Tags: customer experience

Biometrics and Digital IDs in Retail – Enhancing Security, Streamlining Transactions, and Revolutionizing the Shopping Experience

Posted by Kevin Ells on Posted in Biometrics, Digital ID, Retail Tagged , , , , ,

Welcome to our comprehensive guide on Biometrics and Digital IDs in the retail industry. In this article, we explore the transformative impact of these technologies on the retail sector, offering enhanced security measures, streamlined transactions, and revolutionized shopping experiences. With the advent of biometric technology and digital IDs, retailers can provide their customers a secure, efficient, and personalized shopping environment.

The Role of Biometrics and Digital IDs in Retail

Biometric technology and digital IDs have become essential tools in the retail industry, reshaping the way businesses operate and customers interact. Let’s dive into the key aspects of their role in retail:

Enhanced Security and Fraud Prevention

Biometric authentication provides a highly secure method for customer identification in retail transactions. By utilizing biometric features such as facial recognition or fingerprint scanning, retailers can ensure that only authorized individuals can access sensitive information and conduct transactions. This significantly reduces the risk of fraud, identity theft, and unauthorized access to customer data.

Streamlined Transactions and Efficient Customer Experience

Digital IDs and biometric authentication streamline retail transactions and enhance the overall customer experience. Customers can securely access their profiles, make payments, and complete transactions seamlessly by using their biometric information. This eliminates the need for traditional authentication methods like PINs or passwords, making the process faster, more convenient, and more user-friendly.

Personalized Shopping Experiences

Biometric digital IDs enable retailers to provide personalized shopping experiences for their customers. By leveraging biometric data, retailers can recognize and identify individual customers, tailoring product recommendations, discounts, and promotions based on their preferences and past purchase history. This customization enhances customer satisfaction and fosters long-term loyalty.

Digital Wallets and Contactless Payments

Digital IDs play a crucial role in enabling digital wallets in retail. Retailers can securely store customers’ payment information and enable contactless payments by integrating biometric authentication methods, such as facial recognition or fingerprint scanning. This simplifies checkout, enhances convenience, and promotes a seamless and frictionless shopping experience.

Benefits and Use Cases

Biometrics and digital IDs bring numerous benefits to the retail industry, transforming how businesses operate and customers engage. Let’s explore some of the specific use cases and advantages:

Seamless Checkout Experience

Biometric IDs offer a seamless and efficient checkout experience for customers. Customers can make payments without needing cash or physical cards by utilizing their biometric identification, such as a facial scan. This eliminates the hassle of carrying multiple cards and expedites the payment process, reducing waiting times and enhancing overall customer satisfaction.

Personalized Recommendations and Offers

By leveraging biometric digital IDs, retailers can provide personalized recommendations and offers to their customers. Facial recognition technology can identify repeat customers and help analyze their shopping behavior, allowing retailers to offer tailored product recommendations, discounts, and promotions. This personalized approach enhances the customer experience and increases the likelihood of repeat purchases.

Enhanced Security Measures

Biometric authentication adds an extra layer of security to retail operations. By utilizing unique biometric identifiers, retailers can ensure that only authorized individuals can access sensitive information and perform transactions. This reduces the risk of identity theft, fraud, and unauthorized account access, instilling customer trust and confidence.

Efficient Returns and Exchanges

Biometric digital IDs can streamline the returns and exchanges process in retail. By quickly identifying the customer and their purchase history, retailers can expedite the return or exchange procedure, reducing waiting times and enhancing customer satisfaction. This automation eliminates the need for manual verification, reducing errors and improving overall efficiency.

Personalized In-Store Experiences

With biometric digital IDs, retailers can offer personalized in-store experiences to their customers. By recognizing customers upon entry, retailers can greet them with customized messages, recommendations, and offers. This tailored approach creates a welcoming and engaging shopping environment, increasing customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Case Study: NEC’s Transformation of Retail Operations

NEC, a global leader in biometric technology, has successfully transformed retail operations with its advanced solutions. One notable case study is the implementation of NEC’s facial recognition technology at a leading retail chain. By deploying NEC’s biometric system, the retail chain achieved the following:

  • Enhanced security: NEC’s facial recognition technology accurately identified and authenticated customers, reducing the risk of fraudulent activities and unauthorized access to customer accounts.
  • Streamlined transactions: By utilizing biometric authentication, the retail chain significantly expedited checkout, resulting in faster transactions and improved customer satisfaction.
  • Personalized experiences: Leveraging NEC’s biometric digital IDs, the retail chain delivered personalized recommendations and offers to customers based on their preferences and purchase history. This customization enhanced the overall shopping experience and increased customer engagement.

