KGabo is the MD of Spescom DataVoice (Ply) Ltd who took over in 2008 during a difficult market. In 2009, they focused on improving customer support services to maintain market position. Their goals for 2010 are to drive their strategy in the WFO and RM market through technology that assists organizations to mitigate risk and ensure good governance. Voice recording is common in South Africa amongst banks and other organizations for regulatory compliance and improving performance. Emerging areas include mobile recording and speech analytics.

1. Date : March, 01 , 2010 Publication : Risk SA Page Number: 20-22
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MDof
Spescom DataVoice (Ply) Ltd
KGABO
BADIMOKgobo, you took over as MD in Jury 2008 and hove had to weather quite a
stormy market since then. How hove you kept the rudder steady?
In 2009, we operated in one of the toughest morkets in living memory, but we were
pleased to have defended our morkel position. Because customers hove adopted
the approoch of 'sweating assets' and spending money on maintenance and service
for maximum operability, OoloVoice focused on improving on its customer support
services, thereby improving on annuity revenue.
We cemented a strategic partnership with on international vendor through our
OEM strategy to extend our international distribution. With the 'sweating of
assets' poromount within business today, o great deal of focus has swung to the
performance of people, being the most valuable osset of any compony. This has
led to a greater appreciation within the morkel of workforce optimisation. We have
propelled ourselves forward competitively in this space by odding integrated product
solutions to complement our global voice-recording technology, with took such
OS screen recording, quality management, eLeoming, workforce monogement,
customer research and ogent selection. Our professional consulting services, in
conjunction with these fools, put us in a powerful position to not only advise, but to
put into action ROl solutions that reolry do provide our customers with the oWity to
achieve more with less whilst increasing the bottom line at the same time.
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2. Date : March, 01 , 2010 Publication : Risk SA Page Number: 20-22
What are your goals for 2010?
Our goal is lo drive our strategy within the
WFO and RM market space, focusing at
delivering the underlying technology that ossists
organisations to mitigate risk, compliance
and ultimately good corporate governance. It
is our intention to excel in this space through
our expertise and state-of-the-art technology.
In oddition to our products, our local support,
integration and development capabilities will
odd considerable value ond reduce the cost of
ownership for our customers.
This hos led us to another area of focus the
monoged services component of our business,
allowing us to drive onnuity income ond deliver
'value added' services to our customers through
support contracts.
You have qualifications from Universite do
Cleremont Ferrar and Universite de Caen
in France, University of the Keele in UK as
well as numerous qualifications from highly
regarded local institutions. How did you
end up studying in so many places?
My dream was to become a medical
doctor I applied to Wits Medical School
and wos accepted. However, I was refused
Ministerial Consent, due to laws ol that time
prohibiting black students from studying
at white universities. I went to Turfloop
(University of the North) intending to do
pre-medicine, which was a requirement for
blacks. However, at Turfloop, I ended up
studying BSc Computer Science (not that
I knew what computer science wos at thot
time - I just wanted a degree). With all the
uncertainty prevailing ot that time, I ended
up in France where I hod to study the French
languoge, and subsequently did Licence
D'informatique (BSc (Hons)) at Universite de
Caen. I went to the UK through the Luthuli
Foundation Scholarship ond completed my
MSc in doto engineering al the University of
Keele. Coming back to South Africa in 1992,
I went to do MCom (Information Systems) at
Wits; Executive Leadership at UNISA School of
Business Leadership; and Diploma in business
administration fWits Business School). All my
studies though were focused on computer
sciences disciplines.
You have headed up departments of
people (HR), as well as managed systems
ond technology. Would you say you ore o
people's person, or do you like the details?
My studies, training, experience ond
knowledge ore in information technology and
communications (ICT). However, during the early
days in my career, I made a conscious decision
to move into monogemenl but still within the ICT
environment. With a solid technicol background,
I needed 10 reinforce my people skills ond
business skills. I moved into HR, gaining
experience in people management, which at the
time, developed and honed my interpersonal
skills. With the next phase of my coreer
development, I focused on business ond business
development but still within on ICT environment.
