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5 Things to Consider Before Choosing an Answering Service

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Customer care is essential to any business. It is a way that clients can connect directly with their service and product providers. Finding the right team to handle every call that concerns your consumers can be daunting. Fortunately, there are lots of great options to find answering service for your business.

So, if you’re looking for one that will work well with your business and make your life easier while keeping costs low, you can scroll below to know more about what you need to consider when choosing one.

Customisation

Answering services are not the same for every business.

Some businesses will need more than just basic answering service features, while others will want a more customisable solution that allows them to personalise their experience.

When considering an answering service, ask yourself: What kind of customisation do I need, and what do I want from this?

If you think your business would benefit from having more control over how calls are routed and answered, look for an answering service that offers this functionality.

Confidentiality and Privacy

Answering services need to be able to keep your information confidential, which means that they can’t tell anyone about the calls that come into your business.

They must also protect their records by ensuring that no one can see them or access them without authorisation from the client.

If your company has special needs or a unique set of requirements, you may want to consider working with an answering service that has experience handling similar situations.

For example, if you run a medical practice and have HIPAA requirements, finding an excellent answering service will help ensure that everything stays secure.

Cost Savings

Answering services come in various price ranges and can be particularly pricey if your business has complex needs. If you’re looking for an inexpensive solution that still provides quality service, it’s best to start shopping around until you find the right fit.

Appointment Management

Appointment management is a crucial component of any successful business.

Therefore, it’s essential to have an answering service to help you keep track of the appointments you schedule and ensure your clients show up on time.

In addition to keeping track of appointments, many answering services offer other services, such as call screening, which allows you to eliminate unwanted calls and focus on the ones that matter most.

This can be especially helpful if you’re running a business from home or have a busy schedule.

If you need help managing appointments for your business, look for an answering service that offers appointment management as part of its services.

Multi-location Streamlining

If you have multiple locations, you need an answering service that can handle calls from all of them.

You might get away with a single location and a single answering service if you have only one or two offices. Still, as soon as your business grows and starts opening additional locations, it’s crucial to find a way to manage your phone calls centrally.

If you’re looking for an answering service provider, you must ask about their capabilities with multi-location businesses.

Do they offer multiple phone numbers? Can they route calls based on the caller’s location? What kind of reporting do they provide? How quickly will calls be answered? How many employees are available to answer the phones at each place?

Final Thoughts

Finding the exemplary answering service for your business is a big decision, and it’s essential to get it right. The easiest way to find the right fit is by considering all the factors discussed in this article.

What is The Dark Web? We Explain Here

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The material of the World Wide Web that is only accessible with specific software, configurations, or authorisation is known as the dark web.

Private computer networks can interact and transact business anonymously without disclosing personal information like a user’s location. Due to its lack of encryption, the ordinary web is referred to as Clearnet.

Under the network’s top-level domain suffix, the onion routing traffic anonymisation technology is used on the Tor hidden web, also known as Onionland.

Social media

The Dark Web Social Network is a new generation of social media platforms. DWSN operates similarly to a typical social networking site in that users can create unique pages, add friends, like postings, and blog in forums.

Facebook and other social media networks have started to create dark web versions of their websites. Contrary to Facebook, the DWSN’s privacy policy mandates that members maintain their anonymity and provide zero personal data.

Online marketplaces

Transactions for illegal items are mediated through commercial darknet markets, which frequently accept Bitcoin as payment. Users of these markets are not protected, and authorities have the right to shut them down at any moment. Despite these markets closing, others continue to operate in their place. There were at least 38 active dark web marketplaces as of 2020.

These online markets are comparable to those on eBay or Craigslist.

Control of the dark web

Applications of fundamental internet properties that offer privacy and anonymity are known as the deep and dark web. Policing entails focusing on particular private web behaviours that are regarded illicit or subject to internet censorship.

Dark web news

In writing and speaking about the darknet, many journalists, alternative news outlets, educators, and researchers are influential. Media coverage of the dark web often takes one of two approaches: either it emphasises the influence and freedom of speech that the dark web affords users, or, more frequently, it reiterates the illegality and danger of its contents, such as computer hackers.

Data Protection Officer (DPO) in Brazil

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Data protection is the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, and the legal and political issues surrounding them.

The personal data controller is a person appointed by the company who basically will be responsible for the communication between the latter, the subject of the personal data and the ANPD (National Data Protection Authority), which oversees compliance with Law no. 13.709/2018, the General Law on Personal Data Protection (LGPD).

Article 41 of the LGPD obliges all companies to appoint a personal data controller, also known as a Data Protection Officer (DPO) by European law.

For the time being, there are no exceptions to the rule referred to in the previous paragraph, although the matter is already the subject of public consultation, for the exemption of small data processors, such as micro-enterprises, small businesses, start-ups and non-profit legal entities, natural persons and unincorporated entities. If these small processors do not appoint a controller, an obligation at least to provide a channel for communication with the data subject is also under consideration.

Note that this exemption applies only to the data controller. The LGPD will not cease to apply to small data processors.

The ANPD has not completed this public consultation and therefore its opinion has not yet been released.

What does a DPO do? According to the paragraphs of article 41, the DPO is responsible for: 1) accepting complaints and communications from data subjects, providing explanations and taking appropriate action; 2) receiving communications from the national authority and taking appropriate action; 3) advising the entity’s employees and collaborators on the practices to be followed with regard to the protection of personal data; and 4) performing the other duties determined by the controller or established in supplementary regulations.

Is it possible to outsource the control of personal data in Brazil? The LGPD does not prohibit outsourcing of the data control. Therefore, it is not obligatory that the controller be an employee of the company.

Accordingly, since it is possible to hire an external DPO, the employees can focus on the company’s core business, without being overburdened or even distorting their employment contracts, which could give rise to legal consequences, such as the payment of additional compensation for deviation from their original function or dual activity.

Logically, hiring a DPO, as a regular employee of the company, is justified when the company’s size and volume of data processing is so significant as to warrant this person’s dedication exclusively to this function.

The Brazilian Bar Association, in response to Consultation no. E-5.537/2021, has authorized lawyers to exercise officially the activities of DPO.

Penalties for non-compliance with the LGPD, which includes absence of a controller, have been in force since the beginning of August 2021, including fines of up to R$50 million, in addition to compensation for property, moral, individual or collective damage.

The Stüssi-Neves Advogados team is at your disposal for any additional explanation regarding this matter.

Fernando Seiji Mihara and Maria Lúcia Menezes Gadotti
Associate lawyer and Partner in Labour Law Area – São Paulo
fernando.mihara@stussinevessp.com.br and marialucia.gadotti@stussinevessp.com.br