When the rules change, it pays to remain in obeyance.

Failure to do so can result in sanctions and fines.

In business, those can also be accompanied by catastrophic reputational damage from which there is no recovery.

In March next year, the rules change around Payment Card Industry data security standards, meaning every business which transacts online must prove they are compliant, as opposed to merely showing they have processes in place capable of enabling compliance.

Splitting hairs? Well, there is certainly a fine line to be drawn between those two states. However, there is critical differentiation, and the clock is ticking loudly for businesses (and their technology partners) to put in place a solution that ensures they are on the right side.

The standards that must be met are that customer payment card details must not be contained within voice communications that are recorded and stored. To ensure that is the case, so-called ‘pause and resume’ processes interrupt transactional call recording at the point those details are provided.

However, with many of those communications now occurring via integrated, third-party platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, and myriad contact centre applications, brands faced with annual PCI audits will benefit hugely from the deployment of technology which makes demonstrable compliance as simple as possible.

Picking the right provider must surely be a top priority.

“When it comes to PCI compliance, every voice touchpoint is in scope; the telephony network, agents, deskphones, unified communication platforms, collaboration applications – in an audit situation, businesses will have to provide proof in all those cases that payment card details have not been captured,” explains Scott Rixon, Solutions Director at leading global communications technology vendor Evolve IP, which is about to release a solution that will simplify it all.

“Most businesses of every kind now take payment over the phone and therefore need a secure PCI-compliant system. Whether it is existing customers who currently use ‘pause and resume’ on our own platform, or potential new customers, our new solution presents a huge opportunity for our partner resellers to not only help businesses respond to the PCI rule change but also to simultaneously drive revenue of their own.”

The Evolve IP solution cleverly and automatically hands off all transactional voice calls to a separate, ring-fenced part of its network that is completely PCI-compliant in and of itself.

In the event of a PCI audit, users will need only to show that that single component of their communication stack is compliant, as opposed to multiple others.

“They are able to demonstrate to a PCI review that the relevant voice traffic is not traversing their often complex and multi-layered network,” says Rixon. “Suddenly, they have de-scoped the whole thing.”

Of course, there are alternative ways of taking secure payment other than via a voice communication – for example, sending customers email links – but adding an extra and totally separate step into the sales completion process is clunky and brings risk.

“Understandably, most businesses want to take payment while the customer is on the phone,” says Rixon. “They’ve done the hard work, they’ve made the sale. The last thing they want to do is lose that sale because they have had to send the customer off to a different place to make payment later.”

Crucially, the Evolve IP solution will be priced on a per user basis as opposed to a per transaction percentage. Also, it will be available for small businesses with just one seat, up to enterprise call centres with hundreds.

“There hasn’t been a huge amount of publicity around the rule change so there is an education piece to be exploited by Managed Service Providers and System Integrators,” says Rixon.

“SMEs and micro businesses in particular may not be sufficiently aware that the changes are coming and what the implications are for them if they don’t act. Security of the kind provided by PCI compliance can be a powerful differentiator for any business if it is communicated effectively. We are keen to support our resellers in communicating that message so they can maximise the opportunity.”

To learn more about how Evolve IP can help your and your customers’ businesses get ready for PCI rule changes next March, click here.



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