Are IVR Payments Safe?

Automation is one of the best options available today for improving the efficiency of your call centers. No big surprise there! But there is often still hesitation around utilizing IVR when it comes to collecting payments. Can it be done safely and securely? What if customers have an issue while inputting their payment information?

With technology currently on the market, IVR payments are both safe and user-friendly. In fact, an IVR payment solution such as Plum Voice’s SecureAssistant actually makes it easier and cheaper to achieve full PCI compliance by de-scoping your contact center from PCI-DSS requirements. 

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How IVR Payments Can Be Set Up Securely

The good news is, you don’t have to do your own research when it comes to figuring out what technologies or vendors are secure. In 2006, American Express, Discover, JCB International, MasterCard, and Visa came together to form the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (or PCI-DSS). PCI-DSS established (and has continually updated) their standards for collecting credit card payments. If a technology is certified as PCI-compliant, you can consider them secure and trustworthy with your customer’s sensitive information.

Make a Contact Center PCI-Compliant for Payments

There are two primary options: 

• You can get PCI certification for every part of your call center that handles payment info—which includes your software and hardware, as well as all of your live agents. 

• OR you can descope your contact center from PCI requirements. This means that none of your agents or on-site tech ever comes into contact with end user payment information.

With solutions currently available, the second option of descoping the contact center from PCI requirements is becoming an industry favorite. By using a PCI-compliant, IVR system with an automated virtual assistant to collect payment information, you can quickly (and cost-efficiently) set up your contact center to accept payments without worrying about in-house security issues.

How IVR Payments Make Things Easy for the End User as well as the Call Center

Over-the-phone payments remain popular with consumers in every industry, including common applications like making credit card payments, or bill payment in industries like insurance, utilities and healthcare. The more easily customers can utilize a self-service voice solution, the happier they’ll be with your company – most customers prefer to perform simple tasks like making a payment on their own, without agent assistance.

Automated Virtual AI Agents

But, in the event agent assistance is needed, certain solutions have introduced a way for live agents to remain on the line while the customer inputs their payment data, meaning any issues can be handled immediately by a knowledgeable representative.

Having payments handled by an automated, descoped system also reduces average handle times for your contact center. This results in even more savings as well as happier agents.

What to Look for in an IVR Platform for Payments

Naturally, PCI-compliance is the number one priority for any technology that will be handling payments. And when you’re talking about IVR payments, a technology that de-scopes your call center from these requirements is going to be the simplest and most cost-efficient way to achieve compliance. Beyond that, a solution with the added benefit of an agent remaining on the line to help with any issues or questions that pop up is something that is quickly becoming a favorite among contact centers.

Secure Assistant

Plum Voice’s SecureAssistant is one such virtual agent that simply and securely accepts payment information, all while your agent remains on the line, “shielded” from the sensitive data. The Plum Voice platform has been certified PCI-DSS compliant since 2013. Click here to schedule a demo today.