All three phases of my career development
(ICT technical skills, human resources skills
ond business skills) combined have made me o
rounded ICT business executive.
'Our goal is to drive
our strategy within the
WFO and RM market
space, focusing at
delivering the underlying
technology that assists
organisations to mitigate
risk, compliance
and ultimately
good corporate
governance."
Your experience and involvement in
leadership roles at various companies and
institutions has taught you...?
My experience ond involvement in leodership
ond executive roles at various companies and
institutions has tought me, amongst other
lessons, live key attributes: courage, coring,
optimism, self-control and communication.
Courage. I leamt about the two kinds of
courage: literal ond moral. Moral courage
means standing up for my convictions ond values
while risking criticism or persecution. It meons
the willingness to risk loss of power, position,
possessions ond reputation. Moral courage
tought me to respect a selfless form of behaviour,
which is a sign of having overcome fear ond
token responsibility for one's actions.
Coring. To me, humans ore the resource with
the most overall potential in the company I hove
leaml over the years that by treating employees
with appreciation, understanding, courtesy,
attention, loyalty and encouragement, one is
rewarded with co-operative ond supportive
behaviour However, having a sincere interest in
and genuine concern for others does not mean
I should tolerate or ignore shoddy performance,
violations of company policies, bod attitudes,
dishonesty or slothfulness.
Optimism. I leamt to take the most hopeful ond
cheerful view of things, and to see opportunities,
possibilities ond silver linings in every situation
while still acknowledging the reality of the
situation. I believe thot my optimistic attitude
olso encourages my perseverance and patience.
When everything looks hopeless, my attitude can
cause me to keep pushing and driving ond not
give up.
Self-control. I leamt to control my emotions,
octions ond desires. I cultivate discipline in my
behaviour and lifestyle, and do things that have
a positive influence on others and avoid those
that have a negative influence. My seff-controt
has given me the drive ond initiative, os well
as a clear vision ond focus, to concentrate on
success-oriented, career-enhancing behaviours.
Thus, I have created a foundation for my long-
term personal achievement.
Communication. By learning effective direct
interpersonal interactions, I con reveal my
sincerity ond moke on emotional connection.
How can voice recording be used to benefit
a business, as well as the consumer?
On the risk mitigation side, recorded calls
con protect companies like financial service
providers, lawyers and heohh practitioners
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3. Date : March, 01 , 2010 Publication : Risk SA Page Number: 20-22
ogoinst lifigotion and disputes resulting horn
advice or instructions provided over the phone.
Various regulations including FAIS and PICA
also require companies to keep a record ol
all transactions with their clients. Since many
transactions are hondled telephonicolly, it is
criticot to record them, odhering i© compliance
ol these regulations.
Voice recording con olso greatly enhance a
contact centre's ability to assess the performance
of its agents or phone operators and thus improve
customer satisfaction. Historically companies
have based their performance assessments on
quantitative indicators like coll volumes ond
overage hold times, but these do not provide the
whole picture, lb assess the true performance
ol an agent or operator, it is important that the
qualitative ongle is provided for by listening to the
actuol conversations. It provides for identification
of specific training requirements.
Voice recording is olso widely used by law
enforcement, emergency services and the
transport industry to help with investigations.
Therefore, voice recording, along with our
other solutions, help organisations conduct their
business with greater efficiency, as well os with
greater efficacy. Consumers directly benefit from
this, of course. Greater orgonisationol efficiencies
olso translate to greater cost-savings, which for
consumers translate to greater value ond better
contained service cost increases.
But if you look beyond all that, the benefits
continue. Because of better record-keeping now,
consumers con look forward to continued good
service in future. And they con look forward to
that good service improving all the time. This
creates afantasticecosystem of win-win-win - our
customers win, their customers win, and we win.
How common is voice recording in SA today?
Voice recording is already widespread in SA
omoogst bonks ond other large financial service
providers, as well os the police, emergency
services, the transport industry ond oil the large
tetecommunicotions providers. The BPO morket
has shown tremendous growth in recent times ond
any new coll centre will implement voice recording
os standard.
