Something new is always happening in the interactive voice response (IVR) community, and we’ve got all of the latest in this rapidly evolving industry. Let’s just jump right into it then, shall we?

This week, David Baker, VP of Sales, Servion, Inc., exclusively detailed why IVR is needed for credit card call center protection, and what further steps need to be taken to guarantee foolproof security. While IVR is a good defense in protecting your credit card information, it won’t stop someone from being able to use it to order something via a self-service IVR system, he explains.

“It’s no wonder why we have such high credit card fraud in the world today,” Baker says. “We would never give out our credit card information to a stranger who approached us on the street and asked us for it but we are so very willing to give it to a call center agent whom we have never met located who knows where.” In order to create a foolproof call center system, one must implement voice biometrics and a PIN in addition to a reliable self-service IVR system. This way, the system can guarantee that you are who you say you are while simultaneously securing credit card transactions.

In other news, Nina – the latest addition to Apple’s (News - Alert) voice recognition technology family – has been announced and will be getting a pilot program starting this month. The largest player in Nina’s creation – voice technology company Nuance (News - Alert) – is also the team behind the very popular Dragon Naturally Speaking line of products which convert speech into text.

Nina will act as the latest virtual assistant to help provide faster and more efficient service for businesses of all kinds. The USAA, for example, will be integrating Nina into its strategies to provide faster and better service for its military service members, who need access to their accounts at all times and what are often considered unusual hours. Nina’ ability to offer speech recognition, text-to-speech (TTS) capability, voice biometrics analysis and Natural Language Understanding really puts it on top of its predecessor – the infamous Siri.

Wrapping up the week is one of Plum Voice’s ever-fun and interesting blogs highlighting the expansion of IVR technology into innovative new markets. The blog specifically details how developers at Moshi Lifestyle have unveiled their latest IVR trinket – the Moshi Lifestyle Interactive Voice Response Alarm Clock. This alarm clock serves as the world’s first fully voice-enabled alarm clock, offering a truly unique and different perspective on the everyday humdrum technology that normally wakes us up.

This IVR alarm clock allows you to change your alarm, pick a sleep sound or perform any other function, which may leave you thinking, “How does this really differ from the alarm clock I have now?” But with the Moshi Lifestyle IVR Alarm Clock, you can do all of this without touching a single button or even looking at the device. The commands are so easy to remember and the speech integration is so powerful that it has even been recognized by one of the world’s greatest blind icons, Stevie Wonder.

That’s going to wrap up this week’s interactive voice response (IVR) news, but be sure to check back in next week for all of the latest – only here at TMCnet!

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