SQL server. Although the software runs on each agent's PC recordings are made onto the server over the LAN.

What happens
Now when the predictive dialer screen pops the customer's details to the agent this calls a dll which starts the recording in the 957 software. What the agent does on the screen anyway to finish a call sends a message to the 957 software to stop recording, and to name the file that is produced with the client name, campaign, customer name, agent name and agent ID. The audio is put into each PC's soundcard from each agent's Inter-tel telephone by Retell's Intelligent Recording Interface. This has the sophistication to record both the agent and the customer equally and perfectly clearly. For security, if any call is not recorded, the supervisor can be notified immediately.

The benefit
All conversations are automatically stored in folders by client and campaign in compressed WAV format. This means that Channel Strategy can simply burn the folder which has been automatically prepared to a DVD for sending on to the client. The client can play back any call with ordinary Windows media player and can both see and sort by the call information given in the file name.

What Channel Strategy said about Retell's 957 call recording software
Helena Adams, CEO, said "We looked at other software but Retell's was the only solution that we could find that would integrate with our existing software. Because of it we were able to win two ongoing contracts worth £300,000". David Todd, Head of IT, commented "I was very pleased with the choice of the software, as the integration of the few lines of code that Retell gave me into our Access was very easy. In addition, the audio was of the high quality that was needed for our clients to be able to hear clearly what both the agent and the customer says. Retell's support on the product through the roll out process was superb".

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4.
    Bromwall Ltd

"As insurance brokers it is essential that we follow our client’s instructions exactly and also have a record of any information given by Insurers, we decided to record all incoming and outgoing telephone calls. We scoured the market and found that systems that record all lines centrally were expensive, so we decided that it would be more economical to use a device to record the calls from each individual extension directly on to the employee’s computer. By doing so the calls can be identified by name of the caller and easily tracked. Any one call could also be E-mailed to a third party. We evaluated the two leading systems and chose Retell for it’s simplicity in installing and setting up, and it’s performance in giving high quality recordings. The unit automatically records all incoming and outgoing calls to a file on the hard drive. These can be archived to a rewritable CD or zip disk at a convenient time to save space. The units were purchased at a fraction of the cost of an integrated centralised recording system. Up to now it has given us trouble free use. We would strongly recommend this system for the small to medium sized office."

Roy A Walton Director Bromwall Ltd 01707 894401

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5. DIGITAL RECORDERS MAKE GOOD NEWS FOR JOURNALISTS

Journalists' nightmares are over thanks to the new technology of digital telerecorders.

The mouth-drying death-rattle of a tape getting chewed up as that important interview rewinds; the cold sweat of fearful discovery that the tape ran out and key news quotes did not get recorded - both are dispatched to past history by tele-recorders of the future being introduced by British company, Retell.

Digital tele-recorders are tapeless and do away with the fuss of tape cassettes. They can also record hours of live speech or telephone calls. In journalism speed and accuracy is essential and the Retell digital recorder is already proving its worth with professional news gatherers.

"The telephone conversation recorder is a useful tool - where long interviews have to be carried out over the phone, it is ideal," says freelance editor Tony Dowding. "I do a lot of work on the phone. Interviewees are not concerned when told that the conversation is being recorded, especially, as it means that they will be quoted accurately."

Tony Dowding, who writes and edits news and feature articles in the risk management, finance, health & safety, and insurance media, says the Retell tele-recorder also works extremely well for mobile phone conversations.

"It is very quick and simple to fit, in seconds in fact, and it can be left on the line when not being used."

The digital voice recorder functions equally well as a hand-held recorder or to dictate personal notes.

"The size is perfect for slipping into a jacket pocket or handbag - smaller than most mobile phones. It is extremely easy to use and more importantly there are no worries about whether the tape is in correctly, or rewound to the start, or whether it will run out and have to be turned over half way through an interview.

"Sound quality is excellent and range considerable - it can pick up a voice clearly from some metres away - useful in a conference or seminar situation. Replaying the interview is amazingly easy - no rewinding required, there is instant playback."

