London 20 November: NewVoiceMedia, Europe’s largest hosted contact centre service provider announced today that it is helping Parcelforce comply with the Payment Card Industry–Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS). The PCI-DSS which comes into force this year, is designed to increase security for card payments and will impact all contact centres taking credit card details from callers.     

Currently staff in many contact centres can access customers’ card details over their computers or write them down during the phone call with a caller. Apart from the process inefficiencies, it exposes the contact centre to potential fraud as agents could pass this information on to others.

The new system from NewVoiceMedia will allow Parcelforce customers to make highly secure card payments either over the phone or via the internet. The service based on the ContactWorld platform, launched earlier this year, is directly connected to World Pay. This eliminates the need for agents to have access to or record card details and disables call recording whilst the customer enters their card details.

“Worryingly, some call centre managers are still not aware what the new standards entail and how it impacts them” commented Jonathan Grant, CEO of NewVoiceMedia. “If managers fail to comply, they risk withdrawal of the card service and even a fine of up to £50,000 per infringement.

“Some contact centres are hiding their heads under the sand hoping to avoid the issue. Ignoring the new standard should not be an option.”

Parcelforce Customer Services Manager, Emma Bailey, said: “NewVoiceMedia now processes over £100,000 per day in card payments across our 52 depots. We are constantly looking for ways to offer our clients the best service and by achieving PCI-DSS compliancy, not only will our clients enjoy peace of mind, it also reduces our transaction costs with WorldPay.”