Two new US patents to be granted

Further validation of Eckoh's continued innovation in contact center technology

Eckoh plc (AIM:ECK), the global provider of secure payment products and customer contact solutions, has received notification of grants for two of its pending US patents.

The first patent to be granted will be for Eckoh's secure proxy technology. This enables an organization to fully de-scope itself from any type of Personally Identifiable Information (PII), without any change in its IT processes. Crucially, companies can continue using their existing tools for web payments or web chat payments, with any sensitive personal data being automatically replaced with placeholder data. The placeholder data is anonymous and cannot be reversed or decrypted to reveal the original sensitive information. As a result, the risk of fraud and the impact of a potential data breach is minimized because there is no longer any sensitive data stored in a company's environment. In essence, there is nothing meaningful for criminals to steal.

Eckoh already has a granted UK patent for this approach, which has the same simplicity as Eckoh's other secure payment solutions. The secure proxy 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 new ChatGuard product (the first to be offered globally by a Level One PCI DSS Service Provider) uses this method to secure any existing chat session, irrespective of supplier, and allow it to take a payment securely.

Eckoh's other US patent notification is for a groundbreaking new technology innovation - 'Session Handoff' - which will allow Eckoh to expand on its omnichannel customer engagement portfolio.

An online personal shopper offering is an example of how this solution can work. While a customer is browsing a company's website, they may have a question about a particular product. If they contact the company's contact center, an agent can securely link to and 'take control' of their browsing session. This allows the agent to upsell complementary products or highlight special offers and actually add them to the customer's basket. In effect, the agent is acting as an online personal shopper. Once the basket is complete the agent can then 'hand back' the session to the customer who retakes control of the transaction by completing the payment securely. As the agent and contact center are not involved in the payment process, no card data enters the contact center environment, which therefore remains out of scope for PCI DSS.

Cameron Ross, Eckoh's Director of Payments Strategy, commented: "Both of these patents are groundbreaking innovations. The US grant on our secure proxy technology further protects our revenue streams for our CallGuard and ChatGuard solutions, and provides new opportunities to grow our business and bring greater security to contact center payments. Whilst the patent for 'Session Handoff' is a brand new approach to delivering market-leading personalized customer engagement that fits perfectly into our Omnichannel engagement strategy."

For more information contact MediaResponseUS@eckoh.com