The project was based around a service which enables money transfers to be made directly and instantly using a cell phone.

Working in close partnership with their project team gem assisted in the identification of the new service and led in the development of the customer service requirements, from website recommendations, user interface design requirements for financial administrative applications to be used by contact centre agents and channel management through to a fully resourced helpdesk.

gem's service offering has since expanded to include development of an advanced system for automated customer authentication, account verification and funds transfer.

Working with this client has been challenging but very rewarding as we have helped formulate their strategy and customer service policies from scratch.

Security was a key issue for the bank, however gem's proactive focus on security systems and procedures negated any concerns. Initially our client undertook an exhaustive audit of gem's infrastructure to ensure that it complied with stringent internal requirements. Both parties then worked closely together to enable customer information to be transmitted securely from client to gem via a Triple DES encryption enabled Virtual Private Network. As a further precaution, customer response protocols were developed to ensure that responses to enquiries do not contain confidential information such as passwords or account details. This work allowed gem to set up internal processes which automatically verify the identity of customers by correlating their personal details with data held externally on secure client servers.

gem's technology service to this particular client is based on Cisco's IPCC platform for the delivery of self service phone based applications linked to back end systems for financial transactions. The technology has been central to the rapid delivery of voice enabling web applications. A key success factor for our client was the ability to have a single web architected back-end application that was accessible via both web and voice channels.