The success of NEC’s biometric solutions in transforming retail operations showcases the potential of biometrics and digital IDs in revolutionizing the retail industry.

Conclusion and Future Trends

Biometrics and digital IDs are revolutionizing the retail industry, enhancing security measures, streamlining transactions, enabling digital wallets, and delivering personalized shopping experiences. As technology advances, we can expect further developments in biometric authentication, such as voice recognition or behavioral biometrics, offering even more secure and efficient solutions.

By embracing biometrics and digital IDs, retailers can provide a seamless and secure shopping experience, fostering customer loyalty and staying at the forefront of the evolving retail landscape.

As we progress in our series, we will delve into the critical area of biometrics in entertainment, another sector revolutionized by this technology.

Call to Action

Stay tuned for our next chapter, where we explore “Enhancing Security and Streamlining Experiences: Digital IDs and Biometrics in Stadiums, Sporting Arenas, and Amusement Parks.” We invite you to share your thoughts, insights, and questions on the transformative power of biometrics and digital IDs in entertainment. Let’s continue this engaging conversation in the comments below!

References/Resources

Throughout this series, we draw upon information from reputable sources, industry research, and the expertise of companies like NEC, a global leader in advanced biometric solutions. For further exploration, we recommend visiting NEC’s website to access insightful articles, case studies, and updates on the latest advancements in biometric authentication.

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Biometrics and Digital IDs in Banking: Revolutionizing Security, Streamlining Transactions, and Enabling Digital Wallets

Posted by Kevin Ells on Posted in Biometrics, Digital ID, Finance Tagged , , , , , , ,

Biometrics and Digital IDs in Banking: Revolutionizing Security, Streamlining Transactions, and Enabling Digital Wallets

Introduction

Welcome to our comprehensive guide on Biometrics and Digital IDs in banking. This post explores the transformative impact of biometric technology and digital IDs on the banking and fintech sector. These technologies are reshaping the banking and finance landscape by enhancing security measures, streamlining transactions, enabling digital wallets, and delivering seamless customer experiences.

The Transformative Role of Biometrics in Banking

Biometric technology and digital IDs have become essential tools in the banking and financial services industry, revolutionizing how transactions are conducted and customer identities are verified. Let’s delve into the details:

Enhanced Security and Fraud Prevention

Biometric authentication provides a highly secure method for customers to authenticate their identity in various banking transactions. Techniques such as fingerprint scanning, facial recognition, and iris scanning offer reliable identification, significantly reducing the risk of fraud. By tying transactions to a unique biometric identifier, banks can ensure that only authorized individuals can conduct financial transactions, enhancing overall security.

Streamlined Transactions and Customer Convenience

Digital IDs and biometric authentication streamline transactions and enhance the customer experience. With digital IDs, customers can access their accounts and conduct transactions seamlessly, eliminating the need for PINs, passwords, and security questions. Biometric features like facial recognition or fingerprint scanning offer a convenient and password-less banking experience, making transactions faster and easier for customers.

Enabling Digital Wallets

Digital IDs are crucial in enabling digital wallets in banking and finance. Digital wallets, powered by biometric authentication, allow customers to securely store their payment information, such as credit card details, digitally. By utilizing biometric authentication methods, such as fingerprint or facial recognition, customers can securely access and authorize transactions within their digital wallets. This enables convenient and contactless payment experiences online and in physical stores.

Biometrics and Digital IDs in Action: NEC’s Contribution

NEC, a global leader in biometric technology and digital IDs, is driving innovation in the banking and financial sector. Through their cutting-edge facial recognition technology, such as NeoFace®, NEC enables secure and seamless customer experiences, empowering banks to retain a competitive edge in the digital era.