The smaller companies or institutions within
these verticols hove obo shown growing interest
in the lost couple ol years and I'd say that more
than half ol them have olreody embraced voice
recording as a crrticol business tool. The benefits
ol voice recording have become important to
individuals, too.
Not only haveregulatoryrequirements been
put into ploce to better serve consumers, but
service organisations have abo realised the
direct operational efficiency ond ROl benefits of
voice recording solutions. The SA morket is now
maturing beyond that, lo the point where efficiency
ond service level drives now turn the corporate
focus lo workforce optimisation ond monogement
solutions. The clear preference is for one-stop-
shop solutions, and fortunately our forword
planning has perfectly positioned us to serve these
maturing requirements.
What are some of the main issues/talking
points/innovations in the voice recording
industry at the moment?
Three developments stood out for us. The first is
the drive towards more volue-odded solutions
beyond voice recording, towards even greater
control over service quolrty ond service levels.
This rs where customers' hearts ond wollets ore
now being won or lost, no longer in the voice
recording world ofane.
Take time to understand
theFICAand FAIS
requirements that apply to
the financial sector today
when communicating
with customers. Not
having high quality
voice recording is not an
option, the risks are too
high.
The second is the extent to which regulatory
requirements have mode things perceivobly
difficult for the service providers our customers.
Consumers have it easy: they simply expect their
service providers to comply with regulatory ond
legislative requirements. Our customers, on the
other hand, often feel confronted by a maze of
jargon, complexify ond uncertainty.
ThWry, ond especially exciting for us, is the
odvent of mobiletelephonerecording, which we
helped lo pioneer. Clients can reap the benefits of
immediate, mobile business operations, backed
by high performance and advanced levels of
access ond data security.
Other interesting prospects include the use of
biometrics which has become commonplace in
many security applications. We ore on the verge ol
it becoming part of our everyday lives, since banks
andtetecommunicotionsproviders ore alreody
running trials. This has abo spawned renewed
interest in speech anolytics in the voice recording
morket.
Thistechnologyis used for speaker verification
and identification to combat fraud Word
spotting is olso used to confirm compliance fa
scripts in coll centres and for identifying ond
listening to problem calb or customer service
complaints (identifying words indicating stress or
unhoppiness).
Finally, the increasing uptake ol software as a
service or cloud computing has created renewed
interest from our customers to adopt our recording
solutions to work with the hosted PABX providers.
The finonciol pressure os a result of the recession
has urged companies to move towards an OPEX
or rental model for their IT spend.
What ore the chances of voice recording
becoming compulsory for financial services
providers in the near future?
The Finonciol Advisory ond Inlermedkny Services
Act of 2002 dearly states that fmonoal services
providers must record oil verbol communication
related to o finonciol service rendered. However,
many of the recent ond upcoming regulatory
requirements cannot cc#-eftectively be complied
with, unless voicerecordingis deployed.
The vast number ol business benefits that voice
recording unlocks is beyond mere regulatory
compliance, so we strongly encourage people
not to include 'compulsory' in their vocobufary.
That notion is for too restrictive; it is far more a
case of voice recording being desirable. Our most
successful customers seeregulatorycompliance
os a welcome by-product of the very productive
investment they've mode in voice recording and
related solutions.
What advice do you have for our readers?
o fake time to understand the FICA and FAJS
requirements that opply to the finonciol sector
today when communicating with customers.
Not having high quality voice recording is not
on option, the risks ore too high.
o Ensure that objective ond equitable quality
rrwnitoring toob and processes are in ploce to
manage compltonce.
o Where readers have contoct centres they
should be aware of (he SABS TC 99:
Business process outsourcing ond off shoring
(BPO&O) Standards that ore avoiloble. Further
information con be obtoined from the SABS
website and by joining the national association
Business Process enobling South Africa (BftiSA).
o For too often we see customers investing heavily
in technology ond solutions in other areas of
the contact centre, but foiling to address the
oreas ofrisk,ond workforce monogement
in your business could lead to severs
consequences. It is important that the proper
research is done to ensure thetechnologycon
stand up in court and fulfils your needs.
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