Semafone and Avaya Bring Leading Payment Security Capabilities to Contact Center Customers

Semafone®, the leading provider of data security and compliance solutions for call and contact centres, announced a global reseller partnership with Avaya, the leader in cloud-based solutions designed to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration.

This agreement brings Semafone into the Avaya ecosystem of alliances, with the goal of helping contact centre customers solve the complex security and compliance challenges faced as they embrace a work from anywhere model.

As multi-experience customer engagement gathers momentum, the need to support seamless, consistent user journeys across a wide range of digital touchpoints and modalities is driving a pivotal change in the contact centre market. Additionally, with many industries moving to remote working models, the need for increased security is at an all-time high. A recent study found that 70% of cloud contact centre users cite security and compliance as a reason to invest in cloud technology. The impact of the past year has truly driven the need for seamless, secure, PCI DSS compliant solutions as more customer payment transactions occur on the phone or over digital communication channels.

With less opportunity to shop in-person, people are exploring other ways of making purchases. Digital transformation is accelerating, and consumers want to be served in the channel of their choice – whether by phone, SMS, chat or email, they expect to be able to initiate and complete payments across any and all channels.

The integration of Semafone’s best-in-class, DevConnect certified, secure payment technology with Avaya OneCloud enterprise Session Border Controller (SBC), enables Cardprotect Voice+ to be deployed and used across all global Avaya OneCloud contact centre solutions. With flexible deployment options, PCI DSS compliant telephone payment transactions can be delivered to Avaya customers in the cloud, via hybrid cloud or on-premises, helping contact centres to deliver a secure and frictionless customer experience.

Avaya and Semafone are expanding their partnership further with future plans to integrate Cardprotect Relay+, Semafone’s omnichannel payment solution with Avaya OneCloud CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service), further cementing the growing need for privacy and PCI DSS compliance across the CX industry.

“Data privacy and compliance are today’s common challenges across every touch point of the customer journey, and Avaya puts security front and centre in our Avaya OneCloud platform of solutions,” said Eric Rossman, Avaya VP, Technology Partners and Alliances. “We have worked on multiple, successful security programs with Semafone in various markets. This agreement cements an existing strong alliance and grants our business partners and customers access to the value that their solutions bring. This partnership will allow us to not only deliver the best customer experience but relieve contact centres of a growing compliance burden as the global regulatory landscape evolves.”

“With upwards of 40 shared customers and many mutual channel partners, formalizing this partnership was a natural next step,” said Iain Regan, Chief Revenue Officer, Semafone. “As we continue to expand globally, Avaya will be instrumental in bringing our data security and compliance solutions to new markets. Our ability to address complex compliance issues as many organizations are migrating to remote working models will enable Avaya and its partners to help contact centres create secure and positive customer experiences across all customer engagement channels no matter where agents are based.”

For more information and details, please visit: www.semafone.com

About Avaya

Businesses are built on the experiences they provide, and every day millions of those experiences are built by Avaya (NYSE: AVYA). For over one hundred years, we’ve enabled organizations around the globe to win – by creating intelligent communications experiences for customers and employees. Avaya builds open, converged and innovative solutions to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration – in the cloud, on-premise or a hybrid of both. To grow your business, we’re committed to innovation, partnership, and a relentless focus on what’s next. We’re the technology company you trust to help you deliver Experiences that Matter.

For more information, please visit www.avaya.com.

About Semafone

Semafone provides secure cloud, hybrid and on-premises solutions to contact centres and all businesses accepting payments. In a digital world that has transitioned to remote work environments, its award-winning payment solutions enable organizations to collect personal data securely across all channels – including the telephone, webchat, social media, email, SMS, QR codes and more. Through Semafone’s patented data capture methods, sensitive information such as payment card or bank details and personally identifiable information (PII), including social security numbers, are collected directly from the customer for processing. This data capture method prevents PII from entering the business and IT infrastructure, protecting against the risk of fraud and the associated reputational damage, ensuring compliance with industry regulations such as PCI DSS. Semafone’s suite of solutions creates a seamless, omnichannel experience that increases sales conversion rates and boosts customer loyalty, while simplifying compliance.

Founded in 2009, the company now supports customers in 26 countries on five continents. Semafone is vertically agnostic and its extensive customer base includes companies such as Amica Mutual Insurance, British Sky Broadcasting, BT Group, Harley Davidson, Pethealth, Rogers Communications, Santander and Sutter Health.

Major investors of Semafone include Octopus Ventures and BGF (Business Growth Fund).

Semafone has achieved the leading security and payment certifications: ISO 27001:2013, UK Cyber Essentials certification, PA-DSS certification for its Cardprotect payment solution, PCI DSS Level 1 Service Provider, registered Visa Level 1 Merchant Agent and Mastercard Site Data Protection (SDP) Compliant Registered Service Provider.

To learn more, visit www.semafone.com