07/07/2011

By Scott Thompson

Financial services institutions could face a backlash from their traders if technology deployed on mobile phones to record calls creates a poor user experience. Avoiding this should be a high priority, notes a new report by technology analyst, Ovum.

The report claims that the companies covered by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) requirement to record all mobile communications to and from their traders, due to come into effect in November, should be wary of installing an obtrusive system. Rik Turner, Ovum analyst and author of the report, comments: “While regulators require total compliance, the actual companies involved must also consider the quality of the user experience, given that their traders are some of their highest paid and most valued employees. A poor user experience on a recorded mobile device could irritate them and potentially contribute to an eventual decision to leave.”

The report advises that the user experience for the traders, their customers and any other parties that will be affected, must be as close as possible to that of a mobile phone connection on which no recording system is deployed. It finds that data communications between traders and their customers do not present a great problem in ensuring continuity of the user experience when it comes to their recording. However, it states that voice calls present more of a challenge, and connection delays as the recording technology begins to work will be inevitable with the majority of technical approaches.

Turner comments: “On inbound calls, if the delay is too long, then there is a real risk that the caller will simply give up on the attempt to call. If this is a potential client, it is a strong possibility that they will take their business elsewhere. When it comes to outbound calls, if they consistently take too long to complete, a trader will become disgruntled and the problem may contribute to them leaving the company.”

The mobile recording technology market is in rapid evolution with new vendors and service providers, as well as new technological solutions, emerging all the time. The report recommends that companies take a two-step approach to mobile recording to ensure they have a system in place for the November deadline, but then keep their options open for moving to a more cost-efficient, user-friendly and/or simpler method down the road.