VoIP Recording

Versadial has provided recording solutions for traditional telecommunications media, including analog extensions and trunks, T1/E1 trunks, and digital PBX extensions, for many years. Within the last year, we began offering a software-only solution for recording VoIP extensions. This is attractive because there is no hardware to buy and no wiring (other than one CAT5 patch cord) required. However, there are several potential obstacles on the road to realizing a cost-effective solution.

The first is getting the audio packets to the recorder via that one patch cord. This is most often achieved by setting up one of the IP-PBX ports as a SPAN (Switch Port ANalyzer), which replicates all the phone traffic that should be recorded. The details of how to do that depend on the switch and it's capabilities. Some small switches cannot do it at all or may have limits on how many ports can be SPANned or mirrored. For example, one popular 24 port switch can only mirror 5 ports. Don't be tempted to take shortcuts in setting this up, for example SPANning all ports because it's easier and faster to do so. The result is recordings that playback at half speed because there are two copies of every audio packet, one from the phone port, the other from the PBX.

A network analyzer of some sort is indispensible in getting set up for VoIP recording. There are several free software analyzers available. We highly recommend Wireshark. The time spent learning to use it will pay dividends when installation day arrives. Set it up to capture the traffic on the recording computer NIC. (Be aware that if you wish to access the recording computer over the network while it is recording, two NICs are required.) Make test calls to or from each recorded device (physical phone or softphone) and verify that the traffic arrives at the recorder.

How will you know? VoIP audio is carried by UDP or RTP packets. There should be a steady stream of them while conversations are in progress. Here is an example:

If you know that your system actually uses RTP but all you see is UDP, select a UDP packet, right-mouse-click and choose Decode as ... and type in RTP. This will reveal whether or not you must overcome the next most common obstacle: what type of CODEC is in use. Our software solution at present records only the "plain vanilla" VoIP: G.711. Other CODECs have advantages but cannot be recorded. G.729, for example, uses bandwidth more efficiently but requires a license. G.723 is a wideband implementation that produces remarkable clarity on the phone but silent recordings.

Now that you know there is recordable phone traffic, see if each device is represented. Type a filter string in the Wireshark Filter edit box. If the devices have static IP addresses, this can be something like "ip.addr==192.168.0.100". If the IP addresses are dynamic, look for MAC addresses instead: "eth.addr==00:FA:11:27:CC:05" and click Apply. The captured data is re-analyzed as RTP. Once again, verify that the CODEC is recognized as G.711.

The next potential obstacle is the audio port range. The Wireshark trace shows the source and destination ports for each packet. When it comes time to setup the Versadial software-only solution, make sure that the range is wide enough to include them all.

Finally, use Wireshark to check for common VoIP problems: excessive skew, jitter, latency, and dropped packets. These can occur on the SPAN port even when the actual phone traffic is fine. If that data is not clean, the recordings won't be either.

10 ways telephone recording helps your business process:

Versadial is a company that has been producing telephone recording solutions for businesses for nearly 14 plus years. Telephone recording has changed a LOT since then but I'm surprised how few business people know what it is, and how it can help their business process. I'll start with 10 ways, but I suspect I will end up writing a lot more over time. Please feel free to ask me questions or submit the ways you use telephone recording to help your business.

#1 REMEMBER KEY DATA
I have an average memory capacity. In other words, I forget things from time to time, especially little details at work that happened a few days or weeks ago. Forget about it if it happened a few months ago! Because I record all my calls I can easily access past calls the same way I can look at sent email. I just open up VS Logger, the software I use to access my telephone recordings and look for a date range or a dialed number. I then click and listen, and can fast forward a call to get to the part I want. Whether it's making sure I took down information correctly, or forwarding a copy of a call to someone else, it's invaluable to be able to access my own past calls. It's also the most common reason I access my telephone recordings and that's why I give it the #1 spot.

