Biometrics - a revolution on the scale of the invention of the telephone?

By 2020, biometrics will revolutionise customer contact. What is it? How can it simplify your customer contact?

This interesting forecast was made by the analytics firm Good Intelligence based on data concerning banking. Until now, biometrics was mainly associated with ATMs allowing cash withdrawals after authorisation by our fingerprint, but today the technology also makes it possible to use biometrics on a bank's helpline.

Each of us is unique

The use of speech identification by contact centres is soon to become a standard in customer service. "Basic" tools are already available on the market that enable automatic transcription of speech, so-called speech to text, and voice synthesis based on text, i.e. text to speech. More advanced solutions are in preparation, allowing, for example, automatic analysis of emotions expressed in the sound of the voice or identification of the caller.

Polish technology companies specialising in the provision of IT-as-a-service, including platforms for customer service operating on the basis of biometric solutions, will also benefit from the next wave of changes in telecommunications. As the Deloitte report predicts, by the end of 2018, spending related to IT services in the IT-as-a-Service model allocated to data centres, software and other services will reach a value of nearly USD 550 billion, compared with USD 361 billion in 2016.

An important element of omnichannel

It is also worth recalling the forecasts of Markets&Markets, according to which the market for solutions integrating communication channels, offered in cloud computing, will grow at a double-digit rate year on year, by an average of 10 percent, and companies will spend USD 12 billion more on UCaaS (Unified Communication as a Service) services over the next 5 years than to date.

These data indicate that there is enormous demand on the market for the integration of communication flowing from many channels, and platforms based on real-time speech identification will play an increasingly important role in multi-channel communication. According to Paweł Pierścionek, Chief Technical Operator at Cludo, a company supplying professional solutions for contact and call centre management: "Generally, a customer who decides to make contact via a helpline has already interacted through other channels such as chat, social media or applications. Gathering information about these interactions within a single platform, and additionally identifying the customer without the need to verify their personal data, are functions that will soon become a standard in customer service. Is it simply more convenient?"

Conversations in progress

The benefits? Apart from the obvious ones, such as personalisation and improved customer service, real-time speech analysis picks up specific words spoken by the customer or the consultant on an ongoing basis. After detecting a given phrase, the tool immediately alerts the contact centre manager, thanks to which they can quickly intervene in the case of "difficult" conversations - they can join the conversation or, on a separate channel, pass guidance to the consultant. In repetitive situations, this process can even be automated by creating a special script to which the consultant will be directed the moment the system detects a given problem.

"Customer service systems using artificial intelligence mechanisms and based on speech analysis significantly increase the efficiency of call centre work and make customer service more professional. During a conversation with a customer, the system is able to pick up information on the basis of previously defined keywords," explains Paweł Pierścionek, CTO at Cludo.

Biometrics = security?

In Poland, as in other countries, biometrics is used primarily in banking, but in the future it will find application in all areas requiring verification of the identity of users contacting companies and institutions by telephone. According to a report by DMG Consulting, voice biometrics will displace the current methods of customer verification, mainly due to the significantly higher degree of security than the authorisation currently used by means of passwords or PIN numbers. And the need for detailed customer verification is very great: in the United Kingdom alone, identity theft crimes bring losses of around GBP 1.7 billion per year, according to data compiled by institutions dealing with combating fraud.

"Systems operating on the basis of voice biometrics cannot be decrypted, reconstructed or used by another system, even if the voice analysis system is hacked. Both sides therefore benefit from the implementation of this type of tool. Biometric verification will significantly shorten contact time and thus reduce costs, minimise the number of errors and improve the quality of service. Customers will additionally gain greater security and a reduced risk of third parties gaining access to sensitive data, while companies will be able to increase contact efficiency on the basis of automatic verification," explains Paweł Pierścionek, CTO at Cludo. "State institutions also have plans related to the use of biometrics, so it can be expected that in the near future they will become part of everyday life."