TRENDING: Call Centers Push With Biometrics As Fraud Soars

The rate of contact center fraud has skyrocketed recently, growing by 350 percent during the past four years. For call centers, dealing with this growing issue requires a multi-pronged approached, complete with defense to beat attacks coming from both outside and inside the company. That means thwarting fraudsters who call in, masquerading as legitimate customers, or who hack into a cell center, as well as blocking any dishonest agents within the center from stealing customer information.

However, call centers need to implement these security measures in a way that doesn’t introduce frictions into the customer experience. It’s a tough challenge, and in the November Call Center Commerce Tracker, PYMNTS explores the latest approaches to shielding sensitive payment information and authenticating customers.

Around The Call Center World

Biometrics have been making some buzz recently, as some service providers see the tech as the path to more robust authentication measures.

In one recent move, for example, Avtex, a call center customer experience consulting and technology company, partnered with biometric identity company Daon. Under the terms of the new partnership, Avtex will build a product suite using Daon’s identity platform to provide call centers and their interactive voice response (IVR) systems with facial, fingerprint and voice biometric authentication.

These biometric solutions also appear to be catching the attention of large companies.

CallVU, a mobile digital engagement platform provider, recently announced that its biometric authentication offering was selected for use by an international credit card provider. This solution uses facial and fingerprint biometrics.

Still, some hurdles to selling biometric solutions remain, as VoiceVault has discovered. The voice biometrics provider recently went under and made moves to sell its business and assets after failing to build a big enough customer base.

TechStyle Fashion’s Self-Serve And Agent-Support Approach

Companies know that smooth-running call centers need more than just strong authentication methods to be successful. They also need to leverage a full set of tools to help them quickly and accurately handle customer requests.

Online subscription fashion retailer TechStyle Fashion Group, for one, has been using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and a comprehensive customer relationship management system as part of an effort to provide stronger automated self-serve customer support, as well as more insightful support from live agents.

In this month’s feature story, Mike Shay, senior vice president of the company’s Global Member Services, explained the company’s approach to better aiding customers on a call and bringing digital supports into the company’s brick-and-mortar locations.

About The Tracker

The Call Center Commerce Tracker serves as a monthly framework for the space, providing coverage of the most recent call center commerce news and trends. The Tracker also includes a provider directory, highlighting the key players that comprise the call center ecosystem.