Richard Herman, Managing Director of Retell explains: "Quite simply, the Retell digital recorders are the most professional piece of equipment in its field." "The flexibility of digital recording opens up a new range of recording opportunities to help professionals improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their business performance" Richard Herman added.

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6. Ray Chapman Volvo

"I am the quality manager, and I have done quality for a long long time, and the level of service that Retell gave us was absolutely superb. I don’t pay compliments if I don’t get the level of service."

Brian Wilson Ray Chapman Volvo

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7.
    Smiths (Cheadle) Ltd

"Our company purchased several Retell 957's some time ago, and we have really come to appreciate the significant benefits of having clear concise recordings of your conversations. We have been able to utilise the product fully from being able to submit a recorded conversation as evidence at one end of the scale to playback of recordings as a aide memoir at the other.

We have found the telephone service and support at Retell matches the quality of the product and consequently have no hesitation in recommending Retell and their products.

P Newton - Director. Smiths (Cheadle) Ltd

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9. Caxton

" Testing the demo version of the recording software showed us how useful it is to record telephone calls, so we thought it worthwhile to buy the full programme. As a foreign exchange broker our clients buy at least £100,000 worth of foreign currency at a time over the telephone. During the first month we saved £600 on one occasion alone by checking for sure what we said on the phone. There have been a number of other examples where it would not necessarily have saved money, but it resolved disputes quickly and painlessly, including one with our bank. We find that we refer to calls about once every two days - the system makes it easy to access recorded calls and the notation facility is useful too. "

Rupert Lee Browne Caxton Foreign Exchange Brokers www.caxtonfx.com

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10. Redmayne Bentley

Magic machines. I find the recording software very useful, and the alternative was going to cost me £3000. I have 2 lines on one number, and use two of them. They have saved us hundreds of pounds by being able to refer back to telephone conversations, and they have certainly repaid their cost already.

Neil Macpherson Redmayne Bentley Stockbrokers

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11. PH

" We are using the 957 Pro to improve our telephone skills. I can safely say on behalf of us all that we have found it excellent. In less than half an hour we had significantly improved our performance on the telephone. It is amazing the nonsense we talk when there is no one to play it back to us. In addition to this we have a complete record of the conversation so that we can check the details, names etc. and make sure we understand exactly what was said and not just what we think was said. The equipment is excellent and given our experience were we starting again we would have invested in it rather than wait."

PH - Building On Success UK Ltd

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12. ALD Automative

"The recording quality achieved with the 703N was very good, it came out just fine. I passed the 703N kit to our IT department for them to fit it to a telephone. They said it was very simple to install, and I found it very simple to use. The feature that I really liked was the fact that when you put the call down it stopped recording and paused itself, because there is always that fear that you are going forget to stop recording and fill up the cassette unnecessarily. I thought that was an absolutely brilliant idea. "

Stephanie Frizelle AXUS UK t/a ALD Automotive

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13. Churchill Management Ltd

"The feedback from the floor is that the 121N kits are very simple to use and work very well for the team. They are also finding the sound quality to be good for their requirement."

David Bradberry Churchill Management Ltd

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14. Gary, who has autism, uses our equipment at home

We reproduce the email that Gary wrote to us exactly as he wrote it:

" i bought the kit from retell and it arriveed next day it usualy takes 5 days for stuff to arrive in ellon, the instructions where realy simple to undrstnd and the machine was really easy to set up, it was awsum being able to record calls and for a tird person to bealable to listn to the phone as well, before i used to forget what people sayed and people would say one thing to you and then next time say another thing to you and people would listen to the other person insted off me because im autistic and now i can let people hear what they sayd, the care company manager thought when i said calls where being recorded i was imaginang it and he said one thing to me and then said another to mum and when mum and him heard the tape he changed his mind and admited he said what he said to me. well worth the money everyone should have one."

A few months later Gary updated us:

"mum karen and ian use it as well it was origionaly just for my calls but we all have own tapes i divided the 11 c60 between us all"

Gary from Ellon, Aberdeenshire

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