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• Compliance recording to fulfil the requirements of regulations such as MiFID II
• Speech analytics tools to detect risks
• Support for fulfilment of the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• Available via the cloud or as on-premise solution at the customer’s place

Hösbach, February 15, 2018 – ASC is presenting its recording, analytics and quality management solution at CCW in Berlin from February 27 to March 1, 2018. Visitors can meet the experts for compliance recording and analytics at booth D22/D24 in Hall 2.

Due to legal regulations, the recording of consultant calls is obligatory in many sectors – including financial institutions and insurance companies. ASC offers evidence-proof recording to comply with legal regulations, such as MiFID II for financial service providers. In addition, speech analytics tools can be used to automatically unveil breaches of compliance regulations, and report them to the management. “Risks can be detected at an early stage and corresponding measures can be implemented,” explains Marco Müller, Chief Operating Officer of ASC.

The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) takes full effect on May 25, 2018. This regulation brings with it significant changes for how companies record, archive and process customer data. The “right to be forgotten” is a central aspect of the GDPR and gives customers the right to request that their personal data is fully erased. ASC’s solution helps to find stored data in a targeted manner and tag it for deletion.

ACS’s innovative solutions systematically record and analyze communications between customers and companies. Collected data can be used to analyze services, campaigns and products, present evaluations in user-friendly reports/dashboards, detect risks and compliance infringements, and record contract data.

The CCW is one of the major events for the Contact Center industry and is already being held for the 20th time. More than 270 exhibitors and 8,000 visitors are expected at the Estrel Congress Center in Berlin this year.

From June 12-15, 2018 customers can meet with ASC at the Salesforce partner booth (hall 9, booth 11)

Hösbach, June 11, 2018 – At this year’s CEBIT taking place in Hanover from June 12-15, 2018, ASC is displaying its latest solutions for recording, quality management, and analytics. The software provider is a co-exhibitor at the Salesforce booth in hall 9, booth 11.

In the limelight of the tradeshow appearance is the recording and analytics solution for Salesforce. The ASC solution puts Salesforce customers in the position to meet documentation and compliance requirements as well as to increase service quality. Additionally, ASC is presenting its latest neo 5.3 release from June of this year which includes a variety of new functions for cloud and analytics. Another innovative feature – and one of the key requirements of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – is an option for the purposeful deletion of conversations. Other GDPR demands such as quick and easy access to recordings as well as freely definable storage times have been part and parcel of the product portfolio ever since the neo suite was brought to market.

“As the leading German tradeshow for digitization and innovation with an excellent international reputation, the CEBIT is the ideal venue for us to present our solution portfolio and the latest product innovations”, explains Marco Müller, Chief Operating Officer of ASC. “All those interested in having a first look are welcome to drop in at our booth and learn more about the state-of-the-art ASC solutions!”

“Is is always a matter of “when” not “if” a breach will happen”
Oliver Rooney, VoxSmart CTO.

All risks are inherently unpredictable and this is equally true of information security risks. While we can always draw general inferences about how likely an event may be in the future, none of us can accurately foretell when a security incident or a breach of personal information is actually going to occur. For all this uncertainty though, we can be absolutely sure that incidents and breaches will continue to happen and the mantra of security professionals these days is that it is always a matter of “when” not “if” a breach will happen.

An ICO investigation found TalkTalk breached the Data Protection Act because it allowed staff to have access to large quantities of customers’ data. Its lack of adequate security measures left the data open to exploitation by rogue employees. – ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office)

Doubtless it is still a shock to an organisation when a breach does happen. Recent weeks have seen surprises delivered to HBO in the form of a hack, loss of commercial and personal data and subsequent attempt at extortion. Less surprising that the incidents though are the consequences and today (10/08/2017) gives us another example of the inevitability of regulatory sanction for loss of personal data: TalkTalk, who are no stranger to the ICO or the Data Protection Act, have been fined £100,000 for a previous breach which involved the disclosure of more than twenty thousand customers’ personal details from insecure systems used by an offshore provider of outsourced customer support.

This is a surprisingly small fine as it amounts to less than £5 per person. It may be that the ICO judged that the actual harm they suffered was small or it may be that the DPA simply does not allow proportionate fines as the cap is so low at £500,000. Still the cost per record of this breach in fines is well below the average cost per record you’d expect which usually runs to hundreds of dollars. Equally as predictable as the regulatory consequences of a breach is the onward march of regulators: regulation is increasing in scope and the levels of fines that can be levied is ever increasing. This trend, which started in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008 and continues to struggle to keep up with the increasing pace of technological advances, doesn’t show any sign of slowing down.

