Hello, Conviner - your call center terminology assistant at your service. Let’s discuss call center compliance today, an important term and factor in all call centers.

Call center compliance violations can be expensive. For example, in 2020, the FTC settled with a telemarketing company for $9.9 million for making illegal robocalls.

1. What Is Call Center Compliance?

Call center compliance refers to the policies, procedures, and regulations that call centers must adhere to when interacting with customers. Compliance in call centers is essential to protect customers and the business from legal and financial risks.

Call center compliance can cover various issues, including data privacy, security, consumer protection, and telemarketing regulations. For instance, call center agents must comply with laws such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in the United States, which regulates telemarketing calls and text messages to protect consumers from unwanted or harassing communications.

To maintain compliance, call centers must establish clear policies and procedures for agents to follow, provide training and resources to help agents understand the regulations, and implement monitoring and auditing processes to ensure compliance. By adhering to compliance requirements, call centers can maintain customer trust and confidence, avoid legal or financial penalties, and ensure a positive brand reputation.

2. Which Is The Best Call Center Compliance Checklist?

Many call center compliance checklists are available online, but the best will depend on the specific regulatory requirements that apply to your call center. Some call center compliance checklists are designed for specific countries or regions, while others are more general and cover various compliance issues.

To determine your organization's best call center compliance checklist, you should first identify the regulatory requirements for your operations. This may include laws and regulations related to data privacy, security, consumer protection, and telemarketing.

Once you have identified the relevant regulatory requirements, you can search for a compliance checklist that covers those issues. Many industry associations and regulatory bodies provide compliance checklists and other resources for call centers, so it may be helpful to check with those organizations as well.

As mentioned above, the best checklist for your organization will depend on your specific needs and regulatory requirements, but here are a few resources that can help:

1. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) provides a Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) Compliance Checklist that covers key requirements for telemarketing calls in the United States, including training, recordkeeping, and call abandonment rules.

2. The European Contact Centre and Customer Service Awards (ECCCSA) provides a GDPR Call Centre Compliance Checklist that covers key data privacy requirements under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union.

3. The Professional Association for Customer Engagement (PACE) provides a Compliance Checklist for Customer Engagement that covers a range of compliance issues, including telemarketing, data privacy, and consumer protection.

That’s all for today! Have you checked out Convin, which provides 100% compliance monitoring? 

Make your call center free of compliance violations.