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Making IVR Safer for Phone Payments

By Michelle Amodio, TMCnet Contributor

Getting and giving money has never been easier in a digital era, but even with all of this fascinating and helpful technology, there are risks to be had. Collecting money via phone using interactive voice response (IVR) technology can help streamline the entire process, but like collecting money in any electronic form, businesses should take precautions and use safeguards for not only compliance, but the protection of their customers.

The goal of most IVR systems is to allow customers to serve themselves by automating the calling process. The technology uses either touch-tone or speech-recognition technology to answer customer questions, handle their requests or point them in the right direction, all without having an employee speak with them directly.

Here’s some more good stuff about IVRs: IVR systems work well for companies that service high call volumes. By reducing cost and improving the customer’s experience, companies are likely to retain their customers and can extend their business hours to a longer operation.

In terms of accepting payments, IVR can automate billing processes and accept immediate payments over the phone. Payments can be made 24/7 — even at night, on the weekends and when businesses are closed. This eliminates the need to dedicate live agents to making payment-related phone calls. Customers can simply call in, enter their account info, get their current balance and make a payment without needing assistance from any live agents.

According to PaymentsSource, while IVR is well and good, sometimes customers need to reach an agent. After having gone through a screening process, a customer is susceptible to having personally identifiable information (PII) exposed to agents in the form of a full Social Security number or other sensitive information. But combining the same technology that offers touch-tone signals for data via IVR with an agent on the line allows for safe data capture and the added benefit of the human element. This technology -- dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signaling -- is not new. DTMF uses a combination of two tones to identify the dialed number or a signal. Think: push button phones.

Basically, “DTMF systems can be deployed within computer telephony integration (CTI (News - Alert)) software that interfaces directly with Automated Call Distributor (ACD) systems. Because the capture and processing occurs entirely within a secure, encrypted server, this approach eliminates the ‘weak link’ inherent in desktop filtering systems, which can potentially be disabled or overridden by an agent,” notes PaymentsSource.

Capturing IVR payments is simplified via touch-tone prompts and account-data validation, and when the human element is required, all that is necessary is some added tried and true technology.