ABSTRACT
The speed and accuracy with which payments are authorized over proprietary and public networks means retailers can safely sell and deliver their goods and services to anyone at anytime. The card industry has invested heavily in adding new systems to their overall technology infrastructure. The Internet is becoming increasingly important for card issuers. Contact management systems handle customer details and are now essential components of card-issuing systems infrastructure. Front-end systems support 'customer touch-points' – communication channels where customers come in direct contact with an automated interface, talk to a live person, physically at a branch, or over the phone to an agent at a call center. Call centers are now evolving to include data channels in addition to the traditional voice-based communication. Communication channels are as important to the business as the systems they link. Communication faults frequently cause unwanted and costly business disruptions.
