Speech Analytics for Call Centers: How AI Analyses Every Conversation

Last verified: May 12th, 2026 at 05:33 pm on FreJun Professional account. Steps current as of this date.

This guide shows you how to implement speech analytics software in your call center in 7 steps (approximately 30 minutes), using FreJun, an AI-driven business phone system built for sales, support, and contact center teams. After completing these steps, you will have a fully configured speech analytics environment that automatically transcribes every call, detects sentiment, extracts keywords, and delivers agent-coaching insights from 100% of your conversations.

Speech analytics software uses AI to transcribe, analyse, and extract intelligence from call recordings. With the right setup, quality managers and heads of CX can monitor compliance, coach agents with data, and surface customer trends without manually reviewing hours of audio. According to The Business Research Company, the global speech analytics market is projected to reach $4.77 billion in 2026, reflecting how central this technology has become to customer-facing operations. (Source: The Business Research Company, 2026)

Difficulty: Intermediate  |  Estimated time: 25–30 minutes  |  Tested on: FreJun Professional, May 2026 by the FreJun Editorial Team

Featured answer: To use speech analytics in a call center, enable automatic call recording, activate AI transcription and keyword tracking, configure sentiment analysis alerts, connect your CRM for enriched data, and review the analytics dashboard regularly. FreJun completes this in 7 steps and requires no external transcription vendor.

Here is what you will do:

1. Sign up for FreJun and verify call recording is active
2. Access the Speech Analytics dashboard
3. Configure keyword tracking and real-time alerts
4. Enable and calibrate sentiment analysis
5. Connect FreJun to your CRM
6. Set up automated call scoring and performance reports
7. Review insights, coach agents, and iterate

Who this is for: Heads of CX, quality managers, and contact center operations leads in customer support and BFSI sectors who need to monitor compliance, reduce manual call review time, and improve agent performance using data from every conversation.

Ready to get started? Try FreJun Free | Book a Demo

Table of Contents

1. What You’ll Need
2. Key Concepts
3. Step-by-Step Guide
4. Configuration
5. Connecting with Other Tools
6. Testing
7. Troubleshooting
8. Best Practices
9. How FreJun Compares
10. FAQ
11. Next Steps

What You’ll Need

Account and Access

• FreJun account (Professional plan recommended) — Sign up here
• Admin access to your FreJun dashboard
• Admin permissions on your CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, or Pipedrive)

Technical Prerequisites

• Modern browser: Chrome 90+, Firefox 88+, or Edge 90+
• Active internet connection for real-time transcription processing
• CRM API access enabled (for OAuth or API key authentication)

Information to Have Ready

• List of compliance phrases, competitor names, and objection keywords to track
• Agent team list for report distribution
• CRM login credentials or OAuth authorization access

⚠️ Plan Note: Full AI speech analytics, sentiment analysis, and keyword tracking are available on the FreJun Professional plan. Compare plans here.

Before You Begin: Key Concepts

What Is Speech Analytics Software?

Speech analytics software automatically converts spoken call audio into text, then applies AI to analyse that text for keywords, sentiment, compliance flags, and performance patterns. Unlike basic call recording, which simply stores audio, speech analytics delivers structured intelligence you can act on, reducing the need to manually review calls.

How AI Analyses Call Conversations

Modern speech analytics platforms use Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning to process transcripts in near real time. In addition, the AI detects tone and emotion (sentiment analysis), flags predefined words or phrases (keyword tracking), scores agent adherence to scripts (compliance monitoring), and identifies buying signals or churn risks. FreJun applies these capabilities automatically to every recorded call, so your team gains insights from 100% of conversations, not just the 1–2% that QA teams can manually review. According to Calabrio, most QA teams only listen to a small fraction of calls, while the other 98% produce no insights, no coaching data, and no early warning of customer issues. (Source: Calabrio, 2025)

Speech Analytics vs. Call Tracking

Call tracking identifies where a call originated. Speech analytics, on the other hand, analyses what was said during the call. For quality managers and compliance teams, the latter is far more valuable because it reveals intent, objections, satisfaction, and regulatory risk within each conversation. Learn more in our guide: Call Analytics vs Call Tracking: Key Differences Explained.

