IVR and Voice Biometrics

In an effort to ensure security in these times of increasing identity theft, businesses that deal in sensitive customer information must be extremely vigilant as the gatekeeper of such information. Under current conditions, most credit card users, for example, are prompted to answer a number of standard questions supplied by an IVR system with the goal being verification of the customer's identity before giving sensitive account access. Often times, customers will find that after they have suitably identified themselves through their unique answers to the IVR system's security protocols, they are connected to a customer service representative who will ask some of the same and/or additional questions to further verify their identities. This can not only be frustrating, but also a tremendous waste of resources.

One area of research aimed to improve the process is the technology of voice biometrics. Employing the concept that every person has a unique "voice print," the system aims to verify a customer's identity by comparing his voice to a stored sample. Of course this idea does not come without issues to consider, chief among them is extraneous noise introduced during the recognition process by a poor telephone connection or from external sources in the customer's calling environment. Opus Research recently released a report on the state of the technology which is concisely summarized by it's author, Dan Miller, at TCMnet.com. As voice biometric systems improve through more pilot projects and widespread implementation, the technology is sure to offer resource savings for businesses that employ them as well as improved experiences for customers that use them.