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What would network authentication save your contact centre?

Three numbers give you an estimate. Every other assumption is on the page, set to a starting value, and yours to change. The estimate, the key insight and the exhibits update as you type.

Your contact centre

All calls in the period, before any self-service.

Agent time per call, including after-call work.

Fully loaded cost of a call an agent handles.

Network authentication

Calls arriving with a number the network can check.

Of those, numbers matching a customer record.

Of matched calls, the share the network passes as low risk.

Today’s process

IVR identifies 50%, authenticates 40%, contains 50%. Agents identify 95% in 20 s and authenticate 95% in 40 s.

How identification and authentication work before the change. Starting values, not benchmarks: replace them with yours, and use 0 for a step you do not automate.

Estimated saving with network authentication

£1,446,815

Agent cost saved before technology costs, on 1,000,000 calls in the period you choose, at £5.00 an agent-handled call

  • £1,216,000 from 243,200 more calls finished in self-service
  • £230,815 from 21 seconds off the average agent-handled call
Callers no longer turned away
38,760
Callers who fail security today and would be authenticated.
Zero-friction calls
608,000
Number of calls with instant, seamless authentication.

The key insight

Most of the saving, £1,216,000 of £1,446,815, comes from 243,200 more calls finishing in self-service; the rest comes from agents spending 21 fewer seconds on security per call.

Exhibit 169% of calls are authenticated before they reach an agent, against 20% today
  • 3.4 times as many calls finish in self-service
  • 447,640 fewer calls need an agent to ask security questions
  • AFinished in self-service10% → 34%
  • BAuthenticated, then to an agent10% → 34%
  • CIdentified automatically, authenticated by an agent29% → 11%
  • EIdentified and authenticated by an agent45% → 18%
  • DFGNot identified or not authenticated6.4% → 2.5%
See the numbers
How each call ends: share of all calls today and with network authentication, and calls with it
OutcomeTodayWith network authenticationCallsChange
A Authenticated automatically and finished in self-service10%34%343,200+243,200
B Authenticated automatically, then to an agent10%34%343,200+243,200
C Identified automatically, authenticated by an agent29%11%111,720−173,280
D Identified automatically, not authenticated2%1%5,880−9,120
E Identified and authenticated by an agent45%18%176,890−274,360
F Identified by an agent, not authenticated2%1%9,310−14,440
G Not identified3%1%9,800−15,200

Source: SymNex security path model, your inputs. Shares are rounded, so a column may not add to 100%.

Exhibit 2The network authenticates 61% of calls before anyone asks a security question

304,000 fewer calls reach an agent unidentified, because the network matches the caller’s number to a customer record.

  • Network authentication
  • The IVR, as today
  • An agent asks security questions
  • Not identified or not authenticated
  • AAuthenticated automatically, finished in self-service34%
  • BAuthenticated automatically, then to an agent34%
  • CAuthenticated by an agent11%
  • EIdentified and authenticated by an agent18%
  • ✕D, F, G: Not identified or not authenticated2.5%

Source: SymNex security path model, your inputs. Lane width is the share of all calls; the thinnest are drawn wider so they can be seen. Shares are rounded.

Exhibit 3More self-service brings 84% of the saving
  1. £1,216,000More self-service243,200 more calls finished in self-service
  2. £230,815Shorter agent calls21 seconds off each of 900,000 agent-handled calls
  3. £1,446,815Estimated savingIn the period

Source: SymNex security path model, your inputs. Self-service is priced at your cost per call.

Exhibit 4Agent calls are 21 seconds shorter, and 243,200 more calls never reach an agent
  • Today
  • Network authentication
  • The IVR
  • An agent

Through automation

  1. Identified automaticallyThe network or the IVR finds the caller’s record
    +304,000500,000 → 804,000 calls
  2. Authenticated automaticallyMatched by the network or by the IVR’s own checks, with no agent
    +486,400200,000 → 686,400 calls
  3. Finished in self-serviceOutcome A: no agent at all
    +243,200100,000 → 343,200 calls

With an agent

  1. Asked security questions by an agentOutcomes C and E: the agent authenticates the caller
    −447,640736,250 → 288,610 calls
  2. Not identified or not authenticatedOutcomes D, F and G: the caller fails security
    −38,76063,750 → 24,990 calls
Agent workload
MeasureTodayWith network authenticationChange
Calls handled by an agent900,000656,800−243,200
Average handle time300 s279 s−21 s
Agent time on security, per agent-handled call46 s24 s−22 s
Calls needing security work by an agent80%31%−49 points
Calls authenticated94%98%+4 points
of which by the network0%61%+61 points

Source: SymNex security path model, your inputs. Bars are shares of all calls; the stages are nested, so they do not add to 100%.

