Does Virtual Observer support T1 recording?

While we have been selling a great deal of digital and VoIP systems in the last two years, often as an alternate method of recording, we are asked to record trunkside or T1.


This especially comes into play when we are asked to record a system which we don't have a compatible audio recording board for, and random sample or extension side logging becomes a non-option.

Virtual Observer can passively record audio from t1 or trunks . In this environment, SMDR or CTI integration is required for agent identification.

T1 recording available for VO customers who wish to capture every call.

VO Logger with QA is also packed with many of our quality assurance features, creating a powerful quality monitoring tool, which when combined with CTI, can deliver a robust business intelligence tool....even without direct phone system integration.


T1 logging is limited in that you aren't able to capture full video screen capture of your agents' pcs. However, recently we've introduced "VO Live", a suite of interactive features included with the base VO package. "VO Live" provides supervisors a look at thumbnail views of all agent desktop activity - allowing them to click and enlarge a desktop thumbnail to full screen, and even take control of the agent's computer. "VO Live" also allows the supervisor and agent to communicate via chat, enabling the supervisors to provide assistance or guidance when needed.

Big business benefits from CTI and Avaya Interaction Center

One of our newest customers, a large wireless provider scores big business benefits by integrating Virtual Observer and Avaya Interaction Center.

An award-winning wireless carrier that has operated in the Southeastern United States since 1999 and in parts of the Caribbean since 2004, they have more than 1,900 people and five business offices. The wireless company lives and breathes “customers come first”, with a committent to provide the highest quality network, simple and straight-forward service plans that deliver real value, and the best products available on the market. Customer care associates are available 24 hours a day, everyday to quickly and politely assist customers with their questions and concerns.

The wireless carrier’s contact center handles an average of 35,000 calls per day. They wanted to implement a call recording system to maximize the performance of their agents within the center. After reviewing several options, they chose Coordinated Systems, Inc.’s (CSI) Virtual Observer solution, based on the value, price and quality the solution offered. With 114 supervisors managing the agents, it would be extremely important for the supervisors to quickly get on board with the system. Clearly, the software seems to have earned some fans, as one supervisor was quoted to say “Virtual Observer is extremely easy to use, easy to learn and the ability to coach associates based on the screen shots. It also has a much higher accuracy rate for recordings compared with our previous recording software. An integrated evaluation form reduces the need to have a 3rd party monitor form solution.” He added “CSI’s customer service has been superb. They are always available for assistance and return calls/emails very quickly.”

The wireless provider runs an Avaya phone system with Avaya Interaction Center (AIC). It was vital for the winning call recording vendor to offer a tight integration with AIC. An IT engineer at the wireless company stated “Virtual Observer works extremely well within our IC environment. It allows VO to capture recordings based off of CTI Triggers to reduce the length of unnecessary recordings and speed up the quality monitoring process. It also allows us to see the account that the associate has on their screen.” Additional business benefits include reduced recording size and reduced storage space needed, improved performance by QA associates. “Custom CTI Triggers by CSI allowed us to record based on call type,” he added.

Many options exist to enhance your call recording system

I happened to be reviewing our list of add-ons, and I was surpised at how many different options and tools have been released since our last release of product, 3.0. Many enhancements and new capabilities are automatically added into the core version of product, such as our exciting "Live Desktop" feature which allows for supervisor-agent chat and thumbnail views of all agent screen activity.

Going along with our "Start Small and Think Big" philosophy, some functionality is made available as an optional add-on. Many customers start with a core random recording system for quality assurance to begin proving the r-o-i before they expand their budgetary requests for additional functionality. Many customers also move from random recording to logging, or from a standard analog or digital switch and then upgrade to VoIP, and we can make sure Virtual Observer moves right along with them.

One of the latest add-ons is our "Surveying" service, which works with your IVR system to provide your customers with an optional post-call survey. This brings the customer into the evaluation equation. With the supervisors, agents themselves, and now the customers, you can truly get a good mix of independent evaluation results. Make sure you ask your CSI sales rep about "VO Surveys".

Other add-ons include:

* Media Encryption, which can help companies comply with Visa payment card industry security standards.

* Auto-Archiving, which automatically backs up recordings to a NAS / SAN.

* CTI Integration, which allows for customer and call data to be saved with the recording. This is critical for bringing customer information into the evaluation process. SMDR integration does this to a degree, bringing in data from your phone system, such as ANI or DNIS numbers.

* E-Learning, which allows for automatic distribution of training materials to agents based on evaluation outcomes. Our web-based player allows for agents to play back calls and view evaluations right from their web browsers.

What's the biggest benefit of CTI integration with call recording?

We asked this question to our panel of experts and again we were able to gather a few very strong answers. Please comment if you have a definitive view on which of these benefits is more valuable to your call center.

* Integrating CTI with call recording provides the ability to perform "cradle to grave" recording - meaning if a call is passed internally from extension to extension, the recorded event will include every conversation.

* CTI Integration provides the ability to capture Private Data, Attached Data, or User Data linked from an IVR, ACD etc. This is good for enterprise data capture such as Claim-#, Account-#, Order-#.

* The call recording system gets all of the CTI events stored with a call and gets call start. With all of the CTI events stored with a call, you can see when a call goes on hold and know how many times a call was placed on hold, etc.