XOVOX

XOVOX, the leader in voice recording extraction and migration, announces a new capability to extract audio recordings and metadata from the VPI Empower platform. With this new capability, XOVOX can help companies move their voice recording data from VPI Empower systems into a new recorder or cloud-based archive. Data can be retrieved from both live and retired systems. VPI (Voice Print International) is a platform for recording and retrieving voice calls. Empower was originally released in 2009 and is used by financial institutions and telephone contact centers for compliance and quality assurance purposes. VPI was acquired by NICE in 2016 and Empower has subsequently been announced as “EOL” (end of life). VPI Empower now joins the extensive list of EOL recorder formats that XOVOX supports, including NICE 8.9, Eyretel Mediastore, Comverse Ultra, Racal/Thales/NICE Wordnet, Dictaphone Freedom, and many others. Once extracted, XOVOX can convert the voice recordings and associated metadata into accessible formats and systems for a variety of purposes, including: 1) Import into a new recording platform or audio archive 2) Upload to cloud storage for compliance, retention, and regulation statutes, e.g. GDPR, SEC 17a-4, MiFID 3) Speech analytics and artificial intelligence – Use your voice data to train your AI so you can deliver better products and services as well as generate business insights to improve customer service and support and enhance your marketing initiatives. “XOVOX has had several clients and partners asking us to export data from legacy VPI systems. This new capability enables us to extract directly from the VPI recorder file archive, without any need for the original running system. We can even extract from a damaged or crashed system,” said Andrew Stevens, President of XOVOX. “This latest addition to our roster of 40+ known recorder formats extends our leadership in the field.” To learn more about XOVOX, please visit us https://xovox.tech or email us at [email protected].

Unlocking the Power of Voice Data: XOVOX's Conversion and Normalization Services For businesses everywhere, valuable data is hidden and locked inside voice recordings. Unlike text messages or emails, voice recordings capture the speaker’s tone, inflection, pitch, and other distinctive characteristics. These characteristics make voice recordings unique and quite useful for business insights and even biometric identification purposes. Most companies with troves of voice data are subject data to complex web of regulations like GDPR, SEC 17a-4, and MiFID. But this data is confidential, not for outside consumption. And therein lies the challenge: How do you use this data internally while simultaneously sharing it to fulfill compliance requirements AND protecting it from hackers? ? XOVOX can help companies rapidly extract and normalize their voice data - whether it exists in disparate legacy or modern IVR systems. With nearly two decades of specialized expertise, XOVOX offers comprehensive solutions tailored to help organizations navigate the intricate landscape of compliance, security, and data accessibility. Conversion to a Single Format: Unlocking the full potential of voice data begins with standardization and consolidation. XOVOX empowers organizations to overcome compatibility issues, simplify data management processes, and ensure seamless integration with modern infrastructure and analytics platforms. XOVOX's conversion service streamlines the conversion of voice recordings from disparate formats into a standardized format. Normalization for Accessibility and Compliance: XOVOX ensures that voice data is optimized for accessibility, compliance, and analysis purposes. By normalizing voice recordings, organizations can mitigate the risk of compliance violations, enhance data accuracy, and extract actionable insights with greater speed and precision. Secure Storage and Data Protection: In addition to conversion and normalization, XOVOX prioritizes the security and protection of voice data and manages all voice recording data by using demonstrable and defensible chain of custody data management techniques. Client data is protected with state-of-the-art encryption, access controls, and robust data management practices. XOVOX offers archival services that ensure voice recordings are stored in a highly secure environment, safeguarded against unauthorized access, breaches, and manipulation attempts. Conclusion As regulatory requirements become more rigorous and data usage grows, effective management and protection of voice data is more important. XOVOX delivers comprehensive solutions for organizations seeking to unlock the power of their voice recordings and navigating the complexities of compliance. By standardizing, consolidating, and securing voice data, XOVOX empowers businesses to harness the full potential of this invaluable asset for critical business activities, including compliance/regulation, infrastructure upgrades, and analytics.

Structured vs. Unstructured Data - Part I Data is either structured or unstructured. It is not monolithic. And as businesses become more data-driven and are leveraging analytics and AI, the ability to harness these two distinct types of data together is essential. “Structured data” is data that fits neatly into tables and includes discrete data types such as numbers, text strings, and dates. Common examples of structured data include sales forecasts, airline reservations, and CRM systems. Structured data is often stored in Excel files or relational databases (SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, etc.) On the other hand, “unstructured data” doesn't fit neatly into a data table because of its size or nature. For example, audio recordings, video clips, chats, legal documents, and newspaper articles are largely freeform and unpredictable and do not fit neatly into tables. Nevertheless, analysis and searchability of unstructured data is critically important in order to detect keywords, customer sentiment, discussion topics, and many more usages. Unstructured data is often stored in a “NO-SQL” database like MongoDB, AWS DynamoDB, and Azure Cosmos DB. Going a little deeper, here are some other ways you can distinguish structured from unstructured data. Defined vs. Undefined Data Structured data is clearly defined data in a structure, while unstructured data is usually stored in its native format. It lives in rows and columns and can be mapped into predefined fields. Unlike structured data, which you can organize and access in relational databases, unstructured data does not have a predefined data model and is undefined. Qualitative vs. Quantitative Data Qualitative data is generally unstructured data. Examples include customer surveys, interviews, and social media interactions. It cannot be processed and analyzed using conventional tools and methods; more advanced analytics techniques like data mining and data stacking are necessary to unearth what the data is telling you. Quantitative data is often structured data, meaning it usually consists of hard numbers or things that can be counted, like product information in a CRM.) Methods for analysis include regression (to predict relationships between variables), classification (to estimate probability), and clustering of data (based on different attributes). Data scientists and other data analysts can use these methods to generate business insights for your organization. That's it for now. Part 2 will discuss differences in formats, data storage, and ease of analytics.

