This week has seen two highly publicised incidents where contact centres have refused service to people in the UK. In separate occurrences, Stephen Dennis and Sophia Reis could not access their bank account, as the operator did not trust validity of their call.
Security is foremost in the mind of contact centres in our financial industry. The operator, in each case, would be working to strict guidelines and would be trained to refuse access to funds where reasonable doubt exists over a caller’s identity.
On both occasions, however, details which had been logged with each bank, regarding the high pitch of Stephen’s voice and Sophia’s transition, were not sufficient to convince the operator.
This caused distress to both individuals, who were simply trying to go about their daily lives. It is a challenge for all contact centres, not just banks, to protect our security whilst also respecting the individual issues people face.
Can we eradicate this scenario?
Voice biometrics
What we must consider is the use of voice biometrics for authentication. Voice biometrics work by capturing and digitising a profile of a person’s speech to produce a stored model voice print.
The tones collectively identify your unique voice print. Voice prints are then stored in secure databases in a manner similar to the storing of fingerprints or other biometric data.
This would have created a profile for both Stephen and Sophia that would alleviate the stress of their situation. In situations where a voice may change over a period, the customer should be advised and necessary steps taken to re-record their voice…but only if this is absolutely necessary…and this would be a rarity.
The pitch and the intonation of your voice may change (a cold, feeling stressed), but other physiological features like your vocal cord location and larynx structure are unique to a person. It is impossible for a criminal to fake all these characteristics.
Combinations and updates
Voice prints alone are not the only support available to a contact centre. Knowledge-based authentication with dynamic security questions based on IVR events, caller geo-location, ANI matching and other contextual data can provide an operator with the comfort they require.
As an industry, we want to reduce incidents like the ones Sophia and Steven experienced, but we must also retain the trust of our customers that their security is protected at all times. Using the very best in voice biometric software will make a huge difference going forward.
This can be very emotive and there can be widely varying opinions on the subject. There are also significant differences on how different types of technologies address the issue. If you would like to discuss this with me then I would be delighted to hear from you. Contact me at pgough@svlbusinesssolutions.com or join me on LinkedIn
