Sharpen and Journey.ai Announce Strategic Partnership to Enhance Contact Center Security and CX
Indianapolis, IN – July 18, 2024 – Sharpen, a recognized leader in AI-powered cloud contact center software, today announced a new partnership with Journey.ai, a pioneering cybersecurity software company. This partnership will allow Sharpen to resell Journey’s innovative solutions, enhancing client security and the customer experience.
The partnership is strategically significant for both companies. For Sharpen, it brings the unique ability to rapidly deploy new transactional capabilities across voice and digital engagements, interoperably utilizing cutting edge technologies for identity and sensitive interactions involving PII, PFI, PHI and more. This collaboration aligns with Sharpen’s broader AI strategy and solution set, offering a comprehensive approach to secure and efficient customer interactions. For Journey, this partnership expands its ecosystem of key CX platforms.
Journey’s solutions offer several unique features that Sharpen customers can now benefit from:
Payment Solutions:
Customer Experience: Journey’s solution is the only solution on the market that allows agents and callers to seamlessly share payment details via voice, DTMF, or digitally, including mobile wallets.
PCI Compliance: Journey greatly reduces the scope of PCI compliance for customers using voice and DTMF solutions, and eliminates PCI scope entirely for digital payment options by connecting payment entry directly to the payment gateway.
Integration: Unlike most payment solutions for contact centers that require complex and fragile integrations to the SBC, Journey’s solution is purely API-based, allowing installation and operation within hours.
Complete ordering solution: Customers can pay through any possible method and bundle payments with additional user actions such as authentication, signatures on billing statements and receipts, and data entry using electronic forms.
Caller Authentication:
Versatility: Journey provides caller authentication using any combination of OTP, device-based biometrics such as FaceID and device passkeys, and cloud-based biometrics including facial and voice recognition. This ensures a secure and seamless authentication process tailored to the caller’s preference and device capability.
Agent Authentication:
Security and Efficiency: Journey’s agent authentication solution replaces passwords with cloud-based facial biometrics for agents to log in and start their shifts. The system leaves the webcam on to passively and continuously reconfirm that the right person is still working and at their computer. This provides both productivity gains and automates supervisory roles for security purposes, ensuring that only authorized agents are handling sensitive customer interactions.
“Our partnership with Journey is a win-win for Sharpen and our customers,” said Brad Fox, Sharpen CRO. “By integrating Journey’s cutting-edge security and customer experience solutions into our platform, we’re not just enhancing security, we’re empowering businesses to transform their contact center interactions. This collaboration is a testament to our commitment to delivering the most advanced, secure, and efficient contact center solutions in the market.”
Users of Journey’s solutions have seen a significant reduction in Average Handle Time (AHT), notably a recent case study demonstrated Journey’s customer decreasing the time it takes for an agent to collect a payment from an average of 90 seconds down to 30 seconds, effectively eliminating a full minute of agent-assisted handle time. This efficiency gain translates to substantial cost savings and improved customer satisfaction.
Sharpen and Journey will target regulated industries with high volumes of contact center calls, including financial services, healthcare, and retail. These industries often require stringent security measures and high-quality customer service, making them ideal candidates for the enhanced capabilities provided by this partnership.
About Sharpen
As your partner in performance, productivity, and empowerment, Sharpen delivers better outcomes: better outcomes for customers, agents, and your business. Our AI-powered cloud contact center platform is intentionally designed and masterfully engineered for a seamless, intuitive experience across the board for a CX difference you can see—and feel. Visit sharpencx.com to learn more.
About Journey.ai, Inc. (DBA: Journey)
Journey.ai, Inc. (DBA: Journey) is a pioneering cybersecurity software company that redefines data protection and customer interactions. By expanding the tools available to both callers and agents and reimagining the flow of data, Journey enables businesses to create seamless, secure voice and digital experiences for sensitive and complex interactions. From using images and AI for identity verification to leveraging passkeys and biometrics for authentication, and facilitating payments with mobile wallets and e-signatures, Journey enhances critical interactions to be both faster and safer. Journey’s innovative approach transforms security and user experience, setting a new industry standard.