Eckoh Technologies Regulatory News (ECK)

Eckoh plc

("Eckoh")

Patent portfolio further strengthened

- Continued innovation in customer engagement security technology

- The new patents extend Contact Centre Authentication IP to the UK and Canada

- 17th patent underlines Eckoh's strong IP, backed by proprietary technology

Eckoh (AIM:ECK), the global provider of secure payment products and customer contact solutions, has further strengthened its international patent portfolio with two further patents. Eckoh's strong IP is now backed by a portfolio of 17 international patents.

The new patents to be granted are for Reverse Contact Centre Authentication. This is a new technology, which dramatically improves security and convenience for end customers when receiving an unsolicited call from an organisation, helping to prevent them becoming a victim of fraud.

Managing the ever-increasing risk of fraud

The risk of identity theft and fraud is ever-increasing. Whilst technology that helps contact centres authenticate customers has been improving, very little exists to allow customers to verify that unsolicited calls to them are from a legitimate representative.

Eckoh's new technology seeks to address this problem while saving time and increasing security. It allows customers to verify the identity of who is calling them without disconnecting and to share information securely to complete transactions.

Eckoh's simple and effective solution

When a customer receives a call from an organisation that they fear may not be genuine, their only real option currently is to hang-up, call back on the number they know to be legitimate and start the conversation from scratch - wasting time for both the agent and customer.

With Eckoh's newly patented solution the caller can verify the identity of the representative by clicking on a link, either from the organisation's publicly available website or their app. If the customer is already logged in, or chooses to do so, the page will immediately confirm that an agent is on a call with them based on their registered contact details. This also validates the customer to the agent and provides a secure channel through which they can share information. Alternative approaches to the 'log in' option include verifying via other common methods such as entering a one-time pin. 

Further strengthening Eckoh's proven, proprietary technology

Eckoh already has a USA granted patent for this technology, which has the same simple approach as Eckoh's other security led customer engagement solutions. Once formally granted, these latest patents will cover the UK and Canada.

This new solution complements the patents that Eckoh already has in the USA, Canada, and Europe for inbound Contact Centre Authentication. When a customer phones a contact centre, a message is sent to their mobile device. To save time and increase security, the caller can opt to confirm their identity prior to connecting to an agent through an existing mainstream authentication method, such as PayPal, Facebook, or Amazon. Once connected to an available agent, the caller's relevant and verified information can be immediately seen by the agent usually without any further security checks, and they can greet the customer appropriately. Billing and mailing addresses retained by these methods, can prepopulate contact centre CRM systems, saving the agent time and increasing data accuracy. Because the caller has already authenticated themselves against for instance, PayPal's login process, the contact centre agent (and the company they represent) can be certain that they are talking with the actual person the caller claims to be.

Eckoh's leading IP in Secure Payments

Patents that underpin Eckoh's secure payment solutions play a particularly important role in their patent portfolio. Eckoh has significantly commercialised these patents in the UK and US markets. Eckoh's secure proxy patent underpins the Company's unique approach to customer engagement security used in their market-leading secure payment solution, CallGuard. CallGuard automatically replaces payment data or other sensitive data such as Social Security Numbers with 'placeholders', prior to it entering an organisation's contact centre or IT environment. This approach de-risks a client's sensitive data and is deployed over their existing IT infrastructure without the need to make any changes to it. Eckoh's ChatGuard product uses this same method to secure any existing chat session, irrespective of supplier, and allow it to take a payment securely within the actual chat conversation. The same methodology can be also applied to take payments securely and compliantly in a chatbot.

Eckoh's international patent portfolio will include 17 granted patents following the grant of these latest applications with all patents continuing until the earliest expiry date in 2031.

Nik Philpot, Eckoh's CEO, commented: 

"Eckoh has a long heritage of innovation. These new patents will extend our already extensive patent portfolio and is further validation of the skill and imagination of our talented team. The importance of creating and owning our own IP cannot be overstated. It is critical for customers and partners alike to be confident that their supplier is providing a solution that does not potentially infringe on another's IP - especially so when it deals with such a sensitive area as security.

Our data and payment solutions globally are underpinned by technology that is owned and patented by Eckoh, and we continue to explore new ways to innovate and tackle the growing and evolving security needs of our clients across the globe."

-ENDS-

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About Eckoh plc

Eckoh is a global provider of Secure Payment products and Customer Contact solutions, supporting an international client base from its offices in the UK and US.

Our Secure Payments products help our clients take payments securely from their customers through all engagement channels. The products, which include the patented CallGuard and ChatGuard, can be hosted in the Cloud or deployed on the client's site and remove sensitive personal and payment data from contact centres and IT environments. They offer merchants a simple and effective way to reduce the risk of fraud, secure sensitive data and become compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards ("PCI DSS") and wider data security regulations. Eckoh has been a PCI DSS Level One Accredited Service Provider since 2010, securing over £5 billion in payments annually.

Eckoh's Customer Contact solutions enable enquiries and transactions to be performed on whatever device the customer chooses, allowing organisations to increase efficiency, lower operational costs and provide a true Omnichannel experience. We also assist organisations in transforming the way that they engage with their customers by providing support and transition services as they implement our innovative customer contact solutions.

Our large portfolio of clients come from a broad range of vertical markets and includes government departments, telecoms providers, retailers, utility providers and financial services organisations.

For more information go to www.eckoh.com or email MediaResponseUK@eckoh.com.