Contact centers should be on high alert for coming changes starting June 30, 2021. The FCC’s new STIR/SHAKEN standards are designed to cut down on fraudulent robocalls. A new white paper by LiveVox gives a great breakdown of the coming changes and how contact centers can be prepared.
STIR stands for Secure Telephone Identity Revisited and SHAKEN stands for Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs. STIR/SHAKEN intends to address the more than 185,000 yearly complaints about scams through robocalling. The new standards will help to cut down on fraud and better protect the consumer.
Consumers in the U.S. receive more than 100,000 unwanted robocalls every minute, 47 percent are fraudulent and cost Americans $10.5bn annually.
As explained by the FCC, “Calls traveling through interconnected phone networks would have their caller ID ‘signed’ as legitimate by originating carriers and validated by other carriers before reaching consumers.” This would help the phone company know the call is legitimate and therefore let the call reach the consumer.
At the same time it protects the consumer it will also help law enforcement to catch spoofers. Calls will be given ratings, A as the highest rating where the level of validation is 100 percent, to B and C where some details are not 100 percent verified.
Contact centers need to be proactive starting today. Leaving it up to the carriers and service providers could put your firm in a precarious position. LiveVox says you should start doing your due diligence immediately.
As the white paper states, “Nobody really knows for sure at this point if your calls will be blocked right out of the gate if you don’t have a token for those calls. But what will happen is that your level of attestation will be lowered if you don’t have arrangements in place to have your token at the highest level from call inception.”
LiveVox put together a list of items you can begin working on today to help ensure you are prepared when June 30 comes.
- Contact your carriers and service providers – find out if your platform is capable of supporting new standards
- Inventory your phone numbers – know the numbers you will use to make calls and if they will be problematic
- Validate your phone numbers – validate with multiple carriers and their analytics partners to limit call blocking
- Understand your equipment – ensure your platform is up to date from a hardware and software standpoint
- Confirm signing Authority – use a third party that is trusted by all service providers
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai recently said, “American consumers are sick and tired of unwanted robocalls, this consumer among them. Caller ID authentication will be a significant step towards ending the scourge of spoofed robocalls. It’s time for carriers to implement robust caller ID authentication.”
Doing nothing is not something contact centers can afford. In order to be prepared you need to begin working on changes today, LiveVox can help your firm ensure you and your providers are making the necessary changes for the fast approaching deadline.
Download the white paper today.
Todd is the host of PitchIt: the fintech startups podcast, a weekly interview show featuring emerging fintech founders and leading venture capitalists. He is responsible for leading the content team which covers fintech through daily & weekly email newsletters, editorial, virtual events, and in-person conferences. He has been covering fintech, banking, and venture capital for more than 15 years, including speaking regularly at industry events.