BEDFORD, Mass., May 1, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SoundBite Communications (Nasdaq:SDBT) –Over one-third of all debt collection complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) focus on so-called "repeat calls." With most collections efforts requiring repeat outreach to the same contacts, it becomes imperative that organizations strategically manage the number of outreach attempts to debtors. As organizations contend with increasingly complex compliance requirements and face steep penalties for non-compliance, SoundBite Communications announces Contact Controls, which limits contact attempt frequency by device across automated voice messaging, predictive dialing, text, and email channels.
With SoundBite's Contact Controls, contact centers now have the ability to define the maximum number of outreach attempts across and within channels, by device, for a specified period of time. Controlling total contact attempts across multiple communications channels is now possible for companies seeking to: achieve higher overall standards for contact center compliance, tighten costs associated with outreach, improve control over their collections operations, and provide a better consumer experience.
Contact Controls enhances SoundBite's Compliance Suite for cross-channel communications, enabling a deeper level of strategic control over contact frequency. Intended to mitigate risk, Compliance Suite helps contact centers prohibit numbers from being contacted and ensures agents adhere to client and regulatory requirements. It also enables organizations to keep up with consumer mobility and phone portability, manage consumer consent and profile data, and control contact frequency.
SoundBite's compliance solution helps clients manage compliance and adapt their strategies as new demands are imposed from various regulatory agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and helps clients meet Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (GLBA) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements.
Client-defined Contact Controls settings allow organizations to:
- Define total contact attempts across and within channels including voice (predictive dialer, manual dialer, automated voice messaging), text message dialogs, and email
- Limit the number of contact attempts by device, including landline and mobile
- Set the maximum number of voice messages that can be left on any device
- Customize the specified timeframe for contact limits
- Manage settings at the account and campaign levels
"SoundBite's Contact Controls offers a deeper level of compliance and governance for contact centers, including those employing multi-channel communications campaign strategies," said Tim Segall, chief technology officer at SoundBite Communications. "Organizations seeking to reduce exposure to risk and meet client and CFPB, FCC, and FTC rules will benefit greatly from this enhancement. They can also expect to minimize the costs of excessive contact re-queue attempts, increase campaign ROI, and improve customer experience by avoiding contacting individuals too frequently—goals that are top of mind with collections, customer care, and marketing organizations."
For more information about SoundBite's Compliance Suite, please visit www.SoundBite.com/compliance.
About SoundBite Communications
SoundBite Communications is a customer experience management company with deep expertise in delivering cloud-based mobile marketing, proactive customer care, and collections/payments solutions. More than 450 global end-clients, including nearly 50 Fortune 500 companies, leverage SoundBite's proactive multi-channel communications and preference management platforms to power 2.5 billion personalized and compliant customer interactions annually across the full consumer lifecycle. Visit SoundBite.com and follow SoundBite on Twitter @SoundBiteComm for more information. SoundBite is a registered service mark of SoundBite Communications, Inc.