Manulife Adds Natural Language and Voice Biometrics

Financial services firm Manulife has deployed natural language understanding (NLU) and voice biometric technologies from Nuance Communications in its contact centers, making it the first company in Canada to introduce voice biometrics and natural language understanding in a single interactive voice response (IVR) system offered in both English and French.

The new IVR system provides Manulife's banking customers with a secure system that recognizes natural conversation. Customers who enroll in the voice biometrics option can now simply say "At Manulife my voice is my password" to access their accounts without additional passwords, PINs, and security questions, for subsequent calls. Manulife is also providing this service to its retail advisors.

Manulife serves one in three adult Canadians, and its customer contact center receives almost 28, 000 calls a day.

"This customer-focused technology provides a more natural, faster, and more enhanced customer experience within our call centers," said Marianne Harrison, president and CEO of Manulife Canada, in a statement. "No more PINs or passwords to remember. Customers just use their voice as their password.  The introduction of these enhancements is another example of Manulife's commitment to providing customers with innovative, forward-thinking solutions for a superior customer experience."

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