These past two years have been extremely impactful for contact center compliance, both with notable legislation taking effect and with high-profile security lapses causing consumers to take notice. Consumers are pressuring legislators to protect individual privacy and help prevent major security lapses.
Senior executives at contact centers are also focusing more on compliance – with good reason. Some estimates peg the cost of regulations in the U.S. at around $2 trillion a year – roughly 12% of the U.S. economy. The recent California Consumer Privacy Act alone is estimated to cause around $55 billion in initial compliance costs.
A recent whitepaper by Dick Bucci, Principal, Pelorus Associates, looks at the rising costs of compliance and the reasons behind the trend towards more regulation.
He discusses in detail some of the factors for the increasing pace of regulatory change, including:
- Outrage over privacy infringements
- More consumer-friendly administration
- Growth of the contingent workforce
- Persistent labor shortages
Dick also provides a comprehensive look at the laws and regulations that contact centers need to be aware of at the Federal and State level, and what contact centers need to do to stay compliant with regulations, including:
- Telemarketing Sales Rule
- Fair Debt Collections Practices Act
- Truth In Lending Act
- Health Insurance Privacy and Portability Act
- Family Medical Leave Act
- General Data Protection Regulation (European regulation which applies to certain US companies
- California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
- The Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA)
- Colorado Privacy Act (CPA)
- Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security Act (SHIELD Act)
- California Assembly Bill 5 (AB5 or “Gig Worker Bill”)
- California Family Rights Act (CFRA)
As Dick points out, there are many laws and regulations at the international, federal, state, and local levels that contact centers must be aware of and comply with – likely far too many for individual contact center managers or even compliance officers to be familiar with let alone manage manually. Dick advises that contact centers invest in technology that helps to meet their compliance objectives. He recommends that contact centers look for technology that is flexible, adaptable, extensible, easy to use, and compatible with the existing hardware and software, and in his white paper he provides a handy checklist of the most important features you should look for in compliance-forward software for your contact center.
Ultimately, we are currently experiencing significant changes in the legal and regulatory environment under which contact centers must operate at the federal, state, local and even global levels. Contact center compliance is becoming harder to manage and regulations are difficult to keep pace with as these changes in regulation take effect. Fortunately, there are actions you can take, and there is a clear path forward to navigate the future of compliance. Value your compliance department; implement protocols around data and personnel compliance; and invest in technology that will help you avoid lapses that are costly in both financial penalties and corporate reputation.
Dick Bucci is Principal of Pelorus Associates where he specializes in contact center technologies. He has authored 19 in-depth market research reports on workforce optimization applications and numerous articles and white papers. His particular specialty is compliance. Dick has produced several white papers on laws and regulations as they pertain to contact centers and coauthored two books on public safety contact centers. He is one of a handful of industry thought leaders that have been elected to the Contact Center Pipeline Wall of Fame.
