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Original Publication: Customer Management Insight - February 2009
Recent laws and heightened security concerns have turned the simple, friendly act of greeting a customer into a cold, bureaucratic inquisition. “What is your account number? What is your social security number? Date of birth? Mother’s maiden name?
While most customers accept this process as an unfortunate necessity in today’s non-secure wired world, it’s inevitable that such sterile conversation-starters when calling bank or health care organization have a negative impact on customers’ — and agents’ — patience and morale. And, of course, there is the financial impact on the company; after all, the aforementioned qualifying questions can easily add 30 seconds or more to every call.
Naturally, banks and insurance companies cannot sacrifice data security in order to reduce average handle time (AHT). And as much as these organizations would love to eschew the typical barrage of questions to improve the customer experience, strict privacy and secrecy laws dictate what must be done.
The inquisition, however, may soon be over. Thanks to major advances in voice biometrics technology (a.k.a. voice authentication, voice verification), callers can now prove their identity — beyond a shadow of a doubt — simply by uttering a few words over the phone.
“It takes 20 to 40 seconds to answer challenge questions from an agent, while a voice biometrics system recognizes voiceprints automatically within three to seven seconds,” explains Israel Ronn, CEO of CellMax Systems, Ltd. (www.cellmax-systems.com) – developer and provider of voice biometric technology solutions. “By getting rid of this [question-asking] process, a large-sized call center can save tens of thousands of dollars every month — because process automation is increased, and that keeps costs low.”
Voice biometrics technology has already made its entry into contact centers, and CellMax and other vendors are confident that it will soon become huge.
Industry analysts agree. According to a recent Frost & Sullivan report, World Voice Verification Biometrics, the segment known as “transactional authentication” — what banks and other organizations use to identify calling customers — is slated to become the largest market in the voice verification space. The report predicts that transactional authentication, which accounted for $9.8 million in revenue in 2004, will explode to $169.2 million by 2011.
The Science and Strategy Behind Voice Biometrics
While banks and health care organizations have been the first industries to embrace voice biometrics in their contact centers, such technology can be highly beneficial for any company that requires customers to verify their identity at the start of a call via an agent and/or IVR system.
The general voice verification process is the same regardless of contact center type, and starts with a quick enrollment procedure: New users first provide a voice sample – typically a key word or phrase – as prompted by the voice verification system. The voiceprint is then converted into a “voiceprint,” which is defined by Diaphonics Sound Security (a leading voice biometrics vendor) as “a digital representation of the unique characteristics of a caller’s voice, including the physiological characteristics of the nasal passages and vocal chords, as well as the frequency, cadence and duration of the vocal pattern.” The voiceprint is then stored in the voice verification system’s database.
Most systems are text-dependent, meaning that, on subsequent calls, the caller must state a specific word or phrase, or even a sequence of digits (e.g., phone number), in order for the system to verify identity. Top-rated systems can adapt to voiceprint changes, such as a stuffy nose due to a cold, and can also overcome VoIP phone (e.g., Skype) and cell phone distortion. Furthermore, a recording of a caller’s voiceprint will not be recognized by the system, thus it cannot be played back into a voice biometrics system by an imposter.
Most contact centers that have implemented voice verification technology do not force it upon customers; instead, they let callers know about the service, explain how it works, and make enrollment optional.
That’s the approach that Bell Canada has taken with its Voice Identification Service (VIS) system, which was implemented in March 2007 and is powered by PerSay’s VocalPassword technology and Nuance Communications’ automatic speech recognition technologies.
Existing Bell Canada customers are invited to enroll in the service via the center’s IVR system when they call to inquire about their bill or to complete some other transaction. The voice verification party thus far has been a huge success – more than 800,000 customers have accepted the VIS invitation to date, without the aid of any advertising.
“We can put together the greatest security measures and the most stringent authentication schemes, but our customers have to also buy into it,” says Charles Giordano, former associate director of privacy marketing strategy for Bell Canada. “There’s always a compromise because the more security you apply to your calls, the more inconvenience you present to your customers.” With voice biometrics, he adds, customers get unparalleled security and convenience.
Efficient, Effective and Customer-Friendly
Naturally, the first thing that most contact center managers think when they hear the term “voice biometrics technology” – which, indeed, has a Jetsonian ring to it — is, “How much is this state-of-the-art application going to cost us?” It’s a legitimate concern, considering the fact that the traditional methods of verifying caller identity (e.g., an agent or the IVR asking for account number and other exclusive data) involves no expensive technology. But they do take time — and that, as alluded to earlier, is why the investment in voice biometrics tools becomes less intimidating upon further inspection.
“Using voice biometrics,” explains CellMax’s Ronn, “information input is automatic, data control levels rise, quality of service increases, and wait time is reduced – all this ultimately results in rapid ROI.”
Duncan Ross, voice solutions manager for IBM Software Group (Europe), agrees, and points out that managers should not consider the impact of voice biometrics on the bottom line and the customer experience alone; they should think about the impact on their agents, as well.
“You use expensive agents to ask mundane questions, never engaging their brain,” says Ross. “So it’s expensive for you, there is no value added, and it’s dull and demoralizing for your agents.”
It is often less effective at caller identification than voice biometrics, too. Not only are customers prone to forget (or not have at their disposal) information like account numbers and correct responses to additional security questions, it’s relatively easy for somebody other than the customer to obtain such information and pose as the customer when calling.
As Ronn explains, “[Account] numbers can be stolen, and many people – aside from the individual in question – can know the answer to a challenge question. My brother, for instance, can easily answer questions about my birth date, our father’s birthplace, etc. But there is only one person in the world with my voiceprint.”
A Security Star Is Born
There is no doubt that increasing security and fending against fraud has become more important than ever for customer contact organizations. However, cracks in the foundation of traditional caller verification have become much more noticeable with the advent of voice biometrics.
A tool that enables contact centers to reduce operational costs, customer frustration and agent burnout without sacrificing data security – what more can you ask for?
Unless, of course, you are an identity thief. •
Voice Biometric Vendors
Security That Doesn’t Scare Away Customers
When Bell Canada, with a reputation as one of Canada’s most trusted companies for data security and customer privacy, implemented its Voice Identification Service (VIS), it made sure customers were informed and allowed them to opt into the service. Companies that are honest with their customers about how and why their information is collected and repeatedly verified worry less about scaring customers away with security strategies.
