Spring 2007

How do you prevent contact centre staff from using confidential customer information for their own ends - either on their own initiative, or by enticement or under dress?

Against the background of news about consumer credit card information leaking into the hands of computer hackers, and allegations of contact centre fraud by BBC TV's Whistleblower programme, the subject of contact centre vulnerability has leapt to prominence.

Sabio, a specialist in solutions for this market, reckons it has an answer. It has launched a system called Sabio Payment Protection, which makes it possible to cut contact centre staff out of the information loop while customers are confirming confidential details on the phone.

It does this by using self-service technology. During a telephone call that requires customer identification and verification as well as payment processing, the agent simply 'conferences in' the Sabio application, which mutes the agent out of the call while the customer interacts directly with the application.

Once this process has been completed, the Sabio application drops away, allowing the agent to conclude the transaction in the normal way. The problem could be widespread. Sabio's consulting director, Kenneth Hitchen, says that Strathclyde Police believes one in ten of Glasgow's financial call centres has been infiltrated by criminal gangs. 'They either plant their staff inside offices or force existing agents to provide sensitive customer details.'

He adds: 'Organisations have also got to recognise that today's fraudsters are smart and determined enough to find the parts of their business that are most susceptible.'

Sabio claims to be ahead of the market in self-service applications. Features of its products include a specialist user-centred speech design approach based on conversational techniques; targeted 'persona' and 'customer engagement' strategies; business and systems integration skills; and standards-based technologies from organisations such as Nuance, VoiceObjects, Avaya and Genesys.