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David Walsh

The number of U.S. significant data breaches tracked in 2014 hit a record high of 783 in 2014, according to a recent report released by the Identity Theft Resource Center, or ITRC. And those are just the reported ones. The estimate is that there are many more that are not reported. And, as reported in USA Today a staggering 43% of companies have experienced some type of a data breach in the past year.

The average cost a company incurs when a data breach happens is at $3.8 million, up from $3.5 million a year ago. According to a study by the Ponemon Institute (www.ponemon.org) a data security research organization, a staggering 43% of companies have experienced a data breach in the past year.



It seems almost no industry is safe:

The direct costs include hiring experts to fix the breach, investigating the cause, setting up hotlines for customers and offering credit monitoring for victims. The study went on to say the indirect costs of business lost because customers are wary after a breach can be even greater.

While there are other actions including legal, public relations, technology and more occurring after a data breach has been discovered the key interactions will occur between customers and the call center agents representing the company that was breached.

There are some key issues to be discussed in preparation to handle customer calls once the breach has been announced. And once announced (sometimes before the company wants to formally announce it), how much time will the call center have to react?

• Engage with your technology and communications group to ensure the toll free numbers are set up properly.

• Based upon the size of the breach what is the anticipated number of calls and their timing?

• Typically most calls occur within the first 3-4 weeks, that’s based upon estimates provided by the breach consulting company you engage.

• A schedule needs be created to determine the FTE’s required above and beyond the business as normal.

• Be aware that once the breach has been announced, typically even normal calls can become longer, even for new customers, and this needs to be taken into account in determining the projected number of staff required.

• While most customers inquiring about a data breach utilize a toll free number, you should determine if chat, email or texting will be utilized.

• Determine based on calling patterns if you’ll use internal or external resources.

o If you need external resources, it’s wise to have relationships in place to react quickly. And it’s critical to test the toll free number(s) to be used so all technology can seamlessly be linked into your partner(s) environment.

o Having this occur in the Cloud is the easiest and most seamless way.

• Coincidentally, calling scripts need to be created, and escalation processes put in place.

• Call quality monitoring service needs to be in place and quality reporting be available for upper management to review (either internally or outsourced like www.jlodge.com).

• Create simulation training for customer service representatives that demonstrates how their roles would change during a data breach.

• Do test calls to ensure everything is ready to go.

• Once calls occur, it’s important to record all calls and analyze a good portion of them initially to fine tune the scripts and responses.

• Ensure that reporting is available on all phases of data breach customer communications which includes a ranking of how customer reacted to the data breach.
 
• Schedule the necessary and appropriate follow-up required.

David Walsh works with StatesideBPO is a virtual BPO company whose agents who are disabled veterans, veterans and Americans with disabilities. Our agents are mature (30+), highly educated (over 70% post HS education) and passionate about communicating clearly and effectively with our clients customers. Our state of the art Cloud technology and availability of pre-screened agents allow us to ramp up rapidly for data breach or product recall occurrences. He can be reached directly at (720)-891-1804 or via e-mail at dwalsh@statesidebpo.com.