News Focus: Predictive Dialling - Ofcom announces tougher measures for silent callers

by Hugh Filman, Direct Response 01-Dec-05

Tough new measures proposed by Ofcom, aimed at cracking down on silent calls by telemarketers, have received some positive response from the industry.

The DMA welcomed the policy statement by the communications regulator,
noting that it was in keeping with the industry body's own Code of
Practice.

"We are delighted that for the first time, the industry has a reference

point for dialler management," said the DMA.

Ofcom said in a statement released on 31 October that it was amending
its policy to combat the problem of silent or abandoned calls, demanding
that telemarketers take steps to identify themselves through recorded
messages and Caller Line Identification (CLI), while ensuring that
recipients can decline to receive further calls from a company.

Ofcom, which has the power to take action on the persistent misuse of
electronic networks or services, also demanded that telemarketers ensure
that less than three per cent of calls be left untended by operators -
down from the five per cent threshold currently observed by the
industry.

The regulator has also asked the government to raise the maximum penalty
for a breach in the rules from £5,000 to £50,000.

"Excessive abandoned calls have become a real problem," said Ofcom chief
executive Stephen Carter. "We believe new fines and new rules backed by
firm action are necessary."

Anderson Manning Associates (AMA), a call centre operator based in
Northern Ireland, welcomed the measures. AMA said in a statement: "The
lowering of the percentage of silent calls from five per cent to three
per cent in any 24-hour period and the increase in punitive fines goes
some way to rid consumers of the silent call nuisance."

At the root of the silent calls issue is the growth in use by
telemarketing firms of predictive diallers, which sometimes generate
more calls than a company's agents can deal with, leaving some
recipients picking up a silent line.

AMA has made a point of running its call centres without predictive
diallers, arguing that "predictive calling de-humanises the call and,
even when working correctly, does not allow enough time to prepare for
the call".

The company added: "Predictive diallers are robotic, regimented systems
that only work well if every call and every operator behave in the same
way."

But not all telemarketing firms are convinced predictive diallers are
damaging the industry.

Guy Smith, sales and marketing director at contact centre operator
2Touch, said he sees proper management of predictive dialling technology
as vital.

"We (the contact centre industry) have to shoulder the responsibility
for using the technology properly - no one will benefit in the long run
if it isn't," he said.

His colleague at 2Touch, telephony sales director Gareth Jones, said the
company broadly welcomed efforts by Ofcom and the DMA to curtail silent
calls.

"We're slap-bang behind the DMA's push and Ofcom's change to regulations
- especially the need for people to provide some sort of recorded
message and to present CLI," he said.

See feature, page 47.