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Remo – Spescom’s new mobile technology mitigates business risk

Mobile devices are increasingly being used as business tools. It’s a convenient, efficient way to interact with customers and the office while on the move, especially for consultants and advisors in sectors such as insurance. But while anytime mobile interaction enhances productivity and customer loyalty, it comes with a number of disadvantages. The primary challenge is the inability to easily record calls made and received on a mobile device - this being essential to mitigate business risk and meet the requirements of legislation such as the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act. Until now, that is.

Spescom Mobile Solutions has launched ReMo, a mobile solution that promises to resolve this challenge for business users and consumers - affordably and easily. The solution comprises a mobile application and hosted service. It captures subscribers’ mobile conversations, pictures and documents, uploading them seamlessly and securely to a hosted site, where this data can be managed, viewed, played, downloaded or sent by e-mail.

Explains Viv Crone, CTO of Spescom: “The world is becoming more mobile by the day. Binding agreements are being reached verbally on mobile phones with customers giving businesses permissions, instructions and undertakings that involve financial commitments. Because the law requires an accurate record of a transaction or advice given by a registered financial service provider, and compels accountable institutions like a bank or long term insurer to report certain transactions, the inability to record mobile conversations has meant that some work had to wait ‘till I’m back in the office’. ReMo has been designed to remove this constraint.”

ReMo records all conversations made or received on a mobile device, stores them securely in an online vault along with documents and images created on the mobile device, then allows the user to access them whenever from anywhere via the Internet, replay them on their mobile device or send them to someone via email or Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).

Since the ReMo recordings are built on the same technology used for call centres and enterprises – i.e., they are date and time stamped, and given a unique algorithmic signature that makes tampering detectable – they are accepted as evidence in a court of law. They thus provide irrefutable proof of what was said and commitments made. This immediately lowers business risk, protects the user’s rights, and gives them the upper hand in a legal dispute.

Says Crone: “There is a very good reason why the recording of phone conversations with customers has long been part of the risk mitigation arsenal of enterprises and call centre operations. Verbal interactions are a convenient means of conveying information and reaching consensus. By recording such conversations, the nuance and emotion captured often assists to make clear the intent of the speaker or the agreement – something that is open to interpretation in the written form.”

Of course the ReMo solution has a lot of other advantages. On a practical level, the user can instantly replay the recording or retrieve it and replay back at the office or hotel, ensuring client instructions were accurately actioned. Says Crone: “It is difficult to remember what you discuss when you are multi-tasking – e.g., driving. It is thus of enormous benefit to be able to recall details and refresh your memory. This allows you to treat your customer fairly, avoid arguments which may hurt your relationship and, if necessary, enable consultation with a third-party by being able to supply a recording of the actual conversation.”

The ReMo service takes a number of elements into consideration – privacy, security, risk and the need for collaboration. For the business person it offers a ReMo Professional subscription, which provides basic record, store, edit, search and send functionality along with additional advanced features such as the ability to grant access rights to other users and create profiles for them; classify and annotate recordings; create reports; and monitor phone and data usage, as well as call statistics.

Subscribing to the service is as simple as registering online at www.ReMoVault.co.za. An SMS containing the application is sent to the subscriber who then loads it on the mobile device by following a few simple instructions. The application is then able to automatically record all calls, with full configurability where selective recording is required. The user decides what (and when) to upload to the online vault. The vault can then be accessed from anywhere via the Internet and the user can manage, view, play, download or send the stored content by e-mail.

Concludes Crone: “ReMo provides more than just an archive for the storage of data recorded or created using a mobile device; its offers a way to apply that data to greater effect. It ensures greater accountability, enhances processes and productivity, improves collaboration and team work, and can assist organisations to more accurately gauge service quality. It can also, importantly enhance customer relationship management, minimise business risk and liability, and ensure legislative requirements are met.”

About Spescom

Spescom Ltd is a JSE listed company operating in the ICT (Information & Communications Technology) sector. Founded in 1977, this South African Company has developed and delivered a number of world first technologies, as well as innovative products and services to local and global markets.

Spescom’s core focus is the delivery of integrated business communication solutions that leverage voice, video and data technologies to enhance the way businesses communicate with their customers. The deep technical expertise and considerable industry know-how housed in its five divisions - Spescom DataFusion; Spescom DataVoice; Spescom Telecommunications, Spescom Media IT and Spescom Mobile Solutions - combine to deliver world-class solutions, including integrated contact centre platforms and applications, a range of voice application technologies, telecommunications and broadcast solutions.

‘Smart People. Clever Solutions’ reflects who we are and why we are positioned to leverage current and future technology trends and developments to meet the dynamically shifting requirements of our customers and ensure their continued competitiveness.

The company has a staff complement of 290 with offices located in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and London (UK).  

For more information about Spescom visit www.spescom.com.

For further information contact:

Stuart Vey

Group Executive: Marketing and Communications

Spescom Limited

Tel: 011 266 1701

Or:  011 266 1754

Fax: 011 266 1553

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