The IVR Expert

Payment Security Guide for Businesses and Call Centers Processing Credit Card Payments Over The Telephone

Any business, organization or call/contact center who accepts credit card payments over the Telephone MUST be Payment Card Industry (PCI-DSS) compliant. What used to be standard practices are being changed with much more restrictive measures to ensure that credit card holder information is protected. This industry transformation is impacting how businesses and call centers take and process payments over the telephone, and most importantly how they run their businesses. For many PCI-DSS compliance can be a very frustrating process, because the nuances in the implementation of solutions do not always allow a black and white answer.

In a Live Agent environment, the people, systems and processes that accept and process payment cards, must comply with PCI-DSS standards. Any person or system that touches or stores in text or voice, credit card data is subject to PCI-DSS. This includes: PBX phone systems, ACD’s, IVR’s, Call recording solutions, PC’s, Servers, customer relationship management (CRM) software, customer tracking solutions.

The purpose of this guide is to provide you with a practical understanding of how these changes can impact your business and provides you with actionable tips to help you navigate through the complexities of PCI as it applies to collecting credit card payments over the telephone.

Key topics discussed, include:

• How Does PCI-DSS Apply To Businesses and Call/Contact Centers who are taking credit card information over the telephone.
• Standards Of High Importance for Call/Contact Centers
• If You Are Outsourcing Your Call Center - What To Consider
• Managing Costs Associated With Payment Security

DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE

Other topics: IVR Credit Card Processing, IVR Credit Card, IVR Credit Card for Call Centers

Datatel Communications Supports Mission and Vision of 2010 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium

Toronto , Canada – (May 4, 2010) – Datatel Communications Inc,  a leader in Hosted Telephone Payment Solutions and Managed IVR Services, today announced that it will join executives from around the world as a strategy partner of the 2010 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, the premier international event for CIOs and senior IT executives to become better business leaders.

The annual event offers a day of interactive learning and thought-provoking discourse on the future of technology, best practices, and business that is not available anywhere else. The portfolio of speakers includes more than 50 presenters from a wide range of industries, as well as leading academics from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

More than 600 CIOs and senior IT executives will be attending the 2010 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, which will take place Wednesday, May 19, 2010, 7:30 am to 7:00 pm at Kresge Auditorium, MIT (77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA). The full agenda is available at www.mitcio.com/agenda.

“Our attendance remains high because we attract key business leaders,” said Graham G. Rong, the 2010 CIO Symposium Chair. “By bringing together innovative leaders, sponsors  and partners such as Datatel, we foster an environment where attendees gain great insight about how to drive growth and be successful in these challenging times.”

About Datatel Inc.

Datatel is a leading provider of Premium IVR (Interactive Voice Response) Hosted and Managed Services.  Datatel's Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Credit Card Payment Gateway helps business and organizations automate the processing of credit card payments for products and services over the telephone 24/7, while meeting the Payment Card Industry (PCI) security requirements.

Datatel’s IVR success comes from over 14 years of research, development and continuous improvement in delivering IVR service models that provide organizations with reliability, flexibility and the ability to integrate into a wide range of emerging technologies.

About the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium

The MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is the premier global event for CIOs and senior IT executives to become better business leaders. In one day, CIOs and senior IT executives receive actionable information that enables them to meet the challenges of today's changing global economy. The annual event offers a day of interactive learning and thought-provoking discourse on the future of technology, best practices, and business that is not available anywhere else. The MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is organized and developed by a team from the MIT Sloan Alumni Club of Boston, the MIT Center for Digital Business and the Boston Chapter of the Society for Information Management. Visit www.mitcio.com for more information and registration.

To stay connected to the community developing around the Symposium, please join The Global CIO & Executive IT Group (An MIT Sloan CIO Group), which can be found on Linkedin.com: http://www.linkedin.com/groupInvitation?groupID=1719457. Follow Symposium updates on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mitciosymposium.