NEC’s robust and sophisticated biometric solutions, including NeoFace® and Bio-IDiom, assist financial institutions in improving security, enhancing customer service, and streamlining operations. Their technologies enable banks to verify customer identities accurately and efficiently, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.

Case Study: Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group

One remarkable example of the successful implementation of biometrics in banking is the partnership between Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and NEC. Together, they developed a biometric authentication platform that allows customers to perform transactions without the need for cards or devices, using only their face as their ID. This innovation significantly improves security while enhancing the overall user experience.

Challenges and Future Trends

While the implementation of biometrics and digital IDs in banking brings numerous benefits, it also presents challenges. Privacy concerns, technology adoption hurdles, and the need to update legacy systems are among the key challenges faced by the industry. However, financial institutions are actively addressing these challenges to leverage the full potential of biometric authentication and digital IDs.

The future of biometrics and digital IDs in banking is promising. As banks continue to innovate, we can expect further advancements in biometric technology, ensuring enhanced security measures and personalized customer experiences. Additionally, advancements in technologies like blockchain and decentralized digital identities hold the potential to revolutionize the way digital IDs are utilized in banking and finance.

Conclusion and Link to the Series

Using biometrics and digital IDs in banking illustrates the compelling benefits of biometric authentication for enhancing security measures, streamlining transactions, and enabling digital wallets. As we progress in our series, we will delve into the critical area of biometrics in healthcare, another sector revolutionized by this technology.

Call to Action

Stay tuned for our next chapter, where we explore “Biometrics and Digital IDs in Healthcare: Enhancing Security, Streamlining Operations, and Improving Patient Experience.” We invite you to share your thoughts, insights, and questions on the transformative power of biometrics and digital IDs in banking and finance. Let’s continue this engaging conversation in the comments below!

References/Resources

Throughout this series, we draw upon information from reputable sources, industry research, and the expertise of companies like NEC, a global leader in advanced biometric solutions. For further exploration, we recommend visiting NEC’s website to access insightful articles, case studies, and updates on the latest advancements in biometric authentication.

All Chapters –

How Artificial Intelligence Can Take Customer Service to New Heights

Posted by Jessica Andrews on Posted in Analytics, Cloud, Contact Center, Customer Experience, Hospitality Tagged , , , ,

A Look at the New Interaction Analytics and Evaluator AI Features in UNIVERGE BLUE ENGAGE

You have probably heard some of the recent buzz around Contact Center Artificial Intelligence (AI) – how it is the wave of the future for Contact Center technology and smart business. Emily Potosky, Senior Research Principal for Gartner’s Customer Service & Support practice, describes in the 2022 Gartner report entitled “3 Ways AI Benefits Customer Service Organizations” that “Customer service and support leaders are optimistic about the value AI can provide and plan to substantially increase their adoption of AI capabilities over the next two years.” At the same time, she explains how there are conflicting messages about the real benefits of AI and the right solutions in which to invest. According to the report, insights, user experience, and process improvement are three key ways that AI can benefit customer service organizations going forward.

Contact Centers as Critical Touchpoints

As you certainly know, your business thrives on creating and retaining satisfied customers. Your Contact Center is a critical customer touchpoint, where the quality of your interactions can determine whether a customer becomes a passionate, lifelong company advocate or chooses to exit your customer base forever. This is why the power of AI to offer accurate insights into your Contact Center’s daily customer interactions is an appealing way to maintain oversight and drive continuous improvement for customer service, experiences, and processes.

Consider the immense value it would have if your organization could gather meaningful, actionable insights from the voluminous inbound and outbound calls your agents handle each day. Your collection of customer conversations holds tremendous value. However, no one in your organization has the time to review each and every customer conversation manually, and random sampling will simply provide an incomplete picture. The beauty of AI is that it makes the impossible possible.

Gather Actionable Insights and Enhance Customer Experiences with UNIVERGE BLUE ENGAGE

UNIVERGE BLUE ENGAGE from NEC is a Contact Center as a service (CCaaS) solution offering not only the benefits of enhanced call center functionality and remote-office flexibility for a low monthly fee per user, but also a powerful suite of AI features that are reason enough to move your entire Contact Center to the cloud today.

