The influx of digital innovations within the customer service and experience space in recent times has led to a significant increase in the amount of data being captured by CCaaS vendors.
The growing role of AI within the sector has added fuel to this data fire, particularly since the arrival of conversational and generative AI (GenAI).
While the tech has undoubted benefits, it also opens contact centers up to new risks. To paraphrase legendary rapper Notorious B.I.G: more data, more problems.
Enterprise tech firms like HubSpot, Twilio, and Zendesk are just some of the names to have fallen victim to apparent security breaches in the past 12 months.
Moreover, not only is AI making contact centers more desirable targets for hackers, but it is also helping to equip said hackers with more sophisticated toolkits.
Earlier this year, OpenAI decided against releasing its GenAI-powered voice cloning tool for fear that it might be used by bad actors to bypass voice-based authentication systems.
These concerns were also echoed in a report by audio traffic monitoring expert Pindrop, which claimed that hackers were using AI-powered audio deepfakes to target contact centers.
In short, contact center security has never been more critical, which is why companies like SequenceShift have never been more valuable.
At a time when hackers and bad actors have Tony Stark-esque weapons at their disposal, contact centers’ defenses must be just as robust.
SequenceShift is a phone payment solution provider for Amazon Connect that specializes in security and Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance.
The company’s Amazon-Connect-Ready platform ensures customer data is protected throughout the entirety of the payment journey.
In discussing how the company provides users with a secure, PCI-compliant service, Dmitri Muntean, Managing Director at SequenceShift, commented:
“We act as an intermediary. Using an integration to Amazon Connect, we securely capture data from the customer, pass it directly to their payment processor, and handle the compliance burden.”
“This limits the customer’s compliance scope to a few controls – like maintaining security policies and unique passwords – out of hundreds outlined in the PCI standards.”
Indeed, PCI compliance is actually designed to secure customer data against breaches.
But what are the other benefits of deploying a secure payment solution provider like SequenceShift?
For more information about precisely how SequenceShift’s payment handling software works and to find out more about PCI-compliance, check out this article today: Meet SequenceShift, the Unsung Hero Helping Amazon Connect Users Protect Their Customer Data.
A Trusting Customer is a Happy Customer
Outside of the obvious negatives associated with being subject to a data breach, such as reputational damage and accruing fines, hacks also erode customer trust.
For Muntean, one of the major strengths of SequenceShift’s solutions is their ability to foster trust and strengthen customer relationships.
In unpacking some recent customer cases, he outlined trust and data protection as recurring themes.
Feedback from financial services provider, NEOS Life, revealed that contact center staff had reported increased customer willingness to pay after implementing SequenceShift’s solution, which was attributed to enhanced trust in the security of the payment process.
Similarly, Sonos – a smart speaker technology manufacturer – also emphasized how being PCI-compliant had helped to build a greater level of customer confidence.
“With rising concerns about data breaches, customers are increasingly hesitant to provide credit card details over the phone,” Muntean explained.
“Many of us can relate to that hesitation – I know I’m cautious about sharing my credit card details, especially over unsecured channels.”
The company aims to address this common concern by reassuring businesses that sensitive card data is not present or recorded in the customer environment.
It is instead passed securely and encrypted to SequenceShift and the customers’ payment processor, avoiding traditional risks associated with verbal communication or manual handling.
Muntean claims that this not only reduces compliance exposure for businesses but also comforts customers and is part of the reason that his company’s “approach resonates with businesses and customers alike.”
“By eliminating exposure and ensuring secure processing, we’re enhancing trust in the payment process, which is critical in today’s environment,” he said.
This transition from verbal credit card exchanges to secure input via phone keypads not only helps to improve security and trust, but also elevates the overall customer experience.
Muntean explains how his company’s system leads to fewer customer errors and less instances of agents needing to ask customers to repeat details:
“There isn’t a miss on that information from the agent, or an error in transit.
“You eliminate interactions like, ‘did you say 5?’, ‘did you say 4?’, ‘could you repeat that again?’, ‘Oh, I think I missed a digit in the middle’, ‘can you repeat that again?’”
“It helps to control or reduce the agent handle time, which is vital in contact centers.”
Any Amazon Connect, Salesforce Service Cloud Voice, and/or Salesforce Contact Center with Amazon Connect customer can find out more about how SequenceShift can help with data security and PCI compliance by visiting the website today.
The company is so confident in its solutions that it’s currently offering a free, try-before-you-buy trial with no setup fees.
