By Aaron Lumnah, Senior Manager Marketing Demand Generation

Today’s customers expect to encounter more than just great products or services. They also want the freedom to consume on their own terms, and that includes the choice of payment options they encounter from the moment they are ready to transact.

It’s the reason why so many of today’s customers want to take advantage of bank-to-bank transfers which provide them with a ‘set it and forget it’ payment option that ensures their frequent payments stay up and running without disruption.

These payment options are great for managing regular or recurring payments like utility or insurance bills, subscriptions and memberships or charitable donations. Bank-to-bank payments can also be used for one-off payments too, so it’s no wonder that consumers continue to increasingly demand them

Bank Transactions – the Fast Facts

Known as a Direct Debit or Bacs (Bankers Automated Clearing Services) payment in the UK or an ACH (Automated Clearing House) transfer in the US, these bank-to-bank transfers eliminate the need for customers to reach for their credit or debit card (or even cheques) when they want to transact for goods and services. When it comes to recurring bill payments, Bacs and ACH payments give customers an efficient and stress-free way of assuring that they’ll never miss a scheduled payment.

As a result, they continue to be a highly popular option for many consumers. In the UK, 90% of the population now pay at least one regular bill by Direct Debit. In the US, meanwhile, ACH credit and debit transfer payments, are on the up and up, and are rapidly overtaking cheque payments.

That’s great news for merchants and brands that want to process Direct Debits or ACH transfers over the phone and via digital channels. At the same time, these payment methods present thorny security issues. Without the appropriate security systems and controls in place, it will be impossible to assure the safety of the bank account information of customers.

Fortunately, Semafone’s Bankprotect provides a seamless and secure solution to this challenge that keeps your organisation compliant with the requirements of both NACHA (The National Clearing House Association) in the US and Bacs in the UK.

Let’s take a quick tour of how it works.

BankProtect Voice+: Protecting You and Your Customers

Semafone’s Bankprotect Voice+ solution protects sensitive banking information across your contact centre infrastructure using dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) masking and storing it securely in your CRM for later processing.

When customers want to set up a Direct Debit over the phone, they simply enter their bank account and routing numbers into their telephone keypad. Semafone’s patented data capture method then masks these numbers from identification by sight and sound.

Next, these bank account and routing numbers are verified for accuracy, to ensure that the proper account is always debited. Throughout this process, the customer and agent can stay in full voice communication. As well as reassuring and guiding customers, agents can step in to help out and resolve issues like mis-keying errors.

The good news for customers and for your organisation is that with Bankprotect Voice+, the agent never hears your customer’s sensitive bank account numbers and there is no risk of this data being captured on call recordings, because it has been entirely masked.

Once the bank account number and sort code/routing number have been validated, this information is passed to your CRM to then process the payment.

Bankprotect Relay+ – Giving Customers a Choice of Channels in which to Transact

With Semafone’s Bankprotect Relay+, today’s omnichannel contact centres are also able to easily set up direct deposit transactions across any digital customer engagement channel. There’s no need to invest in costly hardware or enter into closed software ecosystems. Alongside making it easy to engage with customers in the channels they choose to transact in, Bankprotect Relay+ enables you to monitor, manage and track every transaction.

Offering organisations a secure and compliant way to extend the payment options they’re able to offer customers, Semafone’s Bankprotect Voice+ and Bankprotect Relay+ solutions deliver a truly frictionless experience that is streamlined and convenient.