How does Voice Risk Analysis work?
Is Voice Risk Analysis technology a “lie detector”?
What skills and abilities do my staff need to have before I can engage them in such a process?
What type of training is involved?
How long does the training take?
Can we use AVS reports as evidence in a court of law?
How do we go about implementing AVS?
How about media or customer reaction to the deployment of this type of solution?
What product lines are suited to this type of screening?
Should we inform our customers exactly how we are analysing their claim or application?
Do we have to tape record our phone conversations with our customers?
When reporting an insurance claim or applying for a loan shouldn't we assume that everyone can be stressed?
How can we justify decisions to decline claims or applications simply on the back of a technology?
We have been considering migrating our claims notification process away from the phone and onto the web. We feel that this offers the most effective customer service proposition in a rapidly modernising technological age. Do you see any downsides?
Where can I find out more?

How does Voice Risk Analysis work?
 
The unique Voice Risk Analysis technology utilised within our process doesn't just measure stress, it seeks to interpret the complete emotional structure evident in individually assessed conversations (excitement, pain, fear, cognitive activity and more). The correlation between these various emotional stress characteristics enables us to determine whether a statement was, amongst other things, truthful, deceptive, uncertain or inaccurate. It does this in every sentence your subject says and independently analyses each one against baseline measurements taken in a short phase of anodyne questions that individually calibrate the software at the beginning of the conversation 
 

Is Voice Risk Analysis technology a “lie detector”?

It must be understood that lying is not a unified set of feelings. Lying occurs as a result of a deep, conscious and logical decision making process that manifests as a result of a person's intention to deceive. One person may lie to protect themselves from harm, while another may lie to gain profit, or even just to make a joke. There is no fixed set of characteristics (physiological or psychological) that differentiate lies from truth. However, VRA uses a patented and unique technology to analyse the emotional structure of what is being said, deploying a wide range spectrum analysis of micro-changes in the speech waveform itself (not micro tremors) through which we can learn about the relationship between emotion, stress and cognitive activity. For example, measurable, anomalous relationships occur when there is conflict between what the brain knows to be true but what it is instructing the subject to say. This is particularly true when the subject has a price to pay were the truth discovered. When combined with the powerful questioning techniques and NIA skills within DigiLog's AVS, we open up an incredible window into truth and risk of deception.

What skills and abilities do my staff need to have before I can engage them in such a process?
 
The majority of our Clients have simply retrained and up-skilled existing call centre and claims handling staff. No specialists have been recruited. Obviously acumen, confidence and an inquisitive nature are desirable. We will transform existing skill sets and capabilities of your staff and turn them into some of the most advanced and sophisticated risk assessment technicians in the modern world.
 

What type of training is involved?
 
Full training in all aspects of the cutting-edge fraud prevention and detection techniques and technology will be provided as part of any pilot/implementation package.
 
Our training modules are built to provide both job specific skills as well as skills that are transferable, and as such contribute to the personal development of your employees.
 

How long does the training take?
 
For a member of the front-line team, generally 4 to 5 days of training is required. For Investigators and Technicians, who require more in-depth knowledge, 8 to 10 days of training is generally required. Training takes place immediately prior to deployment of your staff member into the process and can be carried out on-site or at an external training facility. During the first week following AVS launch, DigiLog provides personnel to mentor and support your team in the live environment.

Can we use AVS reports as evidence in a court of law?
  
In the UK , the Financial Services Ombudsman underlines our approach via statements in the British press, publicly accepting the validity of VRA results as evidence within a case provided it is supported by other, corroborating evidence. However, cases presented at court require real, tangible evidence in order to ultimately prove a case. DigiLog's main contribution in this area is to help identify precisely what evidence may be available and point to how it may be found.

How do we go about implementing AVS?
 
Via cost effective deployment of pilot processes in those product lines that risk assessment and experience tells us are prone to claimant fraud. We recommend that a pilot run for between 4 and 6 months. Please talk to us. Together - we can work it out.
 

How about media or customer reaction to the deployment of this type of solution?
 
Undoubtedly early deployments of such a innovative and immensely effective process such as AVS can prove newsworthy. The key to successful media management is proactive, clear and informed communication and capitalisation of good news aspects. In reality, this process is good news for everyone except cheats and thieves.
 
Successful media management will be optimised by concentrating on the very real goals underpinning all good fraud prevention strategies – to eliminate the costly risks of fraud that are ultimately paid for by honest customers and corporate stakeholders. DigiLog's Advanced Validation Solutions enhance customer service provision whilst ensuring that decisions to decline applications or claims are both correct and justified.
 
For insurers, experience to date shows the process to be very definitely ‘win win' all around for genuine customers who will undoubtedly be more inclined to continue being a policy holder when renewal time comes around.

What product lines are suited to this type of screening?
 
DigiLog's AVS is suitable for any scenario where you need to validate customer integrity within conversation-based transactions, either over the phone, or indeed face-to-face. The solution is designed to handle even large volumes of calls efficiently and effectively whilst being as customer friendly as possible.

Should we inform our customers exactly how we are analysing their claim or application?
 
For much of the past, customers have been largely unaware of what formed part of any process instigated to validate their claim or application. Additionally, we have only previously been able to take at best an educated guess as to whether a claim was suspicious or not, resulting in the possibility of both the genuine and the fraudsters being subjected to scrutiny. Indeed some of the more traditional methods, including profiling, financial status checking and surveillance, could be considered to be in the grey zone when it comes to whether or not it is ethical to use them at all.
 
Recent regulation and guidance in a variety of areas has assisted in removing some of that greyness. DigiLog recommends as a minimum that companies inform customers who phone in to their call centres that all telephone calls relating to applications and claims may be tape recorded and analysed for the purposes of fraud prevention and detection.
 
We recommend that companies are quite open about using the VRA technique as part of an overall process designed to sift the truthful from the disingenuous. After all, the concept is not new. Human beings have been using their own computer – i.e. their brain, to assess truth or deception in conversations since we first learned to communicate. Publicising the use of VRA and associated AVS techniques, does two jobs – reinforcing the stance against premium inflating fraudsters for the benefit of the honest, whilst acting as a deterrent to those that are thinking of cheating.

Do we have to tape record our phone conversations with our customers?
 
No – the techniques are all highly effective in real time – however, there are advantages to tape recording – in particular for evidencing the movement of ‘goal posts' as the potentially fraudulent customer attempts to weave a way around the immensely powerful obstacles placed on the playing field by intelligently focused probing. A customer's credibility can be totally undermined by such ambiguous evidence. That said, the need to go this far is rare indeed.

When reporting an insurance claim shouldn't we assume that everyone can be stressed?
 
At the start of every conversation, the Voice Risk Analysis technology calibrates itself against the caller's voice, to determine the current levels of various stress a person is experiencing. The technology will then use this individual baseline as a guide to determine whether a person's stress levels fluctuate when talking about a particular subject. Only meaningful deviations from this baseline are used to determine the integrity of the conversation – via in-depth analysis of patterns found within the voice.
 

How can we justify decisions to decline claims or applications simply on the back of a technology?

You don't. The technology is only one part of a dual approach that, at first point of notification, combines with cutting-edge behavioural analysis techniques that can accurately pinpoint truthful claims. This dual approach ensures that the subjectivity of an operator's opinion in critical decision making is both underpinned and robust.
 

Where can I find out more? Email: visit our Contact Us page for e-mail, phone, fax and address details. We look forward to both hearing from you and helping you in the future.