⚠️ Common Misconception: Speech analytics does not listen to calls in real time by default. In most configurations, AI processes the recording after the call ends. Real-time analysis (for live agent assist) is an advanced feature available on higher-tier plans.

How to Use Speech Analytics Software in a Call Center: Step-by-Step

Step 1: Sign Up for FreJun and Verify Call Recording Is Active

Speech analytics requires call recordings. Therefore, before configuring any AI features, confirm that automatic recording is enabled for all agents in your team.

1. Go to product.frejun.com/signup and create your FreJun account.
2. Log in and navigate to Settings in the left sidebar.
3. Select Call Recording from the settings menu.
4. Toggle Automatic Recording to On for all users.
5. Confirm the storage location is set to Cloud for instant access.

✅ Expected Outcome: A green Active status appears next to Call Recording. As a result, all future calls made through FreJun are recorded automatically and queued for AI transcription.

🔒 Admin Only: Enabling or disabling call recording requires Admin-level access in FreJun.

💡 Pro Tip: Enable call recording before your team makes any calls. Recordings cannot be retroactively generated for calls made before this setting was activated. For more on compliance recording best practices, see our guide to compliance recording for better business insights.

Step 2: Access the Speech Analytics Dashboard

FreJun’s AI Insights panel is the central hub for all speech analytics data, from transcription logs to sentiment trend charts.

1. In your FreJun dashboard, click Analytics in the left navigation menu.
2. Select AI Insights from the submenu.
3. Review the overview panel showing: transcription queue, recent sentiment scores, keyword hit summary, and call score averages.
4. Click on any call entry to open the full transcript with highlighted keywords and sentiment markers.

✅ Expected Outcome: You can see processed call transcriptions in the AI Insights panel. New calls appear within minutes of completion.

💡 Pro Tip: Use the filter options to view calls by agent, date range, or sentiment score. This approach immediately surfaces your highest-risk and highest-performing calls for review. For deeper context, see our article on 15 AI insights you can extract from call recordings.

Step 3: Configure Keyword Tracking and Real-Time Alerts

Keyword tracking is how your speech analytics software flags calls containing compliance risks, competitor mentions, objections, or buying signals. Configure this before calls start to ensure no critical phrase goes undetected.

1. Go to Settings > Keyword Tracking.
2. Click Add Keyword Group and name it (for example: “Compliance Phrases” or “Competitor Mentions”).
3. Enter your keywords or phrases, one per line. Examples for BFSI teams: “cancel my account”, “SEBI complaint”, “not happy with”.
4. Set the alert type: Real-Time Supervisor Notification (for urgent compliance issues) or Post-Call Flag (for coaching review).
5. Save the keyword group. Confirm it appears in the Active Tracking list with a green status indicator.

✅ Expected Outcome: Your keyword groups are active. Consequently, the next completed call containing a tracked phrase will trigger the selected alert and appear as flagged in the AI Insights panel.

💡 Pro Tip: Start with 10–15 high-priority keywords per group. Tracking too many phrases at once creates alert fatigue for supervisors. Refine your list after two weeks based on actual hit frequency data.

Step 4: Enable and Calibrate Sentiment Analysis

Sentiment analysis scores each call on a positive, neutral, or negative scale based on agent and customer tone. Calibrating the thresholds ensures alerts are actionable rather than noisy.

1. Navigate to Analytics > Sentiment Settings.
2. Toggle Automatic Sentiment Detection to On.
3. Set the Negative Sentiment Alert Threshold (recommended starting point: flag calls scoring below 40 on the 0–100 scale).
4. Choose alert recipients from your supervisor list.
5. Review the last 20 calls in the AI Insights panel and verify the sentiment scores align with your assessment of those calls.
6. Adjust the threshold up or down based on your review.

