Contact centers exist largely to support customers, and their agents are often on the front lines of customer service. Of course, employees in brick and mortar stores also offer exceptional customer support every day. There are various rules and regulations regarding how service is administered and how customers can be contacted. These regulations are designed to protect consumer rights and ensure that they’re provided with all services to suit their basic needs.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) seeks to protect consumers from fraud, deceptive or unfair practices, illegal calls, and from having their personal data shared. Here are some of the most important customer service regulations that any organization should be aware of.
TCPA Regulations
Call center technology has advanced that even calling these institutions „call centers“ anymore is a misnomer. Thanks to true omnichannel quality management and routing offered by providers like brightpattern.com, customers don’t have to rely on voice calls at all to reach customer support agents. In fact, they can use whatever digital means they want to make contact, including email, text, SMS, live chat, and more. They can even contact chatbots for simpler questions. The omnichannel tech even allows customers to seamlessly switch between channels while staying in contact with the same agent. A unified agent desktop boosts agent productivity by easily keeping track of all conversations across all channels.
While Bright Pattern technology is great for offering an improved customer experience, contact centers still have to abide by regulations imposed by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). This act was largely put in place to enforce rules regarding telemarketing practices or the use of automated messages. While telemarketing doesn’t usually intertwine directly with customer service, it’s worth noting that some states may have their own regulations on things like voicemail drops or other automated messages you might use to reach customers for support purposes.
HIPPA Compliance
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) is in place to protect the health and personally identifiable information of customers seeking healthcare services. Anyone involved in the healthcare industry or health insurance needs to be aware of these regulations, and customer support centers dealing with such information must enforce HIPPA without fail.
Protected health information basically includes any identifiable information provided by a patient and any matters relating to their overall health. Health information can only be shared directly with a patient or an entity that the patient has authorized. Modern HIPPA regulations also include technical standards to ensure that electronic information is properly protected and can only be accessed by authorized individuals. Any failure to uphold HIPPA can be met with extreme fines and other penalties.
Online Consumer Data Privacy
E-commerce stores are excellent options for modern entrepreneurs, but they must understand their responsibility to protect their customers‘ information. Global governments have begun stepping in to improve online security standards and ensure that customer data is protected.
The European Union has established its General Data Protection Regulations for collecting and processing personal data, and in the U.S., California has enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act. This act ensures that customers can receive a list of all the information an organization has on them and a list of any third parties the information is shared with. It also grants residents the right to have the information deleted upon request. We may see more states follow suit with their own consumer protection acts in the future that customer service providers will need to be aware of.
If you need more information about customer service regulations throughout North America or need legal advice, you may want to contact Malliha Wilson. She’s a top Canadian lawyer specializing in human rights, corporate law, labour law, and complex litigation. She has served as the Ontario Attorney General and is currently the Senior Partner of Nava Wilson LLP. She can provide counsel to sort out any issues you may have.
