Recording calls continues to be a mission-critical requirement for contact centers and service organizations in many verticals, such as financial services, insurance, telecom, retailing, utilities, etc., in the US and in many countries around the world. Organizations have many valid and practical reasons to record calls, including avoiding lawsuits, quality assurance, and to improve agent performance, but the primary driver is regulatory compliance. As companies incorporate email, chat, short message service (SMS), social media and video into their servicing and sales organizations, they will need to capture interactions in these channels just as they do phone calls.

Over the last three years, session-initiated protocol recording (SIPREC) has emerged as the preferred method for capturing multi-media interactions. SIPREC is a standardized SIP-based recording protocol developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). SIPREC allows users to record multi-media communication sessions by actively replicating (forking) the real-time protocol (RTP) media at an edge device, such as a session border controller (SBC). The replicated media is transmitted to a recording environment for capture and management. A basic SIPREC recording environment is comprised of the following architectural components:

• Session recording client (SRC) – a SIP-enabled device such as an SBC or media gateway, which is the source of the recorded media. The SRC is responsible for forking the media stream, collecting the metadata, and transmitting the replicated media and metadata to the recording server.
• Session recording server (SRS) – a media server that is used to capture and manage the replicated media; it is a SIP-based recording device/environment provided by media recording vendors such as NICE or Verint.
• Communication session (CS) – the original media session that is replicated for recording and storage; it could be a customer call, chat session or email to an agent.
• Recording session (RS) – the SIP-based media session that is created between the SRC and SRS in order to record the replicated interactions.

Most organizations today use proprietary voice recording solutions; however, SIPREC is a standards-based technology that can capture the complete customer journey, regardless of media type. It can also reduce the complexity and cost associated with recording services. A recording environment based on SIPREC should provide the following benefits:

1. A single multi-channel recording platform – In the past, recording systems had to be deployed locally at each site and for each channel. SIPREC allows organizations to capture and manage all inbound and outbound interactions, regardless of media type, in a centralized location.
2. Recording of all real-time media – All multi-channel interactions that pass through the SRC can be captured and recorded in real time, providing organizations with a more complete picture of the customer journey.
3. Scalability – A single SIPREC recording solution can scale to tens of thousands of concurrent recording sessions. All enterprise recording requirements for contact centers, branches, mobile users and remote or at-home employees can be handled with a single recording deployment.
4. Standardized recording environment – By leveraging SIPREC on an SRC, any recording vendor that supports the SIPREC protocol can take advantage of the recording capabilities; organizations no longer have to be tied to a single recording vendor with proprietary hardware and software.

As organizations add new channels to their environments, they need a recording solution that can capture and manage interactions in all media, whether to comply with regulations or for quality assurance. SIPREC is emerging as the leading standards-based multi-media technology. It is compelling because it can record the entire customer journey on a centralized basis, regardless of the communication channel. Recording vendors have only recently started to introduce enterprise-scale SIPREC recording platforms. There is still much work ahead, but early indications are that this is going to be an important area of innovation for enterprises and the market. The SIPREC protocol promises to simplify session recording, allowing interoperability and providing carrier-class scalability and high-availability functionality. The solutions are in their infancy, but are maturing quickly. Companies looking for a new multi-media recording solution should investigate SIPREC.

We have a blended inbound/outbound contact center environment that consists of 75 agents in multiple locations, including many who work from their homes. We were recently approached about converting our desktop environment over to a DaaS. Could you please explain the concept and benefits of DaaS?

Answer:
Desktop as a service (DaaS) is a service where the hardware and software to support your desktop applications are hosted by a cloud-based service provider. Using a DaaS solution in a contact center can make it easier for companies to provide a virtual desktop environment. Companies are considering DaaS because it eliminates the need to make a capital expenditure, and makes it easier to set up and manage a virtualized infrastructure. The primary benefits of DaaS for contact centers are that it:

1. Allows organizations to standardize desktop environments, applications and operating systems.
2. Allows agents to access their desktop applications from any location and on multiple devices such as a PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone.
3. Improves data security by ensuring that no sensitive customer information is retained on the end-device.