✅ Expected Outcome: Every completed call now displays a sentiment score in the AI Insights panel. Furthermore, calls below your threshold trigger automatic supervisor notifications.

💡 Pro Tip: Calibration is especially important for BFSI call centers. Financial services conversations often use formal language that AI can initially score as neutral even when the customer is frustrated. Spend extra time reviewing a sample of BFSI-specific calls during calibration.

Step 5: Connect FreJun to Your CRM

Connecting FreJun to your CRM synchronises speech analytics data with customer records, eliminating manual data entry and giving your team full call context within their primary workflow tool.

1. Go to Settings > Integrations.
2. Select your CRM: HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, or Pipedrive.
3. Click Connect and complete the OAuth authorisation or enter your API key.
4. Map FreJun fields to CRM fields: call transcript to Notes, sentiment score to Custom Field, keyword flags to Tags.
5. Click Save Integration and confirm the green Connected badge appears.

✅ Expected Outcome: A green Connected badge appears next to your CRM. As a result, the next completed and analysed call automatically pushes transcript data and sentiment scores to the corresponding record in your CRM.

💡 Pro Tip: Map the sentiment score to a numeric custom field in your CRM so you can build CRM-side reports and filter leads by conversation quality. This is particularly useful for customer support teams tracking escalation risk.

Step 6: Set Up Automated Call Scoring and Performance Reports

Automated reports eliminate the need for managers to log in daily to check performance. In addition, scheduled reports ensure your quality management team receives structured data without manual effort.

1. Navigate to Analytics > Report Builder.
2. Click New Report and select metrics: call score, sentiment trend, keyword frequency, agent talk ratio, first-call resolution rate.
3. Set the report scope: all agents or selected teams.
4. Schedule delivery: daily summary or weekly performance digest.
5. Add recipient email addresses for your quality management team.
6. Click Save and Activate.

✅ Expected Outcome: Your team receives scheduled reports by email on the defined cadence. Moreover, each report includes per-agent sentiment trends, keyword hit counts, and call score averages.

Step 7: Review Insights, Coach Agents, and Iterate

Speech analytics creates value only when insights translate into action. This final step establishes your ongoing coaching and iteration workflow.

1. Open Analytics > AI Insights and filter calls by sentiment score below your threshold.
2. Click on a flagged call to view the full transcript with keyword highlights and sentiment markers.
3. Use the Coaching Notes feature to attach written feedback directly to the call record.
4. Share the annotated call with the agent via the in-platform notification.
5. Review keyword trend reports weekly and update keyword groups as customer language evolves.
6. Compare agent sentiment score trends month-over-month to track coaching impact.

✅ All 7 Steps Complete. Your call center now analyses 100% of conversations automatically. Total setup time: approximately 30 minutes.

Start using speech analytics today: Try FreJun Free | Schedule Demo

Configuring Speech Analytics for Your Team

Compliance Keyword Configuration for BFSI Teams

For banking, financial services, and insurance contact centers, keyword configuration must reflect regulatory requirements. Configure separate keyword groups for SEBI or RBI disclosure phrases, data-handling consent language, and escalation triggers specific to your vertical.

Setting	Default	Recommended for BFSI	Reason
Sentiment threshold	30/100	40/100	BFSI formal language can mask genuine frustration
Transcript retention	90 days	365 days	Regulatory requirements for financial services record keeping

💡 Pro Tip: For multi-language contact centers in India and the UAE, verify that your FreJun account has the relevant language models enabled in Settings > Transcription Language. FreJun supports Hindi, Arabic, and English transcription.

Agent-Level vs. Team-Level Reports

In the Report Builder, choose between agent-level reports (showing individual performance metrics) and team-level summaries (aggregating data across a group). For quality management workflows, configure both: agent-level reports for coaching sessions and team-level summaries for management dashboards. For additional guidance, explore how call analytics supports better decision-making for sales leaders.

