The ICTBroadcast multi-tenant unified communications package is a powerful telemarketing suite that can dramatically enhance an SME’s capacity to boost efficiency or promote a product. However, the misuse of the product – or any other telemarketing solution – can cause a business to fall foul of consumer and data protection laws and regulations. Therefore, it is vital to becoming familiar with the local regulations to avoid substantial penalties or heavy fines.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991 is the most commonly referenced federal statute that telemarketers need to be aware of. TCPA includes rules such as which locations may be called and when those calls can be made. The provisions of TCPA allow for a penalty of $1,500 per violation of any of the numerous stipulations. With an autodialer system having access to the vast database of contact information the potential for significant financial damage is easily foreseeable. ICTBroadcast is fully compliant with TCPA 1991 and allows telemarketing campaigns to achieve their aims within the requirements of the law and without fear of accidental breach of the extensive regulations.
The precise requirements of TCPA and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) state four distinct requirements that must be met for compliance. The exact wording is as follows:
(1) prior express written consent for all autodialed or prerecorded telemarketing calls to wireless numbers and residential lines;
(2) allow[s] consumers to opt-out of future robocalls during a robocall;
(3) limit[s] permissible abandoned calls on a per-calling campaign basis, in order to discourage intrusive calling campaigns; and
(4)exempts prerecorded calls to residential lines made by healthcare-related entities governed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
ICTBroadcast incorporates these requirements into your system via integration with the Do Not Call (DNC) registry and user-defined limits on campaign variables.
The DNC registry is maintained by the Federal Trade Commission and allows consumers to opt-out of unsolicited telemarketing calls. Failure for an SME to honor the DNC registry and its requirements can have a catastrophic impact. Even large corporations can fall foul of the stringent rules. In 2014, the third-largest U.S telecommunications company, Sprint Corporation, was ordered to pay $7.5 million as a result of their non-compliance with the DNC registry requirements. ICTBroadcast offers global and local integration with the DNC registry to prevent such costly errors. Furthermore, contacts can be given the option to opt-out from future marketing calls and have their details removed from the list by setting up a straightforward key-press operation that further prevents non-compliance with regulations.
ICTBroadcast makes compliance with TCPA and other legislation designed to prevent the misuse of telemarketing products a simple task. The risks for failing to comply with local laws and regulations are substantial, and given the sizeable penalties possible the ongoing viability of an SME can be severely impacted. In addition to the previously mentioned compliance features ICTBroadcast allows the user to set a limit upon the number of times a customer will be called during a campaign. Persistent phone calls are a key factor in the decision of a customer to complain to regulating authorities. By reducing the nuisance factor ICTBroadcast can improve general public relations for your business.
In summary, the use of the ICTBroadcast multitenant unified communications package facilitates compliance with TCPA and comparable legislation in a number of ways. Limits upon call frequency and timing can be set, automated database opt-out can be enabled, and furthermore global and local DNC lists can be integrated to ensure consumers who have expressed a preference do not receive calls.
This feature of the ICTBroadcast package is another of the many reasons SMEs are selecting our software to facilitate their communication needs.