Could a technological solution to establishing right-party contact be underneath the credit and collection industry’s noses? It might appear so. A number of financial institutions are rolling out technology that uses an individual’s voice to identify and authenticate the person before ever speaking to a representative. For a collection agency, not having to go through the awkward identification procedure may help collectors establish a rapport with individuals faster and help recover more money.
While the technology is currently only being used by the banks to prevent fraud and as a security measure, there are some very interesting applications for companies in the credit and collection industry.
There is often a game of cat-and-mouse between a collector and someone who answers the phone, because the collector can not give away too much information before identifying the person on the other end of the phone is the intended recipient of the call, but appearing cagey and unwilling to share too much information can put the person on the phone on the defensive. And everyone would agree that this is not the best way to start a collection call.
The technology, known as voice biometrics, creates a “voice print” for an individual, analyzing 100 different physical and behavioral characteristics of someone’s voice. JPMorgan Chase, for example, is using the technology to let customers identify themselves without needing to remember passwords or the answers to security challenge questions.
It’s already likely that your voice print is already on file somewhere. There were 65 million people worldwide that had their voice prints taken, but that data is five years old.
