Is It Safe to Provide Payment Information in an IVR System?

The answer to this question is that it all depends on the vendor’s capabilities and expertise in implementing a secure, encrypted PCI compliant payment IVR solution. Some enterprises do have apprehensions that a payment IVR is not secure and hesitate to implement it. Payment on phone is easy and time as well as cost saving for both sides—the one making payment and the one receiving it.

The developer’s expertise comes into play in putting in place a secure IVR payment transaction environment. It is the norm to incorporate point to point encryption for retail environments. The process encrypts all card information prior to processing which means hackers, even if they access packets of data, cannot decrypt it. Tokenization is another process in which random IDs are generated. These replace personal account numbers and therefore obviate the need to store financial data.  This type of IVR solution for payment is inherently secure and safe and enterprises may adopt it without qualms.

There are other reasons too why payment IVR solutions such as the industry certified Asterisk Payment IVR from asteriskservice.com is ideal for payment transactions. The system is automated and there is no human involvement. Therefore, the human element is eliminated. Agents can misuse card data but in an automated IVR there are no humans in the chain. Where there are human agents involved there is also call recording and call records can be accessed at any time and misused. IVR payment does away with this and reduces risk.  Payments can be made through cards or net banking using mobile or desktop devices.

Asterisk Payment IVR solutions are PCI compliant and asteriskservice.com ensures data is stored in PCI compliant servers. All payment transactions are routed to payment gateways that tokenize and encrypt card details. There is no risk of credit card fraud.

Take one scenario in which a caller interacts with a live agent to buy a product. When it is time to make payment he is transferred to a payment IVR and follows prompts. The agent is removed from the equation and only encrypted digital data flows across networks to carry out and complete payment transaction.  Then there is another use scenario in which IVR payment system dials customers and reminds them to make payment in which case the customer can follow prompts to initiate payment. Here again the entire process is digital with no human involvement. Since there is no human involvement the chances of errors are nil or minimal. One can say with certainty that it is absolutely safe to trust an automated, fully encrypted and secure PCI DSS payment IVR system. A centralized monitoring and reporting mechanism further assures peace of mind.

The best test for safety is whether the payment IVR is tested in actual working conditions over time and in various scenarios. Asterisk payment IVR is a refined, highly evolved system that has been fully certified and withstood the test of time.  Choosing the right payment IVR developer does make a difference to its security and safety in use.