The two most significant regulatory changes coming into force soon are GDPR and MIFID II. MIFID II comes into force in January next year and will bring a large number of financial services organisations within the scope of regulation, in the UK by the FCA, and will require these firms to record and retain mobile voice calls to provider greater transparency of communication between market participants. GDPR follows in May next year and has two effects that interact with MIDIF II to markedly raise the stakes: GDPR increases the breadth of the definition of personal data to include identifiers like IP addresses, cookies or IMEI that were not previously considered personal and also increases the largest possible fine from £500,000 to €20,000,000 or 4% of global annual turnover. What would TalkTalk have been fined under GDPR?

Adding to this, GDPR also marks a change from the Data Protection Act’s seventh principle of ensuring appropriate organisational and technical controls to protect privacy to requiring “privacy by design and default” that makes specific reference to “state of the art” technical measures. This leads us to an important question. If the scope of regulation increases, if we use more technology to store and process more personal data, if there are ever greater fines for breaches, how can we control risks effectively?

Traditional security risk management would have us implement more controls and make out existing controls more rigorous. By then traditional risk management is too often about saying “no”, about curtailing people’s ability, not enabling them to do their jobs in the simplest and most secure way. Think of the common sayings: “There is always a trade-off between security and usability” or even more extreme: “ The only secure systems are the ones that are off”. Common sense says this can’t work and our experience agrees so it is good to see regulators catching up with common sense for once with NIST now acknowledging that password complexity rules and forcing regular password changes just make people choose worse passwords and reduce security.

At VoxSmart we don’t agree with the old approach to risk management. For us, risk management is about adding value because, not only is mitigating risk directly creating value by reducing expected costs of fines and reputational damage, but the targeted best of breed solutions that will exceed basic requirements. Our solutions will enable you to do more than meet obligations, they let you meet them in the best possible way, with the lowest risk and highest security.

How do we do it? Take the latest release of the VSmart™ product as a case in point: We have added Multi-Factor Authentication which hugely strengthens the user authentication process by requiring a username and secret password to log in and then generating a random one-time password and delivering this to the VSmart™ Control Centre user by SMS to a previously arranged mobile phone number. The requirement for “something you know” or the password, with “something you have”, the mobile phone makes unauthorised access much harder to obtain: keyloggers could capture a password but it is no use by itself, you could capture the SMS by malware on the mobile phone or by attacking the mobile network. Not only are these attacks hard to carry out they are also effectively blocked by IP address restrictions you can configure in VSmart™ which put you in control of the network traffic that is allowed to your portal. You can allow only your organisation’s networks to connect to your portal. On top of these we also have a granular and fully-customisable permissions model that lets you define your own roles, grant or deny them specific permissions which allows powerful segregation of duties and limits the impact of any credentials compromise. The last piece of the puzzle is the comprehensive audit logs available, these contain entries for all the user interactions with the portal and cannot be deleted by any user. Further, you can download them in an open format for your own analysis.

In a post MiFID II world, financial institutions are experiencing increasing pressure to find a mobile compliance solution that meets the compulsory legal requirements associated with new EU regulation.

As of January 2018, MiFID II states that it is a mandatory requirement for all FCA authorised and regulated firms to record and store all telephone conversations and electronic communications related to or intended to result in a trade or sale for at least 5 years. The pressure is now on for firms to invest in a solution that works!

At VoxSmart, we understand that finding a regulatory solution can be a complicated and lengthy process. However, as we unfold our business case in this article, we want to discuss how solutions like VSmart™ can help turn your regulatory requirement into a business opportunity. It will become apparent how embracing MiFID II and investing in innovative solutions, can not only eliminate the risk of financial penalty, but also significantly reduce the total cost of ownership and increase your front office revenue opportunity.

Eliminate Risk.

Since the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis. pressure has been mounting, as firms make moves to increase transparency and improve investor protection. In today’s financial market where instantaneous, multi-channel connectivity is essential how can organisations deliver security and compliance whilst still empowering their business’ functionality?

Technology is the backbone of business success and fundamentally crucial to our everyday lives. When the line blurs between business life and personal life, users expect the same experience at work or at home. We are spending an increasing amount of our time online, answering emails on the move and trading over consumer platforms like WhatsApp and WeChat.

With this in mind, any business solution needs to guarantee security, global connectivity and a positive user experience whilst adhering to global regulation. Financial institutions need to embrace compliance and empower mobile users, not restrict them.