Editor’s Note:
Journalists interested in a press credentials should contact Rachel Greenstein (rachel@warnerpr.com; +1 617.569.6269) or Robert Minicucci (robert@warnerpr.com;
+1 603.488.5856), Warner Communications.

IVR – Text-to-Speech or the Real Deal?

At some point during your IVR application planning and development, you will be faced with the decision to either implement Text-to-Speech (TTS) or use the recording of a live person - or possibly both – to deliver the desired information to the end user.  Although TTS has come a long way from its electronic-sounding origins, most end users would agree that it still does not meet expected sound quality expectations, in that it doesn’t sound like a live person.  There are more than a dozen TTS vendors in the marketplace, some of which have mastered the synthesis of human voice better than others.  I’m of the opinion that a recording by a live person is the best method to deliver an optimal customer experience when replacing a live interaction with IVR.  My rule of thumb is to use a live person to record the body of the IVR application, while sticking to TTS for database driven content.  TTS can work very well to read back dates, currency amounts, or short bits of information which can change dynamically, or even for reading names from a database.  Ultimately, you want your IVR application to deliver the most natural-sounding experience.  Only through user testing will you find the right balance between the use of files recorded by a live person and TTS.

IVR Survey Response Rates: How to get it right!

This is not the first time that I have posted about this topic; however, companies continue to scramble because they don't get this part right..  If you don't get this right, your response rate will tank...

When it comes to response rates to an IVR survey, it has little to do with the technology and everything to do with how you communicate the value to your would be participants.

 

If you want higher response rates, then communicate the value to the participant. Not the value that their responses have to you, but what you intend on doing with the information which will benefit them.

 

If you are targeting your existing clients via mail, make sure your invitation to participate in the survey is not diluted in a package containing all different sorts of information. If the response rate is important to you, then use addressed mail, and do not include anything else with the invitation. The Survey should be the only focus, and your potential participant should not be distracted by anything else.

 

Consider the invitation a sales letter, your job is to get your client to participate.

 

You can get all my tips on this topic by downloading  “The Complete Guide To Successfully Executing Your IVR Survey Project” , go to:

http://www.datatel-systems.com/whitepapers/IVRSurvey_Request.htm

 

Barnard Crespi

 

Datatel Announces Easy to Deploy IVR Time and Attendance Services For Companies in Canada.

Toronto, ON, Canada. October 28, 2008 – DATATEL INC. a Leader in IVR (Interactive Voice Response) Hosted and Managed Services announced today that it has launched a new IVR Time and Attendance gateway  to its portfolio of ready to implement IVR Hosted Services.

Datatel provides hosted services that help businesses and organizations automate a wide range of telephone interactions with customers and employees, using interactive voice response (IVR).

If you are looking for a simple way to collect Time & Attendance information from your field workforce using the telephone without extensive development or buying a pre-built enterprise workforce management software, you can use Datatel’s IVR T & A Gateway.

This new gateway is specifically designed to help organizations who have already implemented proprietary in-house time and attendance applications, to collect information from their field workforce, with minimal investment, using the telephone.

“Most workforce management software vendors provide telephone IVR access to time and attendance; however, companies who have developed their applications in-house are limited by the capabilities they have built. They can seldom afford, and therefore do not include telephone based time and attendance” said Barnard Crespi, CEO at Datatel.  

“In the current economic atmosphere, companies are cutting back on large capital expenditures; this is why this service makes so much sense. It provides you with what you need to ensure you can collect time and attendance information from your field employees.  There is nothing fancy about it, its straight forward, and it works.” said Mr. Crespi

With a significant Canadian infrastructure and professional services footprint, Datatel can service clients anywhere in Canada, plus provide IVR solutions tailored to regional needs.

As a hosted solution, customers avoid the risk and expense of large capital investments in custom development and software. By avoiding the time commitment of dedicating development resources, hardware purchases and configuration, customers enjoy rapid solution deployment, and lower costs.

About Datatel

Datatel is a leading Canadian provider of Premium IVR (Interactive Voice Response) Hosted and Managed services.

