NICE Systems is offering contact centers a one-two-three punch in the battle to eradicate bad guys with the release of its Real-Time Fraud Prevention solution. Using voice biometrics in addition to speech and desktop analytics, Real-Time Fraud Prevention instantly flags 90 percent of fraudulent callers within the first few seconds of a call.
The solution is an upgrade from NICE's voice biometrics offering launched in 2013, and can be deployed on call-recording technology that has already been implemented, whether from NICE or another vendor. Interactions are analyzed, and the actual delivery of the real-time alerts is part of the common platform, which includes an alerting mechanism, a risk case manager solution, and real-time speech analytics.
"In the past, we've identified fraudsters using voice biometrics, alerting fraud investigators and contact center staff to analyze [the recordings] after the interaction happens," Matthew Storm, innovations and solutions director for NICE Systems, says. "It was a great way to prevent fraud when the action could be stopped within twenty-four hours..., before a product ships, or before the end of banking hours. This solution leverages voice biometrics while the interaction is happening. Within the first few seconds of the call, if that person is a known fraudster, something can be prevented at that very moment."
Fraud is rampant in the contact center. According to data from NICE, fraud can cost contact centers more than $10 million per year. There are five fraudulent calls every minute; the volume of fraud calls increases by 29 percent every year; and fraudsters are able to circumvent current authentication methods in one out of five attempts. Additionally, NICE says that 58 percent of the top 40 banks don't realize how much fraud happens in the contact center, while 40 percent of defrauded customers churn and another 40 percent reduce their wallet share.
"There's a significant chance that when someone is a victim of fraud, they'll close their account," Storm says. "From a customer experience perspective, customers just won't stick around—[they] won't continue to remain loyal to an organization that's not attempting to do something to stop fraud."
Shirley Inscoe, senior analyst at the Aite Group, says that not only is the contact center a critical enabler to fraud schemes, but it has also suffered significantly from lack of investment in fraud prevention tools. "That's because money doesn't often leave the building via the contact center. But without the contact center as an enabler, many fraud schemes would not be successful. Therefore, there is a real need in the market for solutions that stop fraud in real time via the voice channel," Inscoe said in a statement.
Storm agrees. "At NICE, we echo that. The contact center isn't the sole stop on fraud incidents, but it is one stop on the journey. If a Web site doesn't detect fraud, if the person being face-to-face doesn't detect fraud or a mobile app didn't, then the contact center becomes an easy target, because at that moment you're just dealing with people manipulating people with information. When that happens, then new tactics have to be brought onboard."