SaaS technologists are busy overlaying artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the capabilities of many existing software products and digital services. VoIP call centre platforms are not going to escape.
The rapid advance of AI opens the door to significant improvements in the automation and analytics that drive outbound campaigns managed by contact centre VoIP solutions.
As a result of the increasing use of AI in call centres, we can likely expect tougher regulation of telesales in the not-too-distant future.
There are many current regulations governing cold calling and telesales. These or very similar regulatory codes are used by regulators in developed nations around the world, including Ofcom in the UK and the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) in Ireland. This includes requirements about obtaining consent, contact hours, not calling TPS subscribers, and caller identification.
The advent of AI-enhanced call centre systems means AI can be used to analyse customer response data to create more targeted telesales campaigns. One concern is that this could lead to consumers being bombarded with irrelevant or unwanted marketing messages. This suggests that regulators could act to protect consumers, effectively reining in the power of AI-driven telesales.
As part of Ofcom’s proposed plan of work 2023/24, the regulator is developing its approach. Its stated intent is to monitor the development of the UK Government’s artificial intelligence regulation framework and examine how best to implement it in the context of the communications sector. ComReg is also working along similar lines, so expect Ireland to strengthen its regulatory measures.
As a result of these concerns, regulators may likely introduce new rules to govern the use of AI in telesales. These rules might include limits on call frequency or restrictions on the types of data that can be used to target telesales campaigns. Another possibility is that regulators may require businesses to allow consumers or B2B prospects the opportunity to opt out of receiving calls or emails from businesses that are using AI.
Whatever new regulations arrive to govern the activity of legitimate companies operating within regulatory frameworks, it is not going to prevent the misuse of AI. Artificial intelligence (AI) is very powerful and capable of creating more convincing scam and hoax messages and phone calls.
Organised criminals operating beyond the shores of Britain and the EU are already using AI to make their scams more effective by generating more deeply personalised messages using data scraped from social media or other public sources; creating more convincing deepfakes – bogus videos or audio recordings that have been manipulated; and automating many of the tasks involved in running a scam, such as sending out emails, making phone calls, and processing payments.
Whatever changes are coming to the telesales regulatory code, meet your compliance obligations with Quvu. Quvu offers the connectivity, flexibility, and scalability needed for businesses to run high-performance outbound campaigns.
The platform supports the provision of superior customer service while adopting a distributed or completely virtual operational workforce model. Industry-leading tools such as an unrivalled standard call recording package and a powerful predictive dialler provide quality management and top-performing outbound call campaigning.
Book a personalised demo to see what Quvu can do for your contact centre. Get in touch, call us on 03333 4455 90 or email sales@quvu.co.uk
