Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems are key to helping businesses improve customer satisfaction while also reducing costs. Because the need for secure communications also plays a role in the advancement of these solutions, biometrics offer customers the ability to continue using the services without fear of risking their identities.

 

To help their customer rest assured, West Interactive, a subsidiary of West Corporation, has announced it partnered with PerSay (News - Alert) for its hosted voice biometrics offering.

 

PerSay is a spin-off of Verint Systems Inc. Their VocalPassword offering is language and accent independent and can be integrated with existing VoiceXML (News - Alert) platforms to ensure global security standards are being met.

 

PerSay's voice biometrics comply with the FFIEC's multi- factor authentication guidance.

 

"We are proud to be selected by West Interactive (News - Alert)," said Ariel Freidenberg, executive vice president, global sales and business development at PerSay. "West is a major player in hosted communication services and, through this strategic partnership, can significantly extend the reach and application of voice biometric services."

 

West's hosted and managed solutions including IVR, make use of speech recognition technology to help companies increase customer satisfaction. With the addition of biometrics, multi-factor authentication is made possible.

 

Much a like a fingerprint, a persons voice print, a sample of their vocal characteristics and speaking pattern, can be used to uniquely identify them over the phone. This helps make the use of self-service systems more secure, and guarantees access is granted only to the right users.

 

The biometrics market is expected to continue growing quickly over the next five years as the need for security and verification of user's identities increases.

 

"With the increasing risk of identity theft, our customers are looking for innovative ways to ensure security while not negatively impacting the caller's experience," said Pam Mortenson, president of West Interactive. "West is dedicated to offering services that help our customers simplify and accelerate the transactions of daily life. PerSay's technology will help us deliver on that promise."

 

Back in September, West Interactive was named a 2008 Speech Market Leader for Professional Services, marking the second consecutive year the company was recognized for this award.