The Interaction Analytics feature for ENGAGE uses Artificial Intelligence to enable Contact Center supervisors and your leadership team to easily identify and focus on those conversations that matter the most to your business. By analyzing and tagging customer conversations for sentiment and designated keywords, the guesswork eliminated. Supervisors can gather powerful insights about customer experiences, review recorded and transcribed conversations of interest, act quickly to address trends or issues they see, and move your business ahead of customer demands and expectations. Insights from ENGAGE Interaction Analytics can also be leveraged to help with coaching and training employees and improving customer satisfaction overall.

Evaluator, another AI-powered tool for ENGAGE, utilizes sentiment analysis to monitor the performance of frontline agents and helps supervisors to easily identify those agents requiring additional training or coaching, allowing them to act instantly on specific conversations as needed. The tool also allows supervisors to provide constructive feedback to agents and for agents to respond to this feedback within the application, as a way to build employee skills and improve customer service levels and retention rates.

The benefits of AI can extend to every area of your business, through an effective keyword tagging strategy. For example, a customer service manager could stay informed of any conversations containing keywords like “cancel” or “unhappy,” to see how frontline users are handling these difficult conversations. Sales and marketing could flag competitor names or review conversations that have been flagged for positive or negative sentiments to identify new product value propositions or customer pain points. Product development could tag for keywords like “broken” or “missing,” to identify opportunities for product improvements or new features.

ENGAGE: Real Benefits, The Right Solution

Salesforce quote

According to a recent research study conducted by Salesforce, 88% of customers indicate that the experience a company provides is as important as its product or services, and 94% indicate that a positive customer service experience makes them more likely to purchase again. These customer statistics are really not surprising, but definitely help to explain why the right AI solution for any Contact Center needs to offer the real benefits of insights, user experience, and process improvements – as the Gartner report mentioned earlier explains. ENGAGE Interaction Analytics and Evaluator AI are the right solution for tapping into the wealth of information that is currently hiding in your daily customer interactions – insights that will allow your Contact Center and business to continually improve, create positive customer experiences, and soar to new heights.

Ready to learn more about UNIVERGE BLUE ENGAGE?

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Using Cloud Contact Center Technology to Improve the Customer Experience

Posted by Jim Cubby on Posted in Cloud, Contact Center, Customer Experience, Servers and Storage, Unified Communications Tagged , , , , , ,

A positive Customer Experience depends upon a few critical elements. Having a streamlined Customer Journey process in place to effectively segment and route customer inquiries, to staff members (agents) that are best skilled and equipped to render the appropriate service or support, the first time. This results in an outcome (resolution) that should require little Customer Effort.

Sounds easy enough, yet businesses continue to struggle in making it easy for customers to conduct business with their organization.

The belief that having someone… anyone… partially skilled to answer a customer call was sufficient enough, is the new recipe for churn.

Today, 89% of companies compete primarily on the basis of customer experience – up from just 36% in 2010. But while 80% of companies believe they deliver “super experiences,” only 8% of customers agree. In other words, companies have a long way to go. And, that means there is tremendous opportunity to disrupt a competitor or gain market share in an industry. Shep Hyken – Forbes

For customers, the reasons really don’t matter. If it is deemed cumbersome and the Customer Effort is HIGH, the Customer Experience will be low, which of course can easily erode Loyalty and your revenue suffers. Customers want answers fast and in the most efficient way. That’s the American Way!

What’s driving the rate of change with respect to incorporating a Cloud Contact Center with an emphasis on Customer Experience (CX) within organizations today?

Some of the most common responses from speaking with Customers and channel partners over the past 3 years include: Business Growth by means of Customer Retention, Growth (Upselling/Cross-Selling), Referrals. Reduction of Staff (Agent) Turnover, Leveraging Data Insights to Handle More with effectively Less. Customers are seeking to Monitor/Manage by way of Business Outcomes and not legacy only Metrics.

Some Customer Experience (CX) observations that I think you’ll relate to/with:

A few interesting things.