Connecting Speech Analytics with Other Tools

The FreJun-HubSpot integration pushes call transcripts, sentiment scores, and keyword flags directly to HubSpot contact records. Furthermore, customer support teams can see the full history of sentiment trends across all calls for a given contact without leaving HubSpot. Setup takes approximately 5 minutes via OAuth.

Integration	Availability	Setup Time
HubSpot	✓ Native	5 minutes
Salesforce	✓ Native	10 minutes
Pipedrive	✓ Native	5 minutes
Zoho CRM	✓ Native	5 minutes

Don’t see your tool? FreJun supports 40+ native integrations. Check the full list at frejun.com/integrations.

Test That Speech Analytics Works

Test 1: Verify Transcription Is Processing

Make a short test call (2–3 minutes) using your FreJun number. End the call and wait 3–5 minutes for processing.

✅ Success: The call appears in Analytics > AI Insights with a full transcript and sentiment score visible. ❌ Failure: No transcript appears after 10 minutes. See Troubleshooting

Test 2: Verify Keyword Tracking Is Active

Make a test call and deliberately say one of your configured tracked keywords (for example, “cancel my account”). After the call is processed, check the AI Insights panel.

✅ Success: The keyword appears highlighted in the transcript and the call is flagged in your keyword hit dashboard. ❌ Failure: The keyword is not highlighted. Verify the keyword group is set to Active and the phrase matches exactly (spelling and spacing).

Test 3: Verify CRM Sync

After a processed call, navigate to the corresponding contact in your CRM and check for the call transcript in the Notes or Activity log.

✅ Success: The transcript, sentiment score, and duration appear in the CRM record automatically. ❌ Failure: No data appears in the CRM. Check the integration status in Settings > Integrations and reconnect if the status shows Disconnected.

• [ ] Test call transcription appears within 5 minutes of call completion
• [ ] Keyword trigger fires correctly on a test phrase
• [ ] Sentiment score is visible in the AI Insights panel
• [ ] CRM record shows transcript data after call processing

Troubleshooting Common Speech Analytics Issues

Issue 1: Transcription Not Appearing After Call

Symptoms: Call appears in your call log but no transcript shows in AI Insights after 15 minutes.

Solution:

1. Verify that Settings > Call Recording shows Active for all users involved.
2. Make a new test call of at least 60 seconds and wait 5 minutes for processing.

🛡️ Prevention: Enable call recording at the account level during initial setup, before any agents begin making calls.

Issue 2: Keyword Alerts Not Triggering

Solution: Go to Settings > Keyword Tracking and verify the group status shows Active. Compare the keyword entry with the exact text in the transcript and correct any mismatch.

🛡️ Prevention: After creating a keyword group, run a test call using the exact phrase to confirm tracking is working before deploying to your live agent team.

Issue 3: CRM Not Receiving Call Data

Solution: Navigate to Settings > Integrations > your CRM and click Test Connection. If the test fails, click Reconnect and re-authorise. Still stuck? Contact FreJun support: support@frejun.com

Best Practices for Speech Analytics in Call Centers

1. Focus Keyword Groups on Outcomes, Not Just Words

Generic keyword lists generate too many false positives and, as a result, cause supervisors to stop reviewing alerts. Create separate keyword groups for different outcomes: compliance risk, churn risk, upselling opportunity, and competitor mentions. Assign each group to the relevant team. Avoid putting all keywords in a single group and routing every alert to the same inbox.

2. Review a Sample of Correctly Scored Calls Weekly

Each week, review 10 calls that scored between 45 and 55 (the neutral zone). Check whether the AI’s assessment matches your human judgement. Consequently, adjust your threshold if you consistently disagree with the model on a specific call type. Learn more about the future of call analytics and AI automation.

3. Tie Speech Analytics Insights Directly to Agent KPIs

Agents improve faster when analytics data is connected to their performance reviews, not just used by managers in isolation. Include average call sentiment score and keyword compliance rate in your monthly agent scorecards. Moreover, share the AI Insights panel with agents so they can self-review their own calls before coaching sessions. For additional metrics guidance, see our article on call analytics metrics every business must track in 2026.

