Eastern Bank listens to customers

Launches voice biometrics system to ease service

Eastern Bank has begun deploying Nuance Communications’ voice biometrics technology, with the goal of making it easier for customers to do business by using the sound of their voice to access their accounts.

Previously, when customers contacted the Eastern customer service center, they had to prove their identity by answering a series of security questions before proceeding with their phone call. In recent customer surveys, customers conveyed their frustration with the process, making it clear that recalling information and answers to questions was a huge source of aggravation.

Seeing an opportunity to use advanced technology to solve a customer problem, Eastern officials introduced voice biometrics technology from Nuance to make it easy for customers to access their accounts when calling customer service. It’s the first bank in North America to do so.

Now, when a customer calls Eastern Bank, they engage in natural conversation with a customer service agent, and during that time, Nuance’s FreeSpeech voice biometrics technology is used to compare the customer’s voice to their unique voiceprint, silently signaling to the bank representative when the customer’s identity has been verified and granting them access to their account.

According to Nuance, data from Opus Research shows that the voice biometrics authentication market is poised to grow from $200 million in 2013 to $750 million globally in 2017.