Reduce Cost.

Many firms have opted to reduce costs by adopting a ‘Bring Your Own Device’ strategy or through company policy. But how can we truly mitigate risk on an unmanaged device or empower mobile users by banning mobile? This strategy not only limits control but shifts the blame from organisations to end users.

The greatest expense when running corporate issued devices largely lies with employees traveling overseas and accumulating steep call charges when roaming. With a VSmart™ loaded device this need not be the case. All International numbers are routed through the users local point-of-presence and converted to local calls in all major financial districts, globally. This significantly reduces the overall cost and enables flexibility when regularly making inbound and outbound.

Increase Revenue.

Banks and financial institutions are under growing pressure to increase revenue and adopt new channels to grow new revenue streams. Today, Instant messaging channels are rapidly becoming the preferred mode of communication averaging 1 billion WeChat users per month and 1.5 billion WhatsApp users per month. These channels are not only growing their user base, they are freely available for users to access over 1 billion customers. Whether at home or in the office, at the desk or travelling and on the move, traders can transact with their customers at any time of day.

By capturing multiple communication channels, firms can maximise revenue in a highly competitive market space, whilst in the knowledge that the workforce remains compliant and adheres to global regulation.

VSmart™ is the only multi-channel solution on the market that grants users the ability to communicate not only with SMS and voice, but also instant messenger applications such as WhatsApp™ and WeChat™, and now WhatsApp™ Web.

Global, multi-channel surveillance from VoxSmart has been designed and developed with the user in mind. VSmart™ is trusted by banks and financial institutions across the globe. VSmart™ sits natively on your devices operating system, which ensures our software is completely tamper-proof and always on, therefore making no change to the user experience.

Discover why VSmart™ is the only MiFid II mobile compliance solution that enables all your communication channels under one roof, authorising users to transact on the go whilst remaining 100% compliant.

We at VoxSmart believe that the future of finance is mobile. Embrace mandatory regulation and future-proof your business by unlocking the ability to transact with piece of mind.

In the controversies over high frequency trading, made famous by the Michael Lewis book “Flash Boys”, the traders who are doing business sitting behind imposing turrets with rows of buttons that will connect them instantly to counterparties, are often overlooked.

This article entitled “Voice is still preferred for trading complex products”, written by Tom Groenfeldt, named one of the 25 top global finserv influencers discusses the topic with our CEO Patrick McCullough.

Speakerbus, a specialist provider of critical voice collaboration solutions for global financial markets, today announced the launch of the Onebox Micro, the world’s smallest trader voice communications platform. The Onebox Micro is an ‘out-of-the-box’ pre-configured hardware and software appliance. This innovative solution will help financial institutions to substantially reduce IT operational costs, by dramatically reducing the deployment time for trader voice capabilities, from several weeks to just a few hours. There are over  200,000 turrets in the global financial markets and this number is growing; this new, compact offering (about the size of a paperback book) is ideal for firms seeking to update and deploy critical voice communications, but who wish to have a minimal impact on their existing infrastructure. The platform can also be used by remote offices.

Patrick McCullough, CEO of Speakerbus, said, “We are a very customer-driven business and users have been asking for ‘faster, better, smaller’. The Onebox Micro was built in response to these requests. Until now new application configuration projects have been labour-intensive, time-consuming and expensive. Onebox Micro is a major change from traditional technologies: we developed the platform to provide financial institutions with a fast, simple and effective way to address these issues by making the roll-out of essential trader voice functionality quick, easy and much more cost-effective.”

Speakerbus’ Onebox Micro enables firms to start making money within a fraction of the time it generally takes to complete a traditional installation and go-live. Speakerbus supports every layer of the solution, from hardware to software, providing a streamlined and efficient support service. By outsourcing server hardware, licensing and software configuration responsibilities to Speakerbus, IT staff can focus on value-added activities and the business can expand to new markets more easily and quickly.

Financial institutions of all sizes can take advantage of this efficient method of trader voice service delivery across existing and new sites. The solution helps to decrease IT operational costs with a simplified installation process, which requires no specialist skills for implementation or maintenance. The solution is designed to fit into complex surrounding systems with ease, facilitating quicker time-to-market.

The Onebox Micro is the latest offering in the Speakerbus family of Onebox Appliance solutions, the first of which was launched in 2012. The portfolio has several ‘right-size’ appliances, each designed to fit different organisations’ specific needs; they are used by global investment banks, asset management firms, brokerages and commodity trading firms across Europe, Middle East, North America and Asia.