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What
Are Your Needs?
There are many brands of recording equipment available in the market
today. With technology advancing at an ever increasing pace, it
can be difficult to determine the right equipment for your particular
application. Do you need global recording, recording on demand or
scheduled recording? Will your agents be monitored live or reviewed
afterward? Will agents be scored? Will you also need screen capture
now or at a later date? Is telephone management and cost accounting
a concern?
This web site
has been designed to help you through the myriad of issues you must
consider when choosing a voice logging recorder or quality monitoring
system. This site is still undergoing improvements and not all features
and links are fully enabled; your comments are welcome. We hope
you gain some useful information while visiting, however, we would
welcome the opportunity to meet with you personally to discuss your
needs.
For an Example
of our system layouts click here.
Following are
10 key issues we recommend for consideration when selecting a global
voice logging recorder:
1.
Digital or Analog?
One of the benefits of recording in a digital format is the speed
with which information can be accessed. Using a high capacity local
hard disc drive provides hundreds of hours of on-line voice messages
to which the user can gain instant access, replaying them without
delay. Additionally, because of the ability to compress digital
data files, storage capacity can be maximized. There are numerous
other benefits of digital recording including:
- long term
retention without audio degradation;
- greater choice
of archive media;
- easy duplication;
- file transfer
via standard computer platforms.
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2.
Flexibility
As your needs change, will your voice logger adapt to maintain its
primary function in a cost effective way?
Commercial Electronics
offers a variety of optional configurations to allow not only ease
of integration with your existing infrastructure, but also the flexibility
to change with technological advancements without locking you into
outdated peripheral equipment.
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3.
Archive Media and Compression Techniques
Digital audio tapes, DAT, store an enormous amount of information
compared to standard audio cassettes, reel-to- reel or VHS tapes.
Because audio is digitized prior to recording, audio files can be
reduced using a variety of compression techniques. These techniques
have different replay audio qualities - generally, higher compression
equates to lower quality replay audio. Ideally, you want to maximize
storage capacity while maintaining a replay audio quality level
sufficient for the application. The technique you choose, i.e. ADPCM,
CCITT, CELP, DSP, GSM, SBC will depend on several factors. Also,
the length of time you will need to archive can have a substantial
impact and must be considered in the overall cost of ownership of
a voice logging system. Extended archival requirements may necessitate
more costly, yet higher capacity storage media. Commercial Electronics
can help you determine the most economical combination of compression
rate and media storage to meet your needs.
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4.
Capacity and Expandability
As your recording requirements grow, will your voice logger handle
the increased demands or will an entirely new system be needed?
Commercial Electronics offers systems which can grow with you from
a single line recorder to a thousand channel system.
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5.
Connectivity, Compatibility and Integration
The choice between station side or trunk side recording can make
a significant difference in operation as well as over all cost.
With the ever increasing prevalence of ISDN and digital PBX's with
various protocols, the issue of connectivity and future compatibility
is paramount. Will additional digital to analog interface equipment
be required? Will logger patches be necessary? Commercial Electronics
offers direct interface to the more popular PBX's and ISDN's.
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6.
Search and Replay
Most voice loggers do a great job of recording and replaying. However,
the ease and speed with which messages are found is what really
differentiates voice logging systems. Making a recording is easy;
being able to find a specific recording quickly among potentially
thousands requires full featured equipment. Most modern telephone
networks provide information about the source of a call, usually
the telephone number and name of the caller. Automatic integration
of this data into the call record greatly enhances the searchability
when searching for a call to be replayed among hundreds or thousands
of calls recorded. For example, a dealer may remember accepting
an order which came in from Bank X at 12:30. By using the telephone
number of Bank X as the search criterion, the number of possible
messages to replay can quickly be narrowed down. In emergency services
applications, quick verification of the caller can be achieved.
The more information which can be used to narrow search parameters
beyond date, time and channel, such as Caller ID, ANI / ALI , customer
name, account number, etc., will greatly enhance the effectiveness
of the voice logger as the tool it was designed to be.
Commercial Electronics
offers a Windows compatible report generator that allows you to
generate reports on phone usage and costs using data collected from
your PBX. Through a serial connection with the PBX, call detail
information on every call that comes into, or goes out of, your
phone switch is captured. Call information is stored in a database,
which can later be used to generate reports by a powerful integrated
report manager. The system records the date and time, duration,
number dialed, and station of every call, then assigns a division,
department, or account to each call, looks up the location the call
was made to, and can even price the call according to your own local
and long distance rates. Reports are generated in a matter of seconds,
not hours or even days. The ease and speed with which the system
operates allows you to customize reports and obtain information
on the fly.
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7.
LAN / WAN Operation
The voice logging systems offered by Commercial Electronics are
fully networkable to existing PC LAN's running most Windows platforms;
an additional dedicated computer terminal is generally not required.
Connecting the voice logger to an existing network additionally
increases its cost effectiveness by providing multiple departments
access to a single, centrally located system, versus multiple systems
scattered throughout. Networking allows multiple remote users to
access and replay different messages simultaneously.
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8.
Security and Integrity
Given that most recordings are made to provide insurance in the
event of a mistake or misunderstanding, it is essential that the
tapes are secure and auditable. Systems must provide excellent replay
quality, secure and tamper-proof archives and a reliable timecode.
Password codes
for each user and channel limit access to authorized messages and
audit trails maintain system security integrity.
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9.
Quality and Reliability
The dependablity of a recording system must be high on the list
of important factors when choosing among the players in the field.
Commercial Electronics offers the highest quality voice logging
and quality monitoring equipment available. And we back it with
unparalleled service and support.
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10.
Service and Support
Even the most reliable system must be backed by a strong support
organization. While we place high confidence in our product line,
we realize that equipment is subject to an occasional problem whether
due to a hard component failure, software glitch or user error.
Commercial Electronics
prides itself on the excellent service reputation developed over
the years. We employ factory trained technicians and currently maintain
over 200 voice logging systems throughout Texas. Our 24-hour technical
staff is available to rectify any problem which may arise and trained
to keep down time to a minimum. Our experience shows that most problems
are corrected quickly over the phone, however, technicians can be
readily dispatched from one or our regional offices should that
be needed.
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