Contact Center Pipeline July 2025 | Page 27

This gap exists partly because contact centers have historically focused more on inbound communications than outbound calling. However, with 94 % of call center managers and executives deeply concerned about the impact of spam and fraud on outbound calling, the pressure to secure voice communications is rising.

Enterprises must prioritize security and transparency to rebuild consumer trust in the voice channel. Once trust is restored, stronger customer engagement, higher answer rates, and revenue growth will follow.

The key to securing the voice channel lies in adopting critical outbound calling technologies:

• Branded Calling. Displays critical call information on incoming call screens, such as the brand name and logo, so recipients can identify the callers and feel confident answering. By branding calls, contact centers and their parent organizations can reestablish trust with recipients, prompting customers to recognize the origins of the calls and feel confident answering them.

• Call Authentication. Verifies each outgoing call from an authorized number, eliminating consumer uncertainty and reducing fraudulent robocalls.

• Spoof Protection. Unauthorized calls are blocked before they reach customers, preventing fraudsters from making contact.

• Call Analytics. AI-driven analytics and machine learning generate call reputation profiles to distinguish legitimate calls from fraudulent ones.

BALANCING COMPLIANCE AND ENGAGEMENT

Contact centers and their parent organizations must continuously adapt to evolving outbound communication regulations.

COMPLIANCE AND SECURITY

Financial institutions have, not surprisingly, been particularly vulnerable to fraudsters using the voice channel to launch nefarious campaigns. Like what notorious bank robber William Sutton said when he was asked why he robbed banks, they are“ where the money is”. Even the largest national banks have been targeted by bad actors weaponizing AI.

In one high-profile example, a Chase Bank customer lost over $ 120,000 from his checking account. He received a call from an 800 number that matched Chase’ s customer service, asking him to verify a suspicious transaction. From there, he was prompted to log in to his account through a secure link sent via text message. The bad actors captured his login information and stole his money.

Common financial scams include fraudulent calls regarding tax season, ghost filers, unpaid tolls, and student loan payments.

Americans should not be solely responsible for differentiating between legitimate and fraudulent calls made by robocall scammers. But with the proper, secure communications strategy, financial enterprises can combat robocall bad actors and successfully protect their customers from these attacks.

In 2024, a customer of ours, a major national bank, faced a large-scale phishing attack. Their customers received texts warning them about fraudulent activities on their accounts and were notified that they would receive a phone call from the bank that appeared to be legitimate but was, in fact, from scammers.

In response, the bank deployed branded calling, call authentication, spoof protection, and call analytics. Within the first five months of these solutions, 941,000 total calls were received, and nearly 14 % of calls were marked as potential spam and were blocked. In addition to protecting customers, these solutions also improved customer engagement: by month three, the bank’ s call durations had increased by 13 %.

To maintain compliance without sacrificing critical consumer engagement, enterprises should adopt a proactive, holistic approach that integrates the methods I outlined in this article.

By anticipating regulatory changes and leveraging innovative solutions, enterprises can protect their customers, maintain trust, and enhance the efficiency of their outreach strategies.

Jim Tyrrell is the Vice President of Global Product Strategy at TNS,( Transaction Network Services) where he is responsible for TNS’ Communications Market solutions. Jim’ s focus is to drive the advancement of TNS’ go-to-market initiatives, refine the communication of its value proposition, generate thought leadership opportunities, and ensure all activities support the company vision.

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