Australian welfare system implementing biometrics
27 May, 2009
category: Biometrics
Centrelink, Australia’s welfare call center system, has implemented voice biometrics to automate the client authentication previously performed by call center employees, according to an Australian IT article. Telecommunications company Telstra, whom had a preexisting contract with Centrelink, has provided the $2 million technology upgrade with voice pattern recognition software supplied by technology companies Nuance and Kaz.
Customers using the system are prompted to speak a random series of digits to have their voice patterns matched against the stored template. Further, to ensure the security of their clients’ biometric information, Centrelink enlisted technology testers PureHack whom declared the system up to snuff. The new system is expected to save both time and costs associated with authentication of the 28 million calls the center receives each year.
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