What happens to my call data?
When an AI answers your phone, your callers’ names, numbers and reasons for calling end up in somebody else’s system. That makes you responsible for something you no longer physically hold — so it is worth knowing what is kept, for how long, and what you can do about it. General information, not legal advice.
What actually gets stored
What was said, on both sides. This is the most sensitive artefact, because callers volunteer things nobody asked for.
Name, phone number, and whatever the call was about — which is personal data the moment it identifies someone.
What was booked, when, and with whom. This usually also lives in your own calendar.
A short account of the call, which is the bit you actually read.
It is your data, and your responsibility
In most jurisdictions you are the one who decides why this information is collected, which makes you accountable for it even though a vendor is holding it. That is not a technicality — it means a deletion request from one of your callers is yours to honour, and you need a vendor who can actually carry it out rather than one who has never been asked.
The questions worth asking any vendor
"As long as necessary" is not an answer. A number is.
Not one account — one person, on request, because that is what the law contemplates.
Ask what is deleted, when, and whether you can export first.
Which sub-processors are involved, and where they operate.
Audio and text carry different risks. Some services keep both; not all need to.
Decide retention before you collect anything
The easiest mistake is keeping everything forever because nobody chose otherwise. Pick a period that matches why you need the data — long enough to handle a dispute, short enough that a breach is bounded — write it down, and make sure it happens automatically. A policy nobody enforces is worse than none, because it is a promise you are not keeping.
Frequently asked
You do, in the sense that matters: you decide why it is collected, and you are accountable for it. The vendor processes it on your behalf.
Only as long as you have a reason. Choose a period, document it, and enforce it automatically — "indefinitely" is difficult to defend to a regulator or a customer.
In most jurisdictions yes, and you have to be able to do it. Check your vendor can delete one individual rather than only a whole account.
Open Lines is transcript-based rather than audio-archiving. Transcripts and summaries are retained according to the retention settings on your account.
Ask before you sign up, not after. Look for a stated deletion timeline and a way to export anything you need to keep.