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Glossary · Call centre operations

What is Call monitoring?

  • Also called: quality monitoring, call quality monitoring

Reviewed by Sujan ThapaliyaLast updated

Definition

Call monitoring is the systematic review of calls against a quality scorecard, either live or from recordings. Traditionally a supervisor sampled a handful per agent per month; transcript-based scoring now makes it possible to evaluate every call.
The three STIR/SHAKEN attestation levels, which underpin how call monitoring behaves in practice: A asserts both that the carrier knows the customer and that the customer may use the calling number, B asserts the customer only, and C asserts neither. A shared number pool can reach B at best, which is why number ownership keeps recurring in these definitions.
Attestation is the backdrop to most caller-ID and deliverability terms, call monitoring included.

In practice

How call monitoring actually works

Sampling has a statistical problem nobody likes to name: three calls a month cannot distinguish a good agent from a lucky one.

A usable scorecard has fewer than ten criteria, each observable from the recording, with the weighting agreed before scoring starts rather than argued afterwards.

What gets monitored shapes behaviour more than what gets scored. Teams that review only escalations produce agents who avoid escalating; teams that review random samples produce agents who behave consistently. The sampling method is the policy, whatever the scorecard says.

Worked example

Four to eight scored calls per agent per month, drawn at random rather than chosen, is enough to be representative. Reviewing only the calls a supervisor noticed measures the supervisor's attention, not the agent.

Call monitoring: common questions

How many calls should be monitored per agent?
Enough to be representative rather than symbolic — commonly four to eight per agent per month for scored reviews. What matters more is that the sample is random rather than the calls a supervisor happened to notice.
Is call monitoring the same as call recording?
No. Recording captures the call for later; monitoring means someone is listening live. They usually share the same consent basis and the same announcement, but a policy that covers only one leaves the other exposed.
What makes a quality scorecard useful?
Few criteria, observable behaviours, and a direct line from each score to something the agent can change. A scorecard with twenty weighted subjective items produces a number nobody trusts and nobody acts on.

Sources

  1. Combating Spoofed Robocalls with Caller ID Authentication — Federal Communications CommissionThe STIR/SHAKEN framework, the attestation levels carriers sign calls with, and the mandate requiring providers to authenticate caller ID.
  2. 47 U.S.C. § 227 — Restrictions on the use of telephone equipment — Cornell Legal Information InstituteThe Telephone Consumer Protection Act itself — the consent requirements, calling-hours limits, and private right of action.
  3. ITU-T Recommendation E.164 — The international public telecommunication numbering plan — International Telecommunication UnionThe international number format, the 15-digit maximum, and how country codes and national numbers compose.

See call monitoring in the product

Call recording captures conversations for coaching, quality assurance, dispute resolution, and compliance. Consent rules vary by jurisdiction: some US states require every party to agree, so the platform announces and logs consent per call rather than leaving it to the rep.

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