Flogas opts for simplicity to strengthen trade and customer payment security.

When Flogas noticed a surge in demand from customers to purchase their products in different ways - on the phone via their contact center, at depots and out of hours via their overflow contact center, they proactively took the step to meet that challenge and strengthen their payment security.

Sue Ellis, Head of Customer Experience Center at Flogas: "We were seeing more demand from customers to pay for goods and services out of hours and through our customer-facing colleagues. We knew we had to make a few changes to accommodate these needs while ensuring we continue to protect their card data. It's important to us that we can sell our products safely through all of our network.

"We needed a more robust and secure way to take payments. We had been using a 'Pause and Resume' method to protect our call recordings. But this is prone to error and is not a secure payment method in itself.

"Because of our multiple needs - securing our telephone payments in both contact centers and enabling payments via our depots, while simplifying the burden of PCI DSS compliance, we were recommended to speak to Eckoh by a specialist in payment data security. It was Eckoh who had the solutions we needed. They recognized our telephony challenge and proposed their CallGuard product which keeps our whole contact center environment free from payment card data and out of scope for PCI DSS compliance.

"CallGuard enables our agents to take payments over the phone and gives customers the option to either enter their card numbers through their telephone keypad or speak them securely at the appropriate time. Because numbers are masked from agents on their screen, they don't see or hear the details. And call recordings can continue unbroken.

"To help with payments at depots, and to add another option to contact center telephone payments, Eckoh proposed their Pay-by-Link option. If the customer prefers to pay online while on the phone with an agent or at a depot, we can text them a link on their phone. The customer completes the payment page with their details and the agent or depot confirms the order for delivery at their chosen collection depot. What's more, for either telephone or Pay by Link payments, we have the option to add functionality so our customers can pay using Apple Pay, Google Pay or PayPal in the future.

"We were very impressed, not only with the way Eckoh handled the project, but how easy it is for our agents to use. Customers have also remarked on its simplicity. As the solution could be incorporated into our outsourced contact center, it meant we can now take sales around the clock.

"We're delighted with the result. Since we rolled out CallGuard and the Pay-by-Link app throughout Flogas we have further improved the security of our environment, whilst having peace of mind that the business is PCI DSS compliant with our customer-facing payments. Furthermore, we've improved the customer experience and made it more consistent and secure across our various channels and improved our ability to take payments out of hours."