#4 Performance reviews

Related to last week's topic of employee training are employee performance reviews. Telephone recording is not the solution most managers think of when they are thinking about performance reviews, however it is a solution that every manager should now consider and I'll explain why:

If you manage staff that do a large portion of their work on the phone then telephone recording represents the most cost-effective, fair, and consistent way to improve your performance review process. Here's how telephone recording does this:

1. All calls made by your staff are recorded.
2. You set what parameters need to be met to achieve high performance.
3. You create a QC test in the telephone recording software that measures those parameters
   
4. A supervisor listens to a random sample of recorded calls for each employee
5. The supervisor grades each call in a few clicks based upon your QC test
6. The telephone recording software averages the grades for the period of time you set
7. You pull a report showing the employee's progress for that time period
8. The report lets you know how that employee compared to their past results and the department
9. You increase motivation by rewarding top performers and improvement
10. You increase performance by setting precise and measurable goals with each employee based upon exactly the parameters they need to improve.

A Versadial telephone recording system typically costs a few thousand dollars for an entire branch or department and will function with similar maintenance costs and needs as a Windows based PC. Training costs are negligible because you can have your entire staff trained to use the software in a half hour. For these reasons alone a telephone recorder merits serious consideration if you are interested in improving the motivation and performance of your staff.

#3 Employee training

Telephone recorders are usually thought of as training tools. Remember the last time you called some big company and got a message telling you that the call could be recorded or monitored for training purposes? Here's how that works; all calls are automatically recorded by the telephone recorder, a supervisor listens to a small sample of the total calls, the supervisor grades the calls for quality and customer satisfaction, and then examples of really good service calls are emailed to all service reps. So for training call recorders work as an easy way for a supervisor to allow others to LISTEN to an actual great call made by one of their coworkers. Learning by hearing how it is done in a real situation is the best kind of employee training. It also serves as a motivating congratulations to the employee who actually made the original call. Now they're walking around on cloud nine because they did a good job and everybody knows it. So employee training of this sort is also a motivator.

It's really easy for management to apply this kind of training. It is a huge time saver to be able to email an example recording to everyone in a click as opposed to having to set up a meeting, get all your representatives together, come up with and act out a role-playing scenario and then hope that everyone remember it. By contrast by emailing an example of a good call to everyone, they keep a copy they can review from time to time and they can listen to it when they have downtime. Learn more

In a sentence: If you have sales or service employees on the phone this is hands-down the most effective, motivating, and cost-cutting way to train those employees!

#2 The advantages of telephone recording for third-party verification

Third party verification is mandated by law in certain industries such as utilities, credit card companies, telecom providers and brokerages. It is also used by sales departments in many other industries as a way to prove a verbal contract and thus reduce liability. A call recorder performs the same task of verification as the 3rd party method by playing a message over the phone and then recording the response of the customer. The advantage comes in the cost-savings of using a machine to automate the process instead of transferring the call to a third person. Of course, many companies that wish to preserve the more personal nature of using a person to ask for the verification still use a call recorder to record the call because the call recordings provide additional proof and make it faster to find the evidence in the event of a dispute.

Time for a little tangent

For those of you with poor cell phone reception you can always build your own cell phone antenna in a few minutes. Here's a fun video tutorial on how to do it.

10 ways telephone recording helps your business process:

Hi, I've started this Blog to share some of things I've learned about telephone recording. For the past 2 years I've worked for Versadial, a small company that has been producing telephone recording solutions for businesses for nearly 14 years. Telephone recording has changed a LOT since then but I'm surprised how few business people know what it is, and how it can help their business process. I'll start with 10 ways, but I suspect I will end up writing a lot more over time. Please feel free to ask me questions or submit the ways you use telephone recording to help your business.

#1 REMEMBER KEY DATA
I have an average memory capacity. In other words, I forget things from time to time, especially little details at work that happened a few days or weeks ago. Forget about it if it happened a few months ago! Because I record all my calls I can easily access past calls the same way I can look at sent email. I just open up VS Logger, the software I use to access my telephone recordings and look for a date range or a dialed number. I then click and listen, and can fast forward a call to get to the part I want. Whether it's making sure I took down information correctly, or forwarding a copy of a call to someone else, it's invaluable to be able to access my own past calls. It's also the most common reason I access my telephone recordings and that's why I give it the #1 spot.