  • It started with the early adopters, before Digital Transformation was a thing.
  • Cloud Contact Center initiatives propagated from being a Future IT Project Consideration to a Business Sponsor’s Speed to Market Weapon of Choice
  • Digital Transformation continued to surge as top planning initiative amongst executive leadership (CEO/CIO/COO/CFO/RO)
  • Speaking of surge, the pandemic (COVID I & II) accelerated the Cloud adoption model and gave most businesses a taste of WFH (Work from Home)
  • Schools and Parents learn about Distant / Online Learning really fast!
  • A frenzy of UCaaS/CCaaS acquisitions and strategic alliances emerge in the market
  • Some of the remaining blue chip hardware centric manufacturers of communication systems (PBX) exited the scene. A few limiting procurement through a subscription-based only model to further attempt to isolate them from future churn
  • We witnessed an additional wave or two of acquisitions and strategic alliances amongst Cloud Contact Center Technology (CCaaS) and UCaaS providers. Primary focus to balance and strengthen their portfolio and GTM strategies centered around single-pane of glass (unified applications)
  • Work from Home (WFH) adoption continues to grow, as employment of skilled “Available” staff (agents) become harder to source (hire). We’ve learned that Talent demands Tools.
  • Logistic Challenges to Supply Pent Up Demand compounded by Inflation makes for some interesting Customer Reviews. The Power of Online Reviews and the Suggested Customer Experiences of others (Good or Bad) impacts the bottom line
  • The Battlefield for Customer Loyalty affects ALL Businesses

CX Cliff Notes

Every Business wants Happy Customers and Profitable Growth
Loyalty of these Happy Customers is what drives Profitable Growth
Customer Experience drives Customer Loyalty

So… What Drives the Customer Experience?

Making it EASY and EFFORTLESS for Customers to Conduct Business with You (Customer Effort)

Through Effective Planning to Optimize the Customer Journey

By Enabling Staff / Agents with Appropriate Tools and Relevant Customer Information, that support Personalized Customer Interactions

Via Trained Staff / Agents that can easily Collaborate with Co-workers to Quickly Address Customer Inquires, the First Time.

Customer Effort Score (CES) is a single-item metric that measures how much

effort a customer has to exert to get an issue resolved, a request fulfilled, a product

purchased/returned or a question answered.

So where do customers go to find CX enabled solutions that better meet customer expectations while making their operations more efficient.

Customers typically have several channels when contacting organizations—email, chat, phone and even social media. Despite the choices, research shows that the phone call is still the preferred method of communication.1

A positive customer experience depends on having a streamlined process in place to handle incoming calls. Customers want answers fast and in the most efficient way.

Several common reasons cause a business to either mishandle calls or fail to answer calls altogether. Unexpected or seasonal volume can mean there’s not enough staff to handle the calls. Live agents might not be available after hours. Or perhaps the areas of responsibility of “who handles what” are not clearly defined.

For customers, the reasons really don’t matter. The customer experience suffers if they hear an annoying busy signal, get put on a long hold, or worst of all, get disconnected before their questions can be answered. Luckily, new technology is available to help organizations manage these and other issues while also enabling a more improved and often a more personalized customer experience.

Setting Up Call Queues

Call queues offer a way to handle incoming calls more efficiently. As part of a Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) solution, call queues give the contact center a means to segment and route incoming calls based on information provided, such as reason for the call or priority level.

Specific queue segments can be configured to offer callback options or enable callers to leave messages on a specific voicemail box for after-hours inquiries. Pre-recorded messages can provide general information, including business hours, current outages or promotions. These multiple call queue options help organizations better meet customer expectations while making their operations more efficient.

Self-service Options

Intelligent call routing (ICR) is another way of effectively handling incoming calls. These options ensure the right agent answers a customer’s call. Using Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems, contact centers can optimize the flow of customer interactions. When configured correctly, these systems help boost sales, reduce churn and increase customer satisfaction by making sure interactions are quickly and efficiently routed, handled and reported.

The automated IVRs interact with callers to gather information and route calls to the appropriate recipient. Examples of self-service prompts include:

  • Initial greetings and welcome messages
  • Options for language preference
  • Answers to common questions (hours of operation, location, access to personal account data)
  • Choices for customer actions (cancel an appointment, place an order, speak to someone in a specific department)

Giving customers a straight-forward way to address tasks, such as checking an account balance or paying a bill, enables customer self-service without using a live agent. It can also provide customer access to information during off hours, such as personal account data. If a problem or question goes beyond the offered menu options, an IVR system quickly leads the caller to the most relevant agent available, providing more personalized service.

