Data security in a GigCX environment

Despite the massive benefits enterprises are seeing from gig-based customer service (GigCX), businesses who aren’t using GigCX sometimes express concerns about its ability to maintain the security of customer data.

In this article, we examine this perceived concern and share how businesses can enjoy the benefits of an agile, scalable GigCX model, while also ensuring their customer data is secure.

Companies who are engaging in GigCX need to think about how they keep customer data secure when working with gig experts.

When selecting a GigCX platform provider, it is important to understand how they handle customer PII (personally identifiable information), as they do not all handle it the same way.

Ensure that your GigCX platform provider has enterprise standard controls and processes to make sure data is always protected. The GigCX platform should be GDPR compliant, and the provider should follow international standards for data security.

At Limitless, our platform is GDPR compliant, and our company is ISO certified, signifying that our systems have passed stringent evaluation to validate that any data passing through our systems is secure.

Another important factor to data security with GigCX is how a provider sources and qualifies the crowd of independent freelancers or contractors – we like to call them GigCX Experts. If they’re not attracting the right people or verifying their identities or qualifications, they may be exposing customer data to the wrong types of individuals.

At Limitless, keeping customer data secure starts in the expert sourcing and onboarding process. Generally, we only source GigCX Experts from known pools of individuals, such as a company’s list of current customers or even employees.

We also perform background checks on all candidates to ensure we have the right people in the GigCX crowd.

Because GigCX Experts use BYOD devices to access the Limitless platform, we ensure only experts access the Limitless platform. To do this, we use two-factor authentication to minimize the risk of others accessing expert accounts, and potentially customer data.

Next, let’s consider how GigCX Experts access customer data, if necessary, when assisting customers with their inquiries.

Secure integrations

Rather than accessing company systems and personally identifiable information (PII) directly, GigCX Experts access the Limitless platform.

Secure integrations allow for the sharing of limited information between the Limitless platform and a company’s systems.

This ensures that Experts only have the information a company allows them to access to assist customers with a defined list of inquiry types.

As your crowd matures, certain experts typically take on more advanced types of customer questions that may include PII. When that occurs, Limitless takes additional security measures with specific experts to ensure proper data handling procedures. This includes, but is not limited to, the location where they respond to customer inquiries. 

Smart content filters

Because inquiries are often handled by multiple experts, you don’t want PII data showing up in a conversation thread that other Experts can access.

To protect against, the Limitless platform automatically detects and masks PII that a customer may attempt to share with them during their conversation, including email addresses, phone numbers, account numbers, etc.

Secure data exchange

If GigCX Experts need access to PII to complete a task, our platform provides a secure way of exchanging this information. Experts request from the customer only the information needed to complete a task (e.g., an order number or email address).

At Limitless, we work with our clients to determine what information is necessary for GigCX Experts to access to assist customers with inquiries. This depends largely on the types of inquiries experts are handling.

For basic questions, experts may not need access to any customer data. For more advanced support, they may need access to order numbers, email addresses, customer accounts, etc. As a best practice we start with the minimum data needed to assist the customer.

When set up correctly, GigCX Experts have the potential to do anything contact center agents can do and do it securely.

All that, and it’s all encrypted

In addition to the security precautions listed above, Limitless encrypts all customer-to-Expert communications and follows strict data storage timeframes that match the security requirements of some of the most data-conscious organizations in the world.

When you bring it all together, it is obvious data protection has been part of the Limitless GigCX Platform design from day one.

Want to learn more about GigCX and its impact on the CX industry? Download our annual GigCX Industry Report.

Interested in seeing how GigCX could work in your operation? Contact our team today.