VOICE SECURITY – Retail
Case Study
Wasteful, threatening calls into major retailer’s contact center were impacting sales while putting customer accounts, data, and trust all at risk.
Summary
The Client
A prominent retail athletic shoes and apparel chain that operates 288 stores in 40 states and Puerto Rico.
The Problem
Contact center agents were reporting high levels of unwanted spam and dead-air calls infiltrating inbound call lines, disrupting normal operations, and interrupting efficient response to legitimate customer callers.
The Impact
- Degraded agent productivity
- Increased abandoned call rates, lost sales opportunities
- Missed KPI goals, increased agent stress
- Security concerns over potential cyber-breach
The Solution
Mutare’s Voice Traffic Filter provided immediate relief from voice spam, fraud calls, dead-air calls, and other forms of unwanted call disruptions so contact agents could better focus on serving customers and creating sales opportunities. While restoring hours of lost productivity, the application also proved to be an effective shield against criminal agents intent on infiltrating systems and data through voice channel exploitation.
Customer Perspective
Voice Network Engineer
“It’s doing what it should be doing. The attack(s) have stopped and we haven’t had any since. We’re very happy to see that.”
Full Story
The Impact
Like for many retail organizations, the integrity and efficient management of inbound voice traffic through the contact center is key to delivering a positive customer experience and sustaining business growth. However, this organization’s voice channel itself sat largely unprotected against unwanted and malicious call intrusions. As agents struggled with the delays and disruptions caused by a growing influx of unwanted calls, call abandonment rates from customers left on hold were on the rise. Administrators recognized the immediate financial impact associated with lost productivity and sales opportunities and, more so, had become acutely aware of the increased risk for cyber-intrusion as threat agents were applying increasingly aggressive tactics to gain access to systems and data through voice fraud. As a retailer entrusted with a substantial store of customer data, this organization is part of a sector that RH-ISAC (Retail & Hospitality Information Sharing and Analysis Center) and CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) have specifically flagged for social-engineering-driven breaches, with account takeover, data theft, and customer trust all at risk.
Voice Security Made Possible
After learning about Mutare’s Voice Traffic Filter solution from their technology parter, this organization requested a Mutare Voice Security Assessment to help identify the sources and severity of their unwanted voice traffic problem. The results were striking. Of the nearly 5 million calls entering the organization, an estimated 472,500, or roughly 9.4%, were clearly identified as unwanted spam or outright scams and threats. The disruptions alone were consuming roughly 15,750 man-hours per year, the equivalent of eight full-time employee salaries. What’s more, the assessment identified 12,675 domain breaches with credentials actively traded on the dark web, a strong predictor of active, hybrid social engineering attacks that were combing voice, email, and text phishing.
In short: Their unprotected voice channel was silently costing measurable labor hours while leaving an actively exploited attack surface open to criminal breach.
Armed with this concrete, organization-specific data showing the clear productivity drain and security exposure due to an unprotected voice channel, administrators approved purchase and implementation of the Mutare Voice Traffic Filter solution.
Applying the Right Voice Security Solution
Since implementing the Voice Traffic Filter application, administrators have been able to track unwanted call detection and deflection activity in real time. While restoring hundreds of hours of lost productivity, the application has also proven to be an effective shield against criminal agents intent on infiltrating systems due to the vulnerabilities of their formerly unprotected voice channel. The benefits, as noted by the voice network engineer overseeing the project, have been clear and immediate. “It’s doing what it should be doing. The attack(s) have stopped and we haven’t had any since. We’re very happy to see that.”
