As human beings, we each want to think of ourselves as unique. Each of us loves specific things and dislikes others.
But there are things that we all have in common. We all desire happiness, we all dislike feeling ill, and we all hate speaking to machines!
When you call a customer service center, you're either patched through to an agent, or more likely, faced with navigating the Interactive Voice Response System (IVR), where you must "press 1 if your call is related to billing," for example. We all know that IVR is by far the cheaper option, and, for this reason, organizations attempt to shift as many calls as possible from their live agents to the IVR. More so, they want to contain calls in the IVR when they started there, and help customers resolve their issues without having to transfer to an agent.
This is where Real-Time Authentication comes into the story.
Using voice biometrics to verify callers' identity provides a higher level of security than other authentication methods. By applying this technology to the IVR channel, organization can shift more call and transaction types to the IVR since they can be completed there, as it is no longer necessary for a live agent to begin questioning the caller in order to authenticate them. And, when customers don't need to remember a password or a pin, they are more likely to complete their activity without escalating to an agent.
All that sounds great, BUT –
The best Voice Biometric solution is useless if customers won't use it.
In reality, humans are human! No one likes speaking to machines, including IVR systems. We want to finish dealing with the IVR as soon as possible. No one is going to extend the call in order to spend additional time enrolling in a voice authentication program. Active enrollment for self-service channels requires repeating the same phrase three to five times, which is just plain annoying, and so many people quit before completing the enrollment process. In fact, active enrollment rates are typically as low as 20-30 percent.
You can have the best voice biometrics solution in the world. However, if customers won't enroll, it is fairly useless.
The Solution: Passive enrollment for authentication across channels
NICE has the answer - passive enrollment for authentication across channels. NICE, for the first time in the industry, is using the same voiceprint - created seamlessly based on live agent calls or based on historical recordings - for voice authentication on ALL voice channels: live agent calls, IVR, mobile, and any other self-service channels.
Customers do not need to do anything to enroll, not even call the IVR!
The benefit is twofold – enrollment rates are significantly higher as they no longer depend on customer behavior; and, customers receive much better service, both on self-service channels and during interactions with an agent, with zero effort required.