You remember the old episodes of Star Trek when Captain Kirk would gain access to the Star Ship Enterprise’s computer systems via a biometric voice- print.
Well, as we know, science fiction often turns into science fact and right now in ‘star date 2007’, biometric technology is already replacing outdated and unsecure methods of verifying a person’s identity.
ID fraud is the driving force behind implementing voice biometric technology and is now one the biggest concerns facing any organisation that relies on inbound telephony to conduct their business. The cost of ID fraud in the UK is estimated to be as much as £1.7bn a year and this figure continues to grow as fraudsters become ever more creative in their ability to ‘steal’ and use personal data for criminal gain. The days of sifting through rubbish bins are now long gone – using the internet, criminals can now gather enough information about an individual to access or open a bank account within minutes.
Of all the biometrics, voice is the only one that can be used over the telephone so makes it ideal for use on a large scale in commercial environments such as contact centres. It has many benefits over its rival technologies; it is relatively cheap to deploy, does not require personal presence for verification, enrolment takes just a couple of minutes and it boasts high accuracy rates. Voice biometrics operate at similar or higher levels of security than more traditional biometrics such as fingerprints or face recognition.
In Hollywood blockbusters such as Sneakers filmed over 15 years ago, the use of voice biometrics allowed named individuals secure access to a building by simply saying ‘My voice is my passport’. What was once fantasy is now reality with many financial institutions now considering voice biometrics to protect against fraud. ahm (Australian Health Management) is Australia’s eighth largest insurance company and is successfully using the technology to verify the identity of members when they call to make a claim or any other customer service issue. With over 20,000 users now registered, ahm is one of the world’s first large scale commercial adopters of voice biometrics used to identify that customers ARE who they say they are and to speed up access to advisors.
So how does the technology work and how easy is it to set up?
On average it takes less than two minutes for an individual user to create a voice-print based on specific text such as ‘Name’ and or ‘Policy/Account Number’ all completed over the phone. This is then stored against the individual’s record (a single voiceprint is about 20K in terms of size), so when they next call, they simply say their name and if the voice print matches what they have stored, then the person is put straight through to a customer service representative. By-passing the need for the individual to have to run through a series of monotonous ID checks such as passwords, address details, the entire process takes less than 30 seconds, vastly improving the speed of the entire operation as well as security.
Voice biometrics also has the advantage of centralising the security effort within an organisation. Staff turnover rates in many companies can be high and this presents a major headache when trying to protect personal data as each member of staff dealing with their customers is a potential security risk. With voice biometrics risk can be restricted to a few professional technicians, therefore breaches, if they occur, can be easily traced and controlled.
Summary of voice biometrics benefits:
Can replace reliance on sensitive information or passwords
Up to 10 times more accurate than other biometric measures such as facial recognition
Cost-effective
New users can be ‘enrolled’ quickly and efficiently
Can be used remotely without additional hardware
Vastly speeds up inbound call processing and improves customer service
Enables organisations to focus their security efforts on smaller ‘controllable’ areas such as the IT department.
About the author
Brett Feldon, General Manager EMEA at VeCommerce, provider of Intelligent Call Steering, Voice Biometric and Voice Self-Service Solutions.
