Protiviti provides an example of a business using Telecom APIs to better serve its retail industry customers with a great retail auditing and awareness service.   Protiviti is a global business consulting and internal audit firm composed of experts specializing in risk, advisory and transaction services. They add value and provide solutions in finance and transactions, operations, technology, litigation, governance, risk, and compliance.  Their close to 3000 professionals provide a host of consulting and internal audit solutions to over 35 percent of both the FORTUNE® 500 and Global 1000 corporations.

The specific problem Protiviti uses Telecom APIs to solve is in compliance.  That is ensuring the employees at a retail location know the safety training.  It may seem like a small thing, but it’s a legal requirement with significant risks both to human life and the business, hence the need to ensure the safety training is understood.  In many retail locations there is often no computer connected to the internet.  Hence the need to use voice.  “Proving compliance is not easy and has significant associated risks for a business, especially in the retail sector.  Voice communications is ubiquitous, it’s the universal interface that enables us to ensure our clients’ employees have received adequate training at a retail location,” explained Taki Stewart, Senior Manager, Application Solutions Delivery at Protiviti.

To do this Protiviti uses Tropo to run an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) that enables employees to run through a quiz in the language of their choice.  Their responses are recorded and rolled up into a series of reports for head office.  Taki stated, “Telecom APIs made it so simple, the scripts are on the web-site, we simply cut and paste them into our application, and the compliance survey was running in no time.  It really is very simple.”  I asked Taki why they selected Tropo, “Its Total Cost of Ownership, we ended up saving 50% compared to a previous supplier, and were able to pass those savings onto our retail customers.”

On where they are taking the service, “Because our experiences in using Telecom APIs are positive, we’re examining expanding the service to offer per-employee training and auditing, where we will likely use both voice and SMS.”  On advice Taki would give to other businesses given their experiences with Telecom APIs, “Once you realize many business problems can be solved using voice and messaging, a whole new world of opportunities opens up.  Voice is ubiquitous, IVRs enable us to quickly and at the employee’s convenience ensure they are trained and compliant.  This is automatically rolled up into reports for corporate so they have the necessary evidence to meet regulatory compliance.  No time wasted shuffling and loosing paper; its immediate, measured and convenient to everyone.”