Technology is your safety net

James Guthrie, MD of Total Call Centre Group, says: "Any IP-based solution has potential risk, but if attention is given to adopting network security standards, then the risk will be minimised."

Andrew Askew, business development manager of Continuity SA, agrees with him. "Technology plays a critical role in all organisations today and we are therefore all subject to the same threats and risks. IP-based contact centres are not immune to threats of hacking or malicious software. Adopting accepted risk management practices and technologies will help mitigate these risks." Despite the fear of security breaches within the contact centre environment itself, IP telephony enables far more stringent monitoring due to the flexibility of IP, Guthrie says. "All contact with clients is recorded and monitored and this can be used for security and quality control measures."

FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE

Emerging contact-centre technology may even help to identify thieves.

"One important aspect of contact centre procedure is to determine whether the person on the other end of the line is actually who they say they are," explains Guthrie. He talks of the emergence of stress detection software that can be integrated on the IP platform. The software identifies changes in voice pitch of a caller, and can help determine whether or not the caller is telling the truth.

"If the software sends out a signal that the person on the other end of the line is being untruthful, the call can be routed through to a more experienced agent who is specifically trained to deal with dishonest callers," he explains.

Pieter du Preez, Spescom DataFusion`s marketing manager, also mentions software that can detect emotion in a caller`s voice, so an agent will know the moment a caller becomes irate and can take action to quickly appease them.

He also talks of `word spotting`, in which software searches call recordings for specific word combinations. For example, if a search is done for the words "cancel my policy" and many instances of the word combination is found, then the company can address the problem.