UK OFCOM Best Practices

 

Answering Machine Detection (AMD)

Automated with Automated Messages

Dialing Ratio

Calling Line ID (CLI)

Ringing Time

Calling Hours

"Do Not Call" List

Number Scanning

Connection Time

 

Ofcom overlooks compliance with the regulations governing communications networks and services in the United Kingdom (UK). It has significant power to take action and impose penalties against those who participate in persistent misuse of communications services, including the misuse of automated dialing technology. In this respect, Ofcom published on the 20th December 2016 the “Ofcom’s Statement of Policy on its persistent misuse powers” (“Ofcom’s Statement”). 

The following summary of good practices is based on Ofcom’s Statement. It is provided by Talkdesk merely as a courtesy and shall not be relied upon as legal advice, nor shall it be intended to be exhaustive or definitive, or to reduce your responsibility to familiarize yourself with, and abide by, the legal and regulatory requirements pertaining to your use of, and to the activities performed through, Talkdesk Services. Talkdesk is not attempting to interpret any laws or regulations, and does not warrant that this summary reflects the opinion or approach of any regulatory body or other competent authority, nor accepts any liability for errors, misinterpretations or omissions appearing in this summary. 

In this text, “Silent calls” and “Abandoned calls” have the meaning given by Ofcom in  Ofcom’s Statement, as amended from time to time.

 

Answering Machine Detection (AMD)

Talkdesk recommends against using Answering Machine Detection (AMD) for campaigns being run from or addressed to, contacts located in the UK. One of Ofcom’s top priorities is to act against companies who are generating “Silent Calls”. Using AMD technology increases the risk of campaigns generating silent calls, as a result of the so-called “False Positives”. A “false positive” happens when the AMD technology incorrectly classifies a call answered by a human as a voicemail system, triggering a disconnect in an effort to avoid consuming agents’ time connecting with a voicemail system.

To check how AMD can be readily turned off within your campaign configuration options, please see below:

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Answering with Automated Messages

Talkdesk recommends against configuring your outbound dialer to connect to an automated answering message system, such as an Interactive Voice Response (IVR), upon connection to a call recipient. Answers by automated message systems, rather than a live agent, are in fact more likely to result in “Abandoned” if the call recipient has asked to be connected to an agent, or “Silent calls”, since Talkdesk cannot guarantee that the calls will be connected in under two seconds.

 

Dialing Ratio

Talkdesk recommends against any form of over-dialing. Over-dialing occurs when the Dialer attempts more simultaneous outbound calls than there are agents available to answer calls. Over-dialing is more likely to result in “Silent Calls” because the recipient of the call could be subject to a long waiting time prior to being connected to a live agent, or be disconnected due to the lack of available agents. 

The dialing ratio in Talkdesk Dialer is configurable in Predictive mode to between one and three calls-per-agent. Talkdesk recommends setting the Max. dialing ratio to one call per agent.

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Calling Line ID (CLI)

Talkdesk recommends that the Calling Line ID (CLI) be configured on outbound campaigns: 

  • Be present in the form of a telephone number.
  • Be valid.
  • Be configured in such a way that your agents can return a call to the number and have it answered by one of your agents.
  • Not be a premium rate or chargeable number.
  • Not actively trying to avoid anti-SPAM measures by rapidly rotating CLIs.

The CLI for campaigns can be configured within the campaign manager as below:

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Ringing Time

Talkdesk recommends that campaigns should be configured with a reasonable ringing time, meaning not less than 15 seconds and not overly long. Ofcom considers the length of time a call rings as an aggravating factor in cases of misuse. Calls that ring for less than 15 seconds (unless answered before) or calls that ring for extended periods are considered to cause more harm and, thus, expose your organization to the risk of enforcement.

Ring time is configured within the campaign manager, as you can see below:

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Calling Hours

Talkdesk recommends that you should give careful consideration to the hours in which your agents are making outbound dialer calls. Appropriate calling hours are not explicitly defined by Ofcom, however, calling during “Non-Sociable” hours is discouraged.

Each campaign within the Talkdesk platform can be configured to only dial during specific days and hours. This feature should be used to constrain campaign calling to be completed outside “Non-Sociable” hours relative to the timezone of the contacts within your calling lists.

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“Do Not Call” List

Talkdesk recommends that customers running an outbound dialing campaign pay attention to the rules around scrubbing call lists, through national and Internal “Do Not Call” Lists. The UK operates a nationwide Telephone Preference Service (TPS) for individuals and Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS) for businesses and other organizations.

If you are operating outbound campaigns in the UK, please ensure you have appropriate tooling in place to scrub call lists through any internal Do-Not-Call lists, as well as the TPS and/or CTPS, prior to loading lists into a Talkdesk campaign.

 

Number Scanning

Talkdesk recommends you don’t use the dialer platform to randomly scan telephone numbers; a practice known as “pinging”. You, as a customer, are responsible for call lists, and such usage patterns would put the organization at risk of enforcement action from Ofcom.

 

Connection Time

Talkdesk cannot guarantee that all calls will be connected to an agent in under two seconds. We advise seeking independent advice to check local regulations and how they apply to your use case when dialing into a highly regulated market such as the UK.

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