Telephone Order Billing Profile Access via Intermediary Segmentation

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Solution Overview

Problem

In telephone order processing, customers often need to share sensitive billing information with customer service representatives, but companies may not have this information readily available, and existing methods lack security in transmitting and processing this information.

Innovation Solution

An apparatus and method that establish a telephonic connection between a customer and a merchant's representative, using an identifier to access a customer's stored billing profile without revealing the information to the representative, ensuring secure processing and storage of billing information.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If customer billing information is stored in the merchant's computer system and made accessible to customer service representatives, then order processing efficiency is improved, but security of billing information is worsened

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveorder processing efficiencyVSAvoidsecurity of billing information

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments billing information access by creating separate authentication channels: customers authenticate through their electronic devices to access billing profiles, while customer service representatives only receive order information. This segmentation ensures that billing information is processed efficiently through automated systems without being exposed to representatives, thus maintaining both productivity and security.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The customer's electronic device acts as an intermediary between the billing information storage and the order processing system. The device retrieves billing profiles from remote servers and transmits them securely to processing systems, eliminating the need for customer service representatives to directly access or view sensitive billing information while maintaining efficient order processing.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Ease of operation

If customer billing information is transmitted to customer service representatives during telephone orders, then ease of operation is improved, but security risks are worsened

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveease of placing ordersVSAvoidsecurity risks

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system enables self-service order processing where customers independently authenticate their billing information through their electronic devices during the telephone call. The automated system retrieves and processes billing profiles without requiring representatives to handle or view sensitive data, thus maintaining ease of operation while eliminating security risks associated with information transmission to representatives.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

3Reliability

If billing information is stored at independent locations such as customer electronic devices or third-party systems, then security is improved, but access complexity is worsened

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesecurity of billing informationVSAvoidaccess complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

Remote servers act as intermediaries between the decentralized billing information storage (customer devices or third-party systems) and the order processing system. These servers receive authentication requests, retrieve billing profiles from independent locations, and transmit them securely to processing systems, thus maintaining security through decentralized storage while simplifying access through centralized intermediary management.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

Billing profiles are pre-stored and authenticated in secure locations before order placement. When a customer initiates an order, the system has already established secure access pathways through previous authentication, eliminating the need for complex real-time access negotiations and simplifying the order processing while maintaining security.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS9613370B2Securely and efficiently processing telephone orders

Publication Date: 2017.04.04 TELEPERFORMANCE SE

AI summary

An apparatus for processing telephone orders includes a communications module that establishes a telephonic connection between a customer service representative of a merchant and a customer, and an identification module that receives an identifier linking the customer to a billing profile a billing profile access module that receives electronic access to the billing profile. The billing profile includes billing information of the customer. The apparatus includes a transaction module that processes a sales order using the billing profile of the customer in response to a customer approval of the sales order. The sales order is for a product and/or a service offered by the merchant. The billing information of the billing profile is unavailable for viewing by the customer service representative.