IBM > Case Studies > A leading credit services provider in Asia Reduces risk and increases profitability with an advanced access management solution

A leading credit services provider in Asia Reduces risk and increases profitability with an advanced access management solution

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

Asia

Product

BIO-key WEB-key 3.5
IBM® Security Access Manager for Enterprise Single Sign-On

Tech Stack

Biometric Authentication
Single Sign-On

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Productivity Improvements

Technology Category

Cybersecurity & Privacy - Identity & Authentication Management

Applicable Industries

Finance & Insurance

Applicable Functions

Business Operation
Human Resources

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

The customer is a leading credit services provider in Asia. The company offers customer support to more than one million credit card holders around the world through more than 40 regional branch and service centers. To provide credit card holders the assistance they need, call center agents often must access customers’ highly sensitive personal information, such as social security numbers, account balances, and contact information. However, the company was facing challenges with its traditional password authentication processes, which were affecting productivity and increasing the risk of identity theft.

The Challenge

The leading credit services provider in Asia was facing challenges with its traditional password authentication processes. The company found that these processes were affecting productivity and increasing the risk of identity theft within their call center. Agents had to constantly enter their passwords as they moved from application to application, which proved costly as it added several seconds for each login. Additionally, agents had to remember more than one unique application login, each with stringent password requirements. This led to a number of bad and insecure password management behaviors, including password reuse among applications and writing passwords down. The company also found that call center agents sometimes shared passwords, which made it difficult for internal audit and compliance staff to confirm exactly who had access to what information. Sharing passwords also increased payroll costs as the company uses login data to track the hours that agents work.

The Solution

The company worked with IBM and IBM Business Partner BIO-key to replace its password and ID Card systems with an advanced access management solution that improves agent productivity, reduces the threat of identity theft, and decreases costs. The solution uses BIO-key and IBM® Security Access Manager Enterprise Single Sign-On software, installed on agent laptops, to give call center agents single sign-on access to all applications and information they need with the swipe of a finger. During calls, if a transaction is required, agents can simply swipe their finger to authorize the transaction instead of typing in a username and a password. Fingerprint sensors were also installed to help protect physical access to secure locations. Authorized personnel only need to swipe their finger and the solution confirms that they are authorized to access the area.

Operational Impact

The new solution improved staff productivity measurably. Cumbersome password entry processes that previously took three to five seconds each were replaced with sub-second fingerprint authentication.
Agents could shorten the time needed to respond to customer inquiries and take more calls during their shifts.
Using biometric authentication enabled the company to confirm that agents were paid for actual hours worked.
Password reset requests were eliminated, as agents no longer had to remember complex passwords for each application.

Quantitative Benefit