Datatel provides services that help businesses and organizations automate a wide range of telephone interactions with customers and employees. These include IVR Surveys, Order Processing, Lead Generation, Contests, Promotions, Payment Processing, Billing, and 100's of other business applications, in a hosted, managed environment.

For over 15 years we have helped businesses and organizations successfully execute their IVR strategies, by delivering superior know-how, hosting and support services. We have refined a service delivery process that guarantees your successful IVR project execution.

Datatel offers a free guide which helps companies through the IVR vendor selection process, and can be downloaded at: http://www.datatel-systems.com/IVR-GUIDE

Company Web Site: www.datatel-systems.com

Datatel Announces Outbound IVR Services Compliant with the Canada Do Not Call List.

Toronto, ON, Canada. October 20, 2008 – DATATEL INC. a Leader in IVR (Interactive Voice Response) Hosted and Managed Services, announced today that it has launched  a new portfolio of  Outbound IVR Hosted Services, tailored to comply with the Canadian Do Not Call List.

On October 1, 2008, the Canadian Do Not Call List took effect, and the use of IVR for outbound calling to consumers is restricted to specific types of calls. Datatel  provides services that help businesses and organizations automate a wide range of telephone interactions with customers and employees. Datatel has released  an extensive suite of services, which are designed to keep an open channel of communication with customers and employees, and be fully compliant with the DNC.

This new DNC friendly suite of IVR services, allows organizations to initiate automated calls to consumers and always remain DNC compliant. These include:

• Surveys and Polls
• Appointment Reminder Calls
• Appointment Rescheduling Calls
• Calls related to Payments or Collections
• Public Service Announcements
• Product Recalls

 “We want to help businesses stay connected with their customers and stakeholders while ensuring they are following the DNC guidelines. The best way we can do this, is by only offering only IVR services that are DNC friendly” said Barnard Crespi, CEO at Datatel.

With a significant Canadian infrastructure and professional services footprint, Datatel can service clients anywhere in Canada, and provide IVR solutions tailored to regional needs.

As a hosted solution, customers avoid the risk and expense of large capital investments in custom development and software. By avoiding the time commitment of dedicating development resources, hardware purchases and configuration, customers enjoy rapid solution deployment, and lower costs.

Datatel offers a free guide which helps companies through the IVR vendor selection process, and can be downloaded at: http://www.datatel-systems.com/IVR-GUIDE

About Datatel

Datatel is a leading Canadian provider of Premium IVR (Interactive Voice Response) Hosted and Managed services.

Datatel provides services that help businesses and organizations automate a wide range of telephone interactions with customers and employees. These include IVR Surveys, Order Processing, Lead Generation, Contests, Promotions, Payment Processing, Billing, and 100's of other business applications, in a hosted, managed environment.

 For over 15 years we have helped businesses and organizations successfully execute their IVR strategies, by delivering superior know-how, hosting and support services. We have refined a service delivery process that guarantees your successful IVR project execution.

Company Web Site: www.datatel-systems.com

IVR and the Canadian Do Not Call List

Effective October 1, 2008, Marketers who employ IVR to reach out to their potential customers in Canada must be wary. If you are using IVR to place your calls to Canadian consumers, you better press the “pause” button and read the following: www.LNNTE-DNCL.gc.ca

The CRTC refers to IVR as ADAD (Automatic Dialing and Announcing Devices) – you can reference the specifics at: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/INFO_SHT/t1022.htm

The Canadian DNC is very similar to its US counterpart; however, it comes loaded with a list of rules that apply specifically to the use of IVR to communicate with consumers.

If you are using IVR to automate calling for the following purposes, you are exempt as ADADs are permitted when there is no attempt to sell.

