Sytel Calls for Responsible Innovation as FCC Moves to Loosen Dialing Rules

Sytel Limited, a UK-based CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) vendor, today urged a measured approach to proposed U.S. rule changes governing predictive dialing.

The appeal follows the FCC's draft proposals for new rulemaking, "Improving Verification and Presentation of Caller Identification Information" (FCC-CIRC2510-07), which proposes to eliminate long-standing limits on call abandonment and minimum ring times. These safeguards have, for two decades, protected consumers from the unwanted side effects of predictive dialing.

Sytel CEO Michael McKinlay commented:

"The FCC appears to believe that predictive dialers have matured to the point that regulation is no longer needed. That assumption doesn't reflect reality. Many dialers still chase performance through aggressive, poorly designed pacing, which inevitably creates lots of nuisance calls."

If the FCC's changes go through, Sytel predicts a sharp rise in outbound call volumes across the U.S. - though not a repeat of the "wild 1990s."

"Yes, we can expect an initial flood of nuisance calls," McKinlay said. "But consumers today are far more savvy - they simply won't pick up unknown numbers. And carriers are far less tolerant of short-duration calls. Together, these forces will quickly put the brakes on irresponsible dialers."

McKinlay warned that legitimate enterprises will struggle to reach customers unless they adapt quickly:

"In this new environment, success with voice outreach depends on strong branding and disciplined, well-engineered pacing. Calls must carry a trusted corporate identity, and dialers must deliver high performance without generating nuisance calls.

"Just imagine running cancel dials while declaring your brand name on every call - it's commercial suicide. A move to branding will mean transparency around caller identity, putting consumers in control. That's a natural consequence of the FCC's proposals and a powerful spur to overdue dialer innovation."

He continued:

"Compliance and performance are not trade-offs - they're outcomes of good engineering. For example, the Sytel AI Dialer delivers excellent talk-time performance with no cancel dials, no silent calls, and abandoned calls kept close to zero."

McKinlay concluded:

"We hope the FCC reconsiders relaxing all dialer controls. If it doesn't do so, then outbound markets can be expected to be chaotic in the short-term. But with consumers firmly in the driving seat, well-designed dialers will prevail and the future for outbound voice will be brighter, more transparent, and more trusted."

Sytel Limited
1 Upper Gladstone Road
Chesham
Buckinghamshire HP5 3AF
United Kingdom

Sytel Limited is a UK-based provider of cloud contact center technologies. Its Softdial Contact Center® suite, including the AI Dialer, enables multi-channel outreach at scale while embedding compliance controls to eliminate unwanted dialing behaviours.

This release was published on openPR.