Level 1 PCI DSS Compliance Technology Improves Customer Service and Trust

Securing card payments by phone with new DTMF technology can avoid clunky partial solutions such as ‘pause and resume call recording’ and ‘clean rooming agents’, whilst also improving customer trust and shortening call length.

There are over 250 controls to comply with to stay abreast of the latest PCI DSS regulations and it is now mandatory for senior management to take direct responsibility, not only for card payments taken by your own staff but also for third parties who may handle the sensitive data on your behalf, such as outsourcers.

DTMF payment technology (‘dual tone multi frequency’ touchtones) such as Syntec’s CardEasy ‘keypad payment by phone’ system allows the customer to enter their card numbers themselves using their phone keypad, during the normal call-flow with the agent (and/or during an IVR automated call).

This means that the agent cannot then hear or see the numbers, and screen recordings and call recordings cannot pick them up either, as the data bypasses the call centre environment altogether. So call recordings can be full length and there is no data to audit, saving compliance costs too. Essentially, you have ‘descoped’ your call centre environment from the regulations.

Other than the need for the agent to prompt the customer to enter their numbers at the appropriate time, there is no interruption in the usual customer experience and, as Miele has found using the CardEasy system, call length can in fact be reduced by the removal of one process (of the agent having to take down the numbers and enter them).

Customer research shows that a majority of consumers are now wary of reading their card numbers out loud over the phone to a ‘stranger’ in a call centre, due to widespread media reports of data theft, and there is evidence that this is now a barrier to trust and therefore sales. The beauty of this new DTMF technology is that it not only tackles the regulatory requirement for payment compliance but is also preferred by consumers as an inherently trustworthy way of protecting their card data, as they have already become accustomed to using DTMF data entry (for instance for banking passwords) – so there is little resistance to take-up across all demographics, including older consumers.

For more information, please visit Syntec’s website