Exhibit 5Cost per call moves the answer most

Your saving is £1,446,815. Each row moves one assumption by the range shown and holds every other input where you set it.

  1. Cost per call £4.00 to £6.00£1,157,452 to £1,736,178
  2. Automated containment rate 40% to 60%£1,243,757 to £1,648,048
  3. Number availability rate 70% to 90%£1,265,963 to £1,627,667
  4. Number identification rate 70% to 90%£1,265,963 to £1,627,667
  5. Network authentication rate 85% to 100%£1,294,519 to £1,522,963
  6. Automated authentication rate 30% to 50%£1,527,532 to £1,365,829

Manual authentication rate does not change the saving in this model. Call volume is left out: the saving grows in step with it.

Source: SymNex security path model, your inputs.

Your estimate

£1,446,815

Estimated saving in agent cost with network authentication, before technology costs, on 1,000,000 calls in the period you choose.

How the model works

The calculator follows the security path from Chapter 7 of Unlock Your Call Centre. A call meets up to five kinds of decision: automated identification, automated authentication, self-service, manual identification and manual authentication. At each one, a share of callers succeeds and the rest take the other branch.

Multiply the rates along a branch and you have the share of calls that ends in each of the seven outcomes, A to G. The exhibit uses the book’s example rates; the calculator above uses yours.

The saving is what agent-handled calls stop costing: calls that now finish in self-service, each at your cost per call, and the security seconds taken off the calls that still reach an agent. It is a gross figure, before the cost of the technology, of enrolling callers and of the IVR. It covers the calls in the period you choose, so a year’s calls give a yearly saving.

Exhibit 6Rates multiply down the path: at these rates only 12% of calls finish in self-service
The security path: the share of callers taking each branchEvery call starts at automated identification. At automated identification: Success (60% of these calls) leads to automated authentication; Failure (40% of these calls) leads to manual identification. At automated authentication: Success (40% of these calls) leads to self-service; Failure (60% of these calls) leads to manual authentication. At self-service: Success (50% of these calls) leads to outcome A; Failure (50% of these calls) leads to outcome B. At manual authentication: Success (86% of these calls) leads to outcome C; Failure (14% of these calls) leads to outcome D. At manual identification: Success (90% of these calls) leads to manual authentication; Failure (10% of these calls) leads to outcome G. At manual authentication after manual identification: Success (86% of these calls) leads to outcome E; Failure (14% of these calls) leads to outcome F. Outcomes: A, authenticated automatically and finished in self-service: success; B, authenticated automatically, then to an agent: success; C, identified automatically, authenticated by an agent: success; D, identified automatically, not authenticated: failure; E, identified and authenticated by an agent: success; F, identified by an agent, not authenticated: failure; G, not identified: failure.AutomatedID60%40%AutomatedAuth40%60%Self-service50%50%ManualAuth86%14%ManualID90%10%ManualAuth86%14%100%ABCDEFGSuccessFailureThe security path: the share of callers taking each branchEvery call starts at automated identification. At automated identification: Success (60% of these calls) leads to automated authentication; Failure (40% of these calls) leads to manual identification. At automated authentication: Success (40% of these calls) leads to self-service; Failure (60% of these calls) leads to manual authentication. At self-service: Success (50% of these calls) leads to outcome A; Failure (50% of these calls) leads to outcome B. At manual authentication: Success (86% of these calls) leads to outcome C; Failure (14% of these calls) leads to outcome D. At manual identification: Success (90% of these calls) leads to manual authentication; Failure (10% of these calls) leads to outcome G. At manual authentication after manual identification: Success (86% of these calls) leads to outcome E; Failure (14% of these calls) leads to outcome F. Outcomes: A, authenticated automatically and finished in self-service: success; B, authenticated automatically, then to an agent: success; C, identified automatically, authenticated by an agent: success; D, identified automatically, not authenticated: failure; E, identified and authenticated by an agent: success; F, identified by an agent, not authenticated: failure; G, not identified: failure.AutomatedID60%40%AutomatedAuth40%60%Self-service50%50%ManualAuth86%14%ManualID90%10%ManualAuth86%14%100%ABCDEFGSuccessFailure
  1. AAuthenticated automatically and finished in self-service
  2. BAuthenticated automatically, then to an agent
  3. CIdentified automatically, authenticated by an agent
  4. DIdentified automatically, not authenticated
  5. EIdentified and authenticated by an agent
  6. FIdentified by an agent, not authenticated
  7. GNot identified

Source: Unlock Your Call Centre, Matt Smallman