TruWest Credit Union in Scottsdale, Ariz., began using AI in January 2021 to offer biometric authentication for members who contact the call center.
Chris Kearney, chief information officer for the $1.4 billion asset credit union, says call center volume was rising even before the pandemic pushed it higher, making it important to handle calls efficiently.
Traditional authentication is based on a time-consuming process of gathering answers to a list of personal questions such as “mother’s maiden name.” Fraudsters use dark web data to answer those questions and gain access to account information.
“We were actively looking for a solution to add to call center agents’ toolbox to streamline interactions and protect members’ identities and funds,” Kearney says.
TruWest rejected existing voice recognition solutions as too expensive and cumbersome until it found a service-based AI tool from Illuma Labs.
“Our voice authentication solution uses AI to analyze member calls in real time, matching the results against an enrolled member’s voice print,” Kearney says.
The 15-second process replaces a typical 90-second question-and-answer authentication session.
Machine learning is built into the solution so the voice signature gets stronger every time a participating member calls the credit union.
TruWest launched voice recognition with a three-step process:
TruWest is also using voice recognition for outbound collection calls and will soon apply it to authenticate online chatbot users. The online chatbot relies on AI to automate the exchange of information with members online.
The experts cited in this article offer four ways to explore artificial intelligence (AI):
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