Call center compliance is a critical element in outsourcing the customer service industry. Violating any of the laws can be a great blow to a top BPO company as well as the brand and business trusting them with their tasks or operations. 5the consequences of such a slip can be severe, from damaging reputations to healthy fines for the contact center and the company. So, the BPO and BPM services offering contact center solutions are searching for new ways to satisfy compliance requirements. Training agents and updating them about the changes happening in all relevant laws and regulations are necessary.
Also, contact centers are deploying platforms for compliance with regulations and monitoring customer interactions. Understanding compliance requirements for any country or location, such as American Call center services, requires an in-depth understanding of the industry, business, and location-specific laws relevant to their business.
Understanding Compliance Regulation in a Call Center
Compliance in a contact center or call center is the process of these call or contact centers operating strictly following laws and regulations for protecting customer rights, data security, and relevant rules for operating in a country or location. These standards and rules primarily focus on the privacy and safety of customer data and rights. Typically, all activities that involve customer data and business operations or contact center operations must adhere to national and state laws from the location of the clientele or customer base.
Also, operating a business like a contact center involves permission and regulations from where they are located. The United States has developed many laws to protect customers’ rights and to protect sensitive data. Other countries and regions have several other laws related to data protection and management. It is a complex terrain of different regulations and standards for different businesses, industries, locations, or countries that need assistance from a top BPO company or outsourcing service provider.
Here are a few significant laws, regulations, and standards that a top BPO company must meet to ensure compliant and quality services for their clients who trust them with their operations:
1. PCI-DSS
PCI-DSS certification is often necessary for running a contact center operation. The term stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. Credit card companies are mandated to ensure all credit card transactions are performed securely through call centers or contact centers. The PCI Security Council (PCI-SSC) implemented twelve sets of rules to govern these tractions. These rules protect credit card data and prevent any data leakage or safety breaches in payment operations. For example, sensitive data like customer’s credit card details are protected by this law. Therefore, each of the twelve rules specifies the technical and operational aspects of payments to protect cardholder data and eliminate risks. A top BPO company must be PCI-DSS certified to ensure the security of the payment process and card details.
2 HIPAA
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a series of regulations that specify how particular companies are to handle protected health information (PHI). The HIPAA regulations list healthcare and insurance providers among these businesses. Companies that store patients’ personal information must comply with HIPAA regulations. These companies must forbid disclosing personal data to outside parties. All covered companies must provide new hires with standard training programs that teach them how to manage protected health information, as mandated by regulatory compliance. Any top BPO company in healthcare must be HIPAA-compliant to protect patient data and sensitive medical information.
3. TCPA
A federal statute known as the “Telephone Consumer Protection Act” (TCPA) governs the use of phones for commercial purposes. According to this call center policy, permission must be obtained before initiating any telemarketing calls. Also, prior to pre-recording calls, the customer must acquire this consent. The TCPA also prohibits the use of pre-recorded messages and automated calling systems. In addition to governing phone calls, the TCPA laws allow consumers to ask businesses to cease contacting them and add them to a do-not-call list. It is a critical requirement for American call center services and many other locations to ensure that consumers who are unwilling to receive any calls or don’t want to be contacted are added to the do-not-call list.
4. The FDCPA
A series of rules known as the “Fair Debt Collection Practices Act” (FDCPA) limits debt collectors’ methods to get debts. Medical debt, credit card payments, mortgages, and other personal obligations are all covered by the FDCPA compliance checklist. These rules protect the debtor against harassment at work and during irregular hours. Ensuring complete compliance can be challenging for call centers due to the multitude of laws and regulations they must adhere to in daily operations. So, top BPO services must develop a process to lower the possibility of any compliance breach.
5. GDPR
The European Union (EU) enacted the General Data Protection Policy (GDPR), a comprehensive data privacy and protection policy, in May 2018. More stringent guidelines and regulations for processing personal data inside the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA) came from the call center regulatory compliance. The GDPR regulations emphasize a number of topics, including adopting data protection measures, reporting data breaches, and gaining consent for data processing.
When managing EU and EEA data, all businesses—even those outside the EU—must adhere to GDPR regulations. The most well-known and crucial call center compliance rules have now been covered. This is a list that is essential for contact center compliance but is frequently disregarded. It is one of the most important compliance requirements of the industries that handle customer data and any sensitive information. Any top BPO services provider must comply with GDPR policies.
6. Registry of Do Not Call
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States and other government organizations administer the Do Not Call (DNC) Registry, a list that enables people to choose not to receive telemarketing calls. As said earlier, individuals who are not willing to receive any calls or wanted to be contacted for telemarketing, other promotional activities can opt for registering into DND list. Contact centers or call centers are strictly prohibited to call these individuals for these purposes.
7. Consent to call monitoring
Nations and regions have different consent regulations for call monitoring. Generally speaking, these rules mandate that companies get people’s express agreement before listening in on or recording their phone calls. Typically before a call starts the individual should be notified that the call will be recorded in a contact center or call center.
Endnote
There are also a couple of acts, such as the ECQA or Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Truth in Lending Act or TILA, and other financial regulatory laws that relate to contact center operations in the financial sector. Any top BPO services company must ensure their call center or contact center team and entire operation strictly adhere to these laws, standards, and regulations. A clear compliance policy and call criteria, constant agent training, and development and tracking agents and customer interactions with AI-enabled tools and applications can be a great way to ensure complete compliance in a contact center operation. Experienced outsourcing can make sure nothing slips through the cracks.