54% Discover Compliance Breach Outside Routine QA Reviews

More than eight in ten FCA-regulated businesses believe they could provide evidence of fair customer treatment if reviewed by a regulator, according to new research commissioned by MaxContact.

However, the research found that 54% of UK contact centre managers and directors have discovered a compliance breach outside their routine quality assurance reviews, highlighting a potential gap between confidence in existing processes and the evidence available across customer interactions.

The survey found that 85.6% of FCA-regulated businesses were confident they could demonstrate fair treatment. Yet 16% said they had discovered compliance breaches outside routine reviews on more than one occasion.

Compliance issues were also linked to commercial consequences. Half of organizations surveyed said they had lost a sale, contract or customer because of a compliance issue during the past 12 months, with 18% reporting this had happened more than once.

Ben Booth, CEO of MaxContact, said:

“Businesses should never make decisions based on confidence without having the evidence to back it up. Our research tells a worrying story, that many organizations believe they are doing enough, yet they’re recording compliance breaches that are happening outside of their routine reviews.”

He added:

“This should be a wake-up call for companies who are still relying on small sample sizes to assess compliance and customer outcomes. It’s not enough to be confident in your processes. You must be able to show that you are checking every interaction to be able to fully stand up to regulatory scrutiny.”

The findings come as organizations face increased scrutiny around customer outcomes, fair treatment and the identification of vulnerable customers.

MaxContact Launches AutoQA

Alongside the research, MaxContact has launched AutoQA, a new capability within its Conversation Analytics solution.

Available as an add-on to the company’s existing contact centre platform, AutoQA is designed to apply an organization’s QA scorecards across customer interactions and assess them against transcript-linked evidence.

The capability can also provide visibility into vulnerability indicators, support the investigation of potential concerns and enable automated escalation triggers.

Booth said the research suggests that traditional sampling approaches may not identify every potential compliance issue.

“For years, organizations have accepted sampling as the only practical way to manage quality assurance. But the industry is now operating in a very different environment.

When more than half of contact centre professionals have uncovered compliance breaches outside their routine sample, it’s clear that this isn’t a theoretical risk any more. Businesses are already experiencing the commercial consequences of compliance issues that may have previously gone unnoticed.

They must move away from just being confident in their processes and be able to show evidence that they consistently treat customers fairly. This is going to become increasingly important as regulatory expectations continue to change.”

Author: Hannah Swankie

Reviewed by: Megan Jones