Connecting Government to Consumers with Branded Call Display (BCD)

by Jonjie Sena

Unfortunately, we've all likely received fraudulent, threatening calls claiming to be from a government agency. The proliferation of robocalls, call spoofing and outright fraud is particularly egregious when it's tied to the U.S. government and citizen services. For the public sector, crucial information can be missed lost when calls don’t get through, or are left unanswered. Whether it’s COVID-19 contact tracing, Social Security benefits, delivering healthcare to veterans, or adjudicating claims, the impact of an unanswered call can be life-defining. In our Meet the Expert Series, we asked Suzanne Charleston, Senior Principal, Strategic Accounts, Government, about Neustar’s unique capabilities and solutions like Branded Call Display (BCD), part of our Trusted Call Solutions (TCS) suite, are helping state and local governments reach citizens at the times that matter most.

Here's what she said:

How has the erosion of trust in phone calls affected the government and health space?

Spam dials and things like that erode the contactability component. When you're looking at contactability, operational efficiency—all things that cost the government money—along with citizen care are impacted. People don't answer the phone if they don't know who's calling, whether it's you, me, my dad, who's a veteran. That's 88% of the time. What does that mean? It means the government isn't as efficient as it should be in reaching people and delivering the services they need. That's why the phone channel is important.

We live our lives through these devices now. We need to leverage them and make them work for us. To do that, you need to know and trust that who’s calling you is who they say they are. That's what Neustar, a TransUnion company, brings.

How are bad actors affecting citizen services?

Say you're a senior citizen or a veteran. You get a call from somebody, you don't know who they are, you don't know the phone number, but they've just told you that they're calling from Veterans Administration (VA). Can you trust that? In too many cases, fraudsters are posing as a government agency and trying to steal components of your identity. Account takeover is a real problem for some of America's most at-risk citizens.

When you look across government agencies and all the services and programs they offer consumers, it's not just healthcare, it's just not beneficiary information. It's every facet of our life. The Social Security Administration (SSA) touches you starting with the day you're born, and all through your life.

Every single aspect of a government agency impacts Americans. If you know with high probability, that it's really is the government calling you—you can see their name, their logo and the reason for calling—you know you can trust that. You have a higher probability to pick up the phone and get to the answer you need, the services you need. That's what we're trying to address.

How is Neustar positioned to help government restore trust in the voice channel?

It's a partnership that we bring to the government at both the federal and the state level that really answers the call to restore trust in the call ecosystem. When you look at Neustar and our capabilities in the phone channel, we're a one-stop shop to provide government agencies with enterprise-wide solutions like Caller Name Optimization (CNO) and Branded Call Display (BCD). It's really quite amazing. Our BCD will be able to reach more mobile phones than anyone else in 2022.

Is there a financial benefit for government agencies?

Absolutely. Consider government agencies and the volume of outbound dials they make, and inbound calls they take, for whatever reason, to do an appeals process, to talk about eligibility enrollment, to answer questions, to provide benefits. It takes time to do those things. When you can shave off some time with trust, whether you're verifying or authenticating a dialer coming into the CRM to get to the right customer service agent, there's a benefit there. It's a cost saving for the government, but it's also about efficiency and effectiveness. At the end of the day, you can make the consumer experience a positive one. That's government's real mission.

What is STIR/SHAKEN call authentication and why is it important to consumers and government?

With identity verification and authentication, we’re validating you are who you say you are. And we put a risk factor to it. So if you're calling into a CRM, we're probably able to authenticate that it’s you associated with that device. On the flip side, as an enterprise, we’re able to help ensure your calls are not erroneously marked as spam and verify it’s you calling so answer rates improve.

Neustar’s BCD makes the whole process frictionless. For the enterprise, consumers see a logo. They see a reason for calling that shows up. They can see a check mark saying it's a verified call, with high confidence. It costs the consumer nothing. There is no action required of them. It's technology bringing the best capabilities forward to answer mission and needs of consumers across the country. If you get it on the commercial side, you should expect it from the government side as well. We’re trying to bring that same level of frictionless, efficient consumer experience forward for the public sector.

How do Neustar solutions help the government connect with at-risk consumers?

When you look at the most at-risk populations in the US, you need to be able to find them. You need to be able to communicate with them. Neustar leverages what’s currently available to bring the communications to the right people at the right time with trust. One of the great things about Trusted Call Solutions is you’re not relying on 5G broadband to communicate with them. You can use the device. We know where that device is and the household it’s associated with and when you layer on Branded Call Display, you’re now reaching the Americans that need it most. You’re going to see an agency logo and other dynamic content, and you’re going to see it’s worth your time to pick up the phone.

If you've got COVID-19 or you've been exposed to COVID-19 as an example, and you get a call from the Virginia Department of Health, you want to know it's them, you see their logo, you see the name of the department and you see the reason for calling. That's trust.

Watch the video: Branded Calling Cures Low Answer Rates for the Virginia Department of Health.

One of the great examples we like to share is a delivery program for the Veterans Adiminstration (VA) to support appointment scheduling. They’ve had huge backlogs, and rely heavily on the phone to reach veterans. With CNO and BCD, consumers see the VA is calling for an appointment, and answer rates improve.

What is the most critical benefit Neustar offers government?

Trust. Neustar is always going to start with trust. When you look at Neustar's capabilities, putting trust into the call center component, trust in the device, trust into outreach to citizens, it's a big deal. It helps everybody. It helps the government be more efficient and deliver the level of service that consumers really deserve and need. From consumers’ experience, they know they can trust it's the government calling. I mean, shouldn't they expect that?

Trust is what Americans deserve. That's what Neustar brings.

Watch the video: Connecting Government to Consumers with BCD, and learn more about how Branded Call Display (BCD) and Caller Name Optimization (CNO) help you improve answer rates, increase revenues, and protect your brand.