Semafone brings payment tech to BT Wholesale's reseller network

Man holding credit card making online payment on a tablet

Semafone has announced it's providing BT Wholesale's reseller network with secure payment technology, so they are able to take secure payments from customers over the phone and comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

Semafone's contact centre PCI DSS compliance solution, Cardselect, has been integrated into BT's Wholesale SIPT offering, ensuring businesses are compliant with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR) when it comes into force in May.

At present, BT's SIPT stack comprises IP telephony services, media streaming, web conferencing and desktop sharing. Semafone's Cardselect will be integrated alongside BT Wholesale’s Avaya Cloud Service, which also offers secure payments as part of its set-up.

“With the growing industrialisation of cybercrime posing an unprecedented threat to businesses and consumers, security is at the heart of everything we do," Steve Best, BT’s managing director of products and commercial management, said. "We continue to innovate together with partners such as Semafone to bring new solutions to the market that allow resellers to better protect their contact centre customers."

Semafone's Cardselect uses dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) masking, meaning customers can type their card numbers directly into their telephone keypad, hiding the tones from the contact centre operative. This means they are unable to note down the numbers a customer is inputting, so the data remains completely secure.

"By effectively masking customers’ payment card details and preventing personal data from entering the contact centre’s IT network, we can help resellers protect their customers from the reputational and financial damage arising from security breaches and non-compliance with industry and EU regulations," Best added.

Semafone added that integrating its technology into BT Wholesale's SIPT offering means it can widen its own customer base, reaching businesses it wouldn't normally be able to sell to.

“Delivering our market-leading solution as part of BT’s hosted communications portfolio gives us a huge opportunity to reach a much wider customer-base," Semafone CEO Tim Critchley added. "By integrating with the SIPT offering, BT Wholesale’s extensive network of resellers can now give their customers the confidence that contact centre telephone payments are safe, secure and PCI DSS compliant.”

Clare Hopping
Freelance writer

Clare is the founder of Blue Cactus Digital, a digital marketing company that helps ethical and sustainability-focused businesses grow their customer base.

Prior to becoming a marketer, Clare was a journalist, working at a range of mobile device-focused outlets including Know Your Mobile before moving into freelance life.

As a freelance writer, she drew on her expertise in mobility to write features and guides for ITPro, as well as regularly writing news stories on a wide range of topics.