The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is bringing in payment security software. It’s to protect supporters of the UK charity who make donations over the phone.
The new system, hosted by Gamma, will enable the charity’s Birmingham-based contact centre to become fully compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and to secure donors’ payment card data to that international standard.
Semafone’s patented payment method lets people donate by entering their credit card numbers into their telephone keypad. From here, the numbers are transmitted directly to the payment processor so no details are stored on BHF computers. The keypad tones are disguised so that numbers cannot be identified by their sound, leaving the agent free to continue a conversation with the caller while they make the donation.
Ashley Bennett, IT Project Manager at the BHF, said: “As an organisation that receives no government funding and relies solely on donations from the public, being able to provide multiple payment options is vital to raising funds to support our research. But PCI compliance is becoming more and more costly, so we had to consider the best way to continue using our contact centres to collect donations. Implementing Semafone will completely remove our operations from the scope of PCI DSS, allowing us to significantly reduce the cost of compliance and keep the phone channel open for our supporters.
“Looking long term, we see Gamma as a key technology provider for the charity, so our choice to use Semafone made sense. The technology can also adapt to our need for additional contact centre agents if and when they are required, for example during a specific fundraising campaign. The team’s flexibility and commitment to meet our project deadlines was another big differentiator for us. At every stage they have treated us an implementation partner, rather than just a contract to complete.”
Semafone CEO Tim Critchley said “The telephone is still an incredibly important payments channel, especially for charities, as they need to ensure it’s as easy as possible for supporters to make donations. We are thrilled to be able to partner with the British Heart Foundation and support its important role in helping prevent and treat heart disease in the UK. Working alongside Gamma and the charity to deliver a cost-effective, scalable solution has been an incredibly smooth process, and we are looking forward to completing implementation in the coming months. ”
And Laurence Whitlock, Gamma Major Account Manager said: “Gamma is excited to be working with the British Heart Foundation and Semafone on this project. Being able to protect a donors credit card payment details is of major importance. With the Semafone solution hosted on the Gamma platform and utilising Gamma SIP Trunks we feel we can offer the BHF a true end to end solution for PCI compliance.”
About the firm
Semafone has achieved the four security and payment accreditations: ISO 27001:2013, PA DSS certification for its payment solution, PCI-DSS Level 1 Service Provider and is a Visa level 1 merchant agent. The company, founded in 2009, has customers including Sky, Aviva Canada, TalkTalk, Nespresso, Yorkshire Water and Virgin Group. BT offers a hosted version of Semafone’s technology – BT Secure Contact. Major investors include Octopus Investments and BGF (Business Growth Fund). Visit www.semafone.com.
