Call centers aim to make Nice with customers
By Julie Vallese
CNN
 |  Recording phone conversations allows a customer service center to "monitor the customer interaction." |
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 Call centers are using controversial software to profile customers.
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(CNN) -- Calling a complaint hotline can cause some people's blood to boil, even leading unsatisfied customers to terminate their business.
Trying to avoid these problems, many call centers are enlisting new technology to help listen to consumer complaints and respond more quickly.
Florida-based Precision Response Corp. is one such company.
The customer service call center logs more than 1 million inquiries a month, answering questions and fielding complaints for 90 companies with such household names as American Express, AT&T, British Airways, DirecTV, Federal Express, AARP and Priceline.com.
To improve customer service, Precision started using Nice Perform to monitor calls. The technology was developed by Nice Systems, an Israeli manufacturer specializing in digital voice and data recording systems as well as security and surveillance products.
The software records everything surrounding a customer support phone call: the consumer's voice, the representative's voice and what appears on the representative computer screen.
"We're able to monitor the customer interaction, what the consumer is looking for," said Precision Chairman and CEO John Hall. "We're able to monitor what our own agent's performance has been."
During the first few seconds of a phone call, the software sets a base line of tone and pitch. If those change even slightly during the course of the call, the software picks it up.
A company also can designate words or phrases a consumer might say during a conversation that could raise flags such as a late fee, a cancellation request or complaint.
The manufacturer says technology can do a better job of listening than the human ear.
"The software measures key words, phrases and emotions that are being displayed during the call, " said Eyal Danon, marketing director for Nice Systems. "If you are an angry customer, the emotion will kick in immediately and identify you as upset, and then a supervisor or manager can step in and take action immediately."
As far as privacy, consumers give up any presumption of it when they hear these familiar words: "This call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes."
"Customers tell you if they love you, hate you, and companies have a gold mine to choose from," Danon said.
"Because all the calls are being monitored for key words, phrases and emotions, there is no excuse for poor service. We look at this as a guarantee the company is making to you that your issues are going to be resolved."
Twenty companies around the world are using this technology, including Blue Cross/Blue Shield and PharmaCare, a division of CVS Corp.
About 25 to 30 other firms are waiting for the software to be implemented into their systems, according to the manufacturer.