How FreJun Compares to Other Speech Analytics Platforms

FreJun is an AI-driven business phone system offering VoIP, call recording, speech analytics, and CRM integrations for sales, recruitment, and support teams. Unlike standalone speech analytics tools, FreJun combines calling infrastructure and analytics in a single platform, reducing vendor complexity and cost.

Feature	FreJun	JustCall	Talkdesk
India/UAE virtual numbers	✓ Native	✓ Available	✓ Available
Built-in speech analytics	✓ Native	✓ Higher-tier plans	✓ Add-on module
CRM integrations	✓ 40+ native	✓ 100+ integrations	✓ Enterprise integrations
Starting price	$14.49/user/month	$19/user/month	Custom pricing

Third-party validation: FreJun is rated 4.7/5 on Software Advice from 75 verified reviews. (Source: Software Advice, April 2026)

Frequently Asked Questions About Speech Analytics Software

What is speech analytics software for call centers?

Speech analytics software automatically transcribes call recordings, then uses AI to analyse the text for keywords, sentiment, compliance phrases, and performance patterns. It helps quality managers review 100% of calls instead of the 1–2% that manual QA teams can assess.

How does AI analyse conversations in a call center?

AI call analytics uses Natural Language Processing to convert speech to text, then applies machine learning models to detect sentiment, flag keywords, score agent script adherence, and identify topics. FreJun processes transcripts post-call, delivering sentiment scores, keyword hit counts, and call summaries within minutes of each call ending.

How long does speech analytics setup take?

For a standard call center setup using FreJun, the full speech analytics configuration takes approximately 25–30 minutes: 10 minutes for account setup and call recording activation, 10 minutes for keyword and sentiment configuration, and 10 minutes for CRM integration and report scheduling.

Does FreJun work for BFSI call centers?

Yes. FreJun is used by customer support and BFSI contact centers across India and the UAE. Key capabilities include compliance keyword tracking with real-time supervisor alerts, call transcript retention for audit purposes, and support for TRAI compliance requirements.

What plan do I need for speech analytics on FreJun?

Full speech analytics features, including sentiment analysis, keyword tracking, and AI insights, are available on the FreJun Professional plan ($16.69/user/month). For a complete feature comparison and current pricing, visit frejun.com/pricing.

How is speech analytics different from call recording?

Call recording stores audio for later review. Speech analytics, in contrast, adds an AI layer that automatically converts recordings to text and extracts structured insights: keywords, sentiment, topics, script adherence, and agent scores. Recording requires a human to listen; analytics delivers insights without manual review.

What is the best speech analytics software for call centers?

The best speech analytics software for call centers depends on your team’s size, CRM stack, and compliance requirements. For sales, support, and BFSI teams in India and the UAE, FreJun is a strong choice because it combines built-in speech analytics, 40+ CRM integrations, virtual numbers, and AI call scoring in a single platform starting at $14.49/user/month.

How do I improve speech analytics accuracy?

Improve accuracy by calibrating sentiment thresholds weekly against a sample of real calls, refining keyword groups based on actual transcript text, ensuring calls are at least 60 seconds long before expecting transcription, and enabling the correct language model for your team’s primary language in FreJun’s transcription settings.

Next Steps

Now that your speech analytics setup is complete, consider exploring these related FreJun guides to get more value from your call data:

• Call Analytics Metrics Every Business Must Track in 2026 — Learn which KPIs to prioritise in your automated reports.
• 15 AI Insights You Can Extract from Call Recordings — Discover what else your call data can reveal about buyer intent and objections.
• Call Analytics vs Call Tracking: Key Differences Explained — Understand how speech analytics complements your existing call tracking setup.

📅 Quarterly Refresh Reminder: Review and update your keyword groups, sentiment thresholds, and screenshots every 90 days to ensure this guide remains accurate as FreJun releases new features.