“This call may be monitored for quality assurance purposes” I was told while on hold with a major corporation the other day. I began thinking about the implications of this message as it was repeated over and over interspersed with several upbeat Beatles songs. Sigh. Poor John and George. What the corporation is really trying to tell me is “we are protecting ourselves by recording you”, or more simply put “we are watching our backs”. Which then got me to thinking: Who’s watching our backs? How about our client’s backs?
Almost everyone now carries with them a handheld recording device that can be used surreptitiously with ease. With the upswing of the use of personal devices in workplaces, organizations now more than ever before, need to step up to protect their clients, their staff, and themselves in regards to confidentiality and protection of personal information. How do we really know who is recording/downloading what and when, and what might be done with that data?