Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

Europe’s largest hosted contact center service provider, NewVoiceMedia, has announced today that it is helping Parcelforce comply with the Payment Card Industry-Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS).

Coming into force this year, the PCI-DSS is designed to increase security for card payments and is expected to impact all contact centers taking credit card detail from callers.

Many contact centers allow staff to access customers’ card details over the computer or write them down during the phone call with a caller. Aside from the inefficiencies of the process, it also exposes the contact center to potential fraud as agents could pass this information on to others.


With the new system from NewVoiceMedia, Parcelforce customers will be able to make highly secure card payments either over the phone or via the Internet. Based on the ContactWorld platform, the service launched earlier this year and is directly connected to World Pay. This platform eliminates the need for agents to have access to or record card details and disables call recording while the customer enters card details.

"Worryingly, some call centre managers are still not aware what the new standards entail and how it impacts them" commented Jonathan Grant, CEO of NewVoiceMedia, in a Tuesday statement. "If managers fail to comply, they risk withdrawal of the card service and even a fine of up to GBP50,000 per infringement.

"Some contact centres are hiding their heads under the sand hoping to avoid the issue. Ignoring the new standard should not be an option."

Parcelforce Customer Services Manager, Emma Bailey, said in Tuesday’s statement: "NewVoiceMedia now processes over GBP100,000 per day in card payments across our 52 depots. We are constantly looking for ways to offer our clients the best service and by achieving PCI-DSS compliancy, not only will our clients enjoy peace of mind, it also reduces our transaction costs with WorldPay."

Contact centers are not the only organizations that are under increased pressure to protect the customer’s propriety information. They do tend to get more of the spotlight however, as many companies will use contact centers to manage their order processing, thereby requiring that agents are dealing with customers’ credit card information. 

While not all contact centers and agents are a potential risk for fraud, by any means. The challenge for these centers and the corporations that they represent is that often the customer is required to share his or her information with a faceless person who may or may not be dishonest or even careful with the information.

Turning to a solution like that from NewVoiceMedia really just provides the contact center and its organization added protection against fraud, while also communicating to the customer that their information is not only private, but also protected.

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.