Benefits of Contact Center Automation

Automated contact center systems benefit companies as well as their customers. Improving customer interactions through call queues and IVR, creates more efficient contact center operations, saving time for customers and contact center agents alike. Self-service options help eliminate the frustration of long hold times and enable a company to serve customers after hours and on holidays. Companies won’t miss a customer call, which ultimately help sales and creates a better customer experience benefitting your company as well as your customers.

NEC offers UNIVERGE BLUE ENGAGE, our cloud-based contact center solution. ENGAGE uses IVR to give your customers options on how they want issues to be resolved and enables them to obtain the right information or to engage with the right agent for a personalized experience. What makes UNIVERGE BLUE ENGAGE different from other offerings is that configuration and deployment is simple. Using the user-friendly and intuitive wizard, Easy-IVR gives organizations the power to build highly customized IVRs that drive business and improve customer interactions. Non-programmers can either build an IVR or enhance an existing one through simple, easy steps.

To learn more about NEC’s contact center offerings, fill out the Contact Us form below or visit our website .

Source:
“40 Customer Service Stats to Know in 2021,” Swetha Amaresan, HubSpot, 6/9/21

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NEC Maintains Top Rank in 2022 NIST FRVT Report

Posted by Kathleen Kiernan on Posted in Analytics, Biometrics, Cloud, Events, Government, Law Enforcement, Security Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

NIST Ranked #1 Globally

  • #1 in Mugshot Identification
  • #1 in Border Security Identification
  • #1 in Mugshot Identification over age differences

At NEC Corporation, we take great pride in our legacy of creating the best technology in our field and our biometric authentication algorithms are no exception. Our #1-ranked National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) algorithms are trusted every day to provide accurate and secure results across sectors including commercial aviation, hospitality and the United States government.

Adding to this legacy, we are excited to share that NEC’s facial recognition algorithm earned the top ranking from NIST’s most recent Face Recognition Vendor Test across multiple categories.

NEC earned top recognition in the categories of Mugshot Identification both globally and in the United States, Global Border Security Identification, and Global Mugshot Identification over age differences, as well as Mugshot to Webcam Identification here in the U.S.

These rankings match the very real, positive impact our technology has on society every day. For example, U.S. CBP Deputy Commissioner, Troy Miller, recently shared in an interview1 that facial recognition technology, including our algorithm, has identified more than 1,000 imposters attempting to enter the country with false documents since 2018 – decreasing potential crime and creating safer communities.

For more than two decades, NEC has consistently surpassed competitors’ algorithms in the categories of accuracy and speed. This remains true even when demographic differentials including race and sex are accounted for and when subjects wear protective face masks. Our algorithm passed internal tests with a rate of over 99.9% in 1:1 verification when face masks of various colors and patterns were worn by individuals – ensuring security and supporting public health.

The latest NIST results showed NEC’s algorithm outperformed the entire field of 329 entries submitted from all over the world on mugshot identification. Our NEC-005 algorithm demonstrated a False Negative Identification Rate (FNIR) of just 0.0017 at a False Positive Rate (FPIR) of 0.001, respectively.

This same algorithm outperformed a field of 289 entries on Mugshot to Webcam identification with an FNIR of .0120 at a FPIR of .001.

NEC’s facial recognition algorithm is called upon by professionals across a diverse range of use cases in critical moments and is counted on for its reliable and accurate results. These use cases include criminal investigation, immigration, military security and national identification within the entertainment industry.

We have implemented more than 1,000 systems with our top-ranked fingerprint and face recognition technologies in more than 70 countries and regions around the world.

Our team works to create the most accurate and reliable product possible to ensure safe, accessible and enjoyable experiences for every person who uses our technology. While navigating access points can often be a hassle, we see a touchless and frictionless future made possible through our first-ranked biometric authentication algorithm.

To read more, you can access the full NIST report, here.

Learn more about our #1 ranked algorithm’s use cases here.

1. https://about.bgov.com/news/facial-scans-catch-impostors-at-border-as-agencies-embrace-use/

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