
How to Secure Contact Centre? 4 Tips for European CIOs
Contact centre operations are highly effective for meeting customer service demands. But as the platform evolved over the years, it opened the doors to several security risks. Here is how contact centre CIOs can tackle them.
By
CIO Applications Europe | Thursday, October 24, 2019

Contact centre operations are highly effective for meeting customer service demands. But as the platform evolved over the years, it opened the doors to several security risks. Here is how contact centre CIOs can tackle them.
FREMONT, CA: It has become apparent that in today’s business environment, there is a clear and direct connection between the quality of customer service and the success of any enterprise. Since the internet has essentially created global competition for every business, customers now have more options than ever. This has led to enterprises having to cater much more to customer needs apart from just selling a quality product. Consumers expect a high level of customer service in their communication with businesses and will quickly turn elsewhere if their demands are not met. In reaction to this, the importance of contact centres has become more closely tied to the growth and success of companies. Contact center technology ensure that communication with customers matches their expectations. But with sensitive data flowing through the contact centre environment, contact centres are primary targets for fraud. Given that, it is time for CIOs to address the security of their contact centres. Here are some tips for European contact centre CIOs.
• Using Multi-Factor Authentication
Stay ahead of the industry with exclusive feature stories on the top companies, expert insights and the latest news delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe today.
To verify identity, contact centres usually use Knowledge-Based Authentication (KBA), where callers are asked to provide something they know, such as account number, birth date and address, name of their pet or something else. However, if hackers have extracted this data from a database, then it is easy for fraudsters to pass this type of verification. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) adds a further dimension of verification by adding features such as fingerprint, facial or voice recognition. Contact centres can use these to beef up authentication.
• Adding Audit Trails and Considering Automatic Alerts
It may be quite common to have an audit trail on the server that keeps track of all changes made to the systems. For contact centres, it is good to practice to evolve to the extent of this audit trail so that it becomes something like a logbook for the entire contact centre activity. This would prove an invaluable record of data in the event of a security breach.
The automatic alert is a simple but effective security process. When an anomaly is detected, rather than red-flagging it within the system itself, the automated alert system sends an SMS to security professionals. This way, any issue can be dealt with in the most efficient manner possible, rather than no one noticing it for days, mainly if the part of the system is not used on a daily basis.
Check Out: Top Multi Factor Authentication Solution Companies
• Ensuring Strong Password Policy
To secure documents from all security threats, a robust password approach is essential for contact centres. This applies to the password a contact centre agent uses to access systems, a customer uses to sign in to a self-service portal, and the password used to open individual documents. All other security is bypassed, if the password is weak. Educating both agents and customers on the value of using only strong passwords and the risks of using easily cracked passwords can also help enhance the overall security posture of contact centres.
• Providing Ongoing Agent Education
The easiest way for fraudsters to breach security and access confidential documents is by tricking or compromising an employee. In a contact centre environment, this risk is compounded as contact centres are repositories of data. CIOs must be sure that all agents understand and operate by the security guidelines when it comes to accessing and sharing customer documents. CIOs should also make it a practice to continually reinforce that agents should never click on links or open documents from an unknown source as they are a common method used to install malicious software that puts the hackers inside the secure network.
By taking advantage of the above security tips, contact centres will enable enriched and robust customer service and experience.
Check out: Enterprise Technology Review
More in News
Weekly Brief
I agree We use cookies on this website to enhance your user experience. By clicking any link on this page you are giving your consent for us to set cookies. More info
Be first to read the latest tech news, Industry Leader's Insights, and CIO interviews of medium and large enterprises exclusively from CIO Applications Europe
THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBING


