Market Overview: Voice Biometrics

While most security and risk (S&R) pros have gone to great lengths to secure their enterprise's online channels such as web, mobile web, and mobile apps, they have failed to protect customers who engage with the company on the phone channel with customer service representatives (CSRs) and interactive voice response (IVR) systems. Thus, fraudsters bypass today's security measures and use social engineering to collect credentials to take over victims' accounts. S&R pros realize they can no longer rely on basic passwords or the human instincts of CSRs to foil a determined fraudster. Performance and accuracy improvements in voiceprint algorithms and near-ubiquitous mobile device microphones have made voice biometrics (VB) an exciting and viable option for customer authentication and fraud prevention. This report helps S&R pros understand the features and benefits of VB, the deployment modes and storage options, and the vendor landscape. It also provides recommendations for successful implementations and a look into the future of VB solutions. This is an update of a previously published report; Forrester reviews and updates it periodically for continued relevance and accuracy.