RNS Reach

6 May 2020

Eckoh plc

(“Eckoh”, the “Group” or the “Company”)

Eckoh’s CallGuard Remote enables businesses to continue operating remotely and securely during the COVID-19 crisis

Eckoh has seen significant demand for its CallGuard Remote proposition which, by securing phone-based payments made remotely, is enabling organisations to quickly and effectively transition their contact centre workforce to remote locations

Eckoh (AIM: ECK), the global provider of secure payments products and customer contact solutions has, since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, seen a significant increase in demand for its patented CallGuard Remote product, which enables contact centre agents to take payments securely whilst working remotely or at home.

For organisations that have needed to migrate some or all of their contact centre operations to remote locations, one of the toughest challenges they have faced has been to ensure the security of customers’ data when payments are taken over the phone.

CallGuard Remote, which has been successfully deployed with clients for more than three years, allows agents to take payments securely in a remote location in exactly the same way as they would whilst working in a contact centre secured by Eckoh’s CallGuard solution. The product can be activated quickly for homeworkers and can be easily upgraded to one of Eckoh’s other secure payment solutions, after operations return to an office-based environment.

In the past six weeks Eckoh has sold and deployed CallGuard Remote to both existing and new clients in sectors spanning utilities, retail, insurance and financial services. By facilitating secure phone-based payments, CallGuard Remote is enabling these organisations to continue providing critical services to their customers. Furthermore, at the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, Eckoh made the decision to migrate its own contact centre to entirely remote locations, with all agents using CallGuard Remote.

In addition, Eckoh has also seen growing levels of interest for its patented ChatGuard, which assists in securing payments made over a live web chat. ChatGuard can be deployed into both Live Chat and Chatbot services, which can themselves be provided either directly by Eckoh or by a third-party provider. ChatGuard not only provides the optimum customer experience by taking payment within the customer’s channel of choice, but it also ensures that sales are maximised by converting them immediately.

Nik Philpot, CEO of Eckoh said; “We originally developed CallGuard Remote to meet the challenge of delivering robust payment security in remote locations, a need which has been growing steadily over recent years. However, the current crisis has driven an unprecedented and sudden move to remote working for contact centres and the demand for CallGuard Remote has risen significantly as a consequence.”

“In these challenging times businesses want to retain great customer service and keep commerce flowing, but they can’t compromise on security and controls have to be watertight. Deploying quickly shouldn’t mean organisations need to take risks with security, so we’re really happy that we’ve been able to assist both new and existing clients in a short timeframe to continue to trade securely with a proven product, and one that we ourselves use.”

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About Eckoh plc

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 £2 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 [email protected].