Surviving Life after EOL A dreaded moment for any enterprise technology customer is to be informed that a certain piece of computer software or hardware has been announced as “sunsetted” or “end-of-lifetime” (EOL). This triggers a hunt for an upgraded or alternative product, with the obligatory vetting, security review, deployment, migration, training, etc. Voice recording platforms are particularly vulnerable to EOL due to frequent mergers and acquisitions within the industry. Examples include VPI Empower (acquired by NICE and discontinued), Interactive Intelligence (acquired by Genesys and renamed “PureConnect” and then discontinued), NICE NTR (replaced by NICE NTR-X), Racal Wordnet, Dictaphone Guardian, Eyretel Mediastore, and many more. To complicate things further, some industries and agencies have a retention requirement for recorded audio (which might range anywhere from three years to forever), and the need to retain access to the recordings may extend beyond the EOL date. For customers facing this EOL scenario, you have two choices: (a) follow the vendor’s recommended upgrade path for the discontinued product, or alternatively (b) open the procurement process and select a new recording vendor. Either way, you face a decision about what to do with the data from the obsolete system. Possible solutions include: 1) Continue to pay support for the discontinued product, assuming that the old vendor is even willing to support it. Pros - It's simple Cons - Expensive recurring cost - Continued need to host IT environment for old recorder - Product support could cease - Media degradation and failing hardware 2) Transfer all of the calls into your new recorder, assuming that your new recorder has an import capability. Pros - Single pane of glass - No dependency on closed file format for old recorder Cons - One-time cost to export from old recorder - Assumes that new recorder has import capability 3) Export all of the calls from the old recorder and import into a new third-party audio repository. Pros - No dependency on closed file format for old recorders Cons - One-time cost to export from old recorder - Two "panes of glass" XOVOX can help you choose the best option and assist in its implementation. We have extensive experience extracting recordings from old recorders and preparing them for import into a new platform (be it your new recorder or another repository). We work directly with your old recorder’s audio archive, including hard disk storage, NAS, Centera, magnetic tape, or optical media. We transcode and transform the data as necessary for cloud storage or for any repository with a defined import specification. And we can often do it for far less cost than the ongoing support contract for your old system. Contact us today. https://lnkd.in/evAtHXHY

Many companies that record voice traffic are required to store the date for five or more years. But what if you upgrade your recorder? What should you do with your legacy voice data – migrate it to your new platform so that all of your voice data can be accessed from one location or maintain it separately? Each legacy data situation is unique and it’s not a simple decision. Here are fundamental issues that you need to consider as you develop your Company’s voice data (and all data for that matter) strategy: Single Pane of Glass – Consolidating legacy recordings from multiple systems into a single dashboard reduces the time required to evaluate data across systems and you can leverage today’s analytics tools. You will need to compare the costs of consolidation to the long-term operational benefits that come from migration. Legacy System Maintenance Costs – Maintaining a legacy system is more than just paying the electric bill. Software licensing and Usage & Maintenance (UM) fees provide necessary patches and security updates to ensure the health of a system. Licensing and UM fees can be very significant. Protection From Obsolescence – When legacy call reporting platforms reach end of lifetime (EOL), many of them will go unsupported by the original equipment manufacturer and sometimes the manufacturer will go belly up. Media Degradation – Some sites do still archive to tape, and those tapes degrade over time making some of them unplayable. Some degradation can be slowed by how the media is stored but as we all know - father time is undefeated. Production Capabilities – Searching for, then producing, data from one system is ideal. Producing call data from systems of two or more different generations or manufacturers is cumbersome and inefficient. Increased Demand for Voice Data – There is a potential increased internal demand for this data. With the advent of AI-driven analytic tools, it is now easier to incorporate voice data into analyses for customer service, marketing, sales, and product offerings.

Our latest article on the regulatory landscape: https://lnkd.in/eHvJRBBc

"Tell me again what you guys do....." is a request we've heard many times over the years, even from our spouses.?? ? The highly-specialized, abstract nature of XOVOX's services are not easily communicated in a quick elevator pitch.?Here's the (latest) best way to explain it.? https://lnkd.in/ek7Gumx2

How do you stay compliant? The volume of voice data has increased and will increase dramatically. There is unprecedented demand for this data. And the technology to leverage it advances daily. https://lnkd.in/g_bHskaY