We live in time where your car can order your morning latte from Starbucks, and Alexa can order your dinner from Domino’s. Early-stage intelligent agents, also called virtual assistants or digital agents, are shoring up customers’ relationships with their favorite brands. These technologies get to know the habits of the end user and automate tasks from mundane to complex. In fact, a third of online adults say they use digital agents.[i]

As these agents are becoming a part of consumers’ daily lives, critics are questioning what data they collect and store, and who has access to that data. In this environment, your company needs to demonstrate that engaging through a virtual assistant or agent is secure. Companies that provide secure services will gain customer loyalty at the expense of those who fail to do so. For example, Alexa does not authenticate the voice of its owner, which mean anyone who can repeat that owner’s commands could order a thousand cans of pumpkin pie filling or transfer money between bank accounts.

In the absence of standard, fundamental controls, security pros must work with developers and marketing leaders to collaborate and secure intelligent agent ecosystems as their influence on customer engagement grows.

Read the Forrester report, “Secure the Rise of Intelligent Agents,” and join me on Thursday, Oct. 10 for this webinar, where we’ll lay out:

  • Emerging intelligent agent use cases that could put vulnerable data at risk
  • Practical solutions to secure intelligent agent ecosystems
  • How to balance increased security with good user experience.

[i] Source: Forrester Data Consumer Technographics® North American Consumer Technology, Media, And Telecom Online Benchmark Recontact Survey 2, Q3 2016 (US).