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The expanding compliance technology market

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Compliance is a broad mandate that spans multiple industries and functions and is addressed by a variety of different software solutions. One category consists of enterprise governance, risk, and compliance (EGRC) solutions, also referred to as integrated risk management (IRM). These products take a holistic view of compliance and seek to implement it enterprise-wide. The EU’s GDPR has sparked compliance products that focus on privacy and others that focus on specific issues such as workplace safety and healthcare. These software products represent a global market expected to grow to more than $50 billion by 2024 according to MarketsandMarkets and more than $60 billion by 2025 according to Grand View Research.

Multiple roles

As high as these projections are, they might actually understate the market because some software products that are not classified as compliance products also have a role in this function. They are used in business scenarios that pose particular challenges for compliance, but the products also offer benefits that extend beyond the initial purpose. Speech analytics technology that is used to ensure compliance by contact center agents engaging in phone calls represents one example. This process has multiple layers, including transcription and semantic analysis that uses AI and machine learning. Once the speech analytics process is in place for compliance, it can be used for other business purposes as well.

Airline contact centers represent a typical business environment in which speech analytics technology is used for compliance purposes. Travelers who miss a flight because their arriving flight was delayed will often get in touch with a contact center to reschedule. When they do so, a number of interactions are possible. First, the individual will want to reschedule a flight and may have a preference about the route. Luggage might need to get transferred. The agent might offer an upgrade as compensation, and then sign off after asking the customer beforehand if they need any additional assistance. At each stage, the agent must comply with airline policies as well as a variety of industry regulations.

The conversation may be transcribed within a few minutes or in real time. The information is then stored in a database. This process seems simple, but in fact, during a 10-minute conversation, it’s not just the words that get stored. About 10,000 datapoints are generated. The database contains not only the words, but information on how they were said—such as audio volume—and even the time interval between words.

In order to be analyzed to ensure compliance with corporate policies and regulatory requirements, the data needs to be condensed into a much smaller number of salient points: Did the agent state his or her name, let the traveler know that the call was being recorded, and offer appropriate solutions? The contents of the traveler’s conversation could also be mined for further insights; for example, were competitors mentioned, and was the conversation cordial or hostile?

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