So you can press the “resume” button for:

• Product recall calls
• Appointment reminder calls
• Appointment rescheduling calls
• Calls related to payment or bill collections
• Public service announcements
• Polls and Surveys

Important Notice:

If you are using IVR to communicate with consumers, (who are not in the DNC), even if they are your customers, you must make sure you obtain specific clarification from the CRTC. This refers specifically to a new rule which reads: ADADs may not be used for telemarketing unless the consumer has given express consent to accept an ADAD telemarketing call.  https://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/nrt-ntr-eng#link01

To help you successfully execute your IVRsurvey project, I have written a guide (which you can download for free):

http://www.datatel-systems.com/whitepapers/IVRSurvey_Request.htm

To Your Success,

Barnard L. Crespi
CEO
Datatel Inc/Datatel Communications Inc
www.datatel-systems.com

IVR Surveys - Managing Open Ended Questions

Your survey may require the caller to provide an answer to an open ended question. For example, your survey may ask: “After the tone, please state why you have selected this overall satisfaction rating choice, please complete your answer by pressing the # key.” Your IVR service provider will most likely record the answer as a WAV file, which you can listen to on your PC. However, if you want to database all responses, you will have to transcribe each recording and place it together with the survey responses for that specific record. For this purpose you will need to hire, (or use internal resources), a transcriber who, will listen to each voice recording and type the contents into the database. You must be thinking, this is going to take forever, managing the voice files, searching for the correct survey record on the database, listening to the voice file (s) and typing the content. How am I going to do this for 100”s of records? You are right; it can take significant resources if you don’t have access to the right tools. A limited number of IVR service providers will provide you with a transcription tool, which will allow you to listen to each recording sequentially (already linked to the database record), type and submit content directly to the database. This process can save you 100 of hrs of work, as it involves no administration.

To help you successfully execute your IVR survey project, I have written a guide (which you can download for free):

http://www.datatel-systems.com/whitepapers/IVRSurvey_Request.htm

To Your Success,

Barnard Crespi
CEO
Datatel

IVR Surveys - Advanced Skip Logic

Skip logic is a function of IVR surveys that permits you to skip to a specific question in the survey, based on how a participant answers a previous question. It is very important that you make note of this, as your IVR service provider will want to know this in advance. It impacts the effort involved, and each option will need to be tested. Here is an example of a call center, post call customer satisfaction survey that demonstrates this useful function:

Was your issue or concern resolved on the first call? Press 1 for Yes Press 2 for No If the Issue or Concern has not yet been resolved, Press 3

If  1 Go To Q8 If  2 Go To Q7 If  3 Go To Q11

This is how it follows:

Q7	In total, how many calls were you required to make in order to resolve your issue or concern? Press 1 for 1 call Press 2 for 2 calls Press 3 for 3 calls Press 4 for 4 calls Press 5 for 5 or more calls	If  1 Go To Q8 If  2 Go To Q8 If  3 Go To Q8 If  4 Go To Q8 If  5 Go To Q8
Q8	Using the same 1 to 5 scales, how would you rate your satisfaction with the number of calls required to resolve your issue or concern?
Q11	Would you like to be contacted by a manager? Press 1 for Yes Press 2 for No

To help you successfully execute your IVR survey project, I have written a guide (which you can download for free):

http://www.datatel-systems.com/whitepapers/IVRSurvey_Request.htm

To Your Success,

Barnard Crespi
CEO
Datatel

IVR: Selecting The Right Voice Talent For Your Survey.

Selecting Voice Talent for your IVR survey is a key consideration, as she/he will be representing your company; she/he is your spokesperson. As well, she/he should have experience in recording prompts for IVR surveys, as the pace, pronunciation, and intonation is important to keep the caller engaged. Before you select Voice Talent, ask to listen to a sample, and remember, just because she/he may have broadcast experience that doesn’t necessarily mean they will know how to engage a caller on a survey. Listen to a sample survey recording, first and foremost, you want someone who makes the survey flow, and is easy to understand.

To help you successfully execute your IVR survey project, I have written a guide (which you can download for free):

http://www.datatel-systems.com/whitepapers/IVRSurvey_Request.htm

To Your Success,

Barnard Crespi
CEO
Datatel