Case Study: Australian Taxation Office achieves faster, more secure authentication with Nuance Communications' voice biometrics

Australian Tax Office deploys voice biometrics

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) faced roughly 8 million community calls a year — about 3.3 million during peak season — with agents spending an estimated 75,000 hours annually verifying caller identity. To speed and secure authentication across its contact centre and mobile channels, the ATO engaged Nuance Communications to deploy voice biometrics, using Nuance’s VocalPassword and FreeSpeech solutions.

Nuance Communications implemented multi‑channel voice biometrics (VocalPassword and FreeSpeech) so customers can enroll a single voiceprint for contact‑centre and mobile app authentication. Since deployment, more than 4.2 million voiceprints have been enrolled (with 6.1M+ successful verifications), repeat‑caller handle time has dropped by up to 48 seconds, and surveys show most enrolled clients report faster, easier and more secure authentication, with 60% preferring voice identification.

Australian Taxation Office