Driven by the desire of its members to be able to demonstrate that they offer exceptional standards of service, the aim is that accredited members who are able to offer bespoke or higher standards of service in particular areas, such as fraud prevention or mitigation within their networks, will be able to display the badge on their website and literature. This will give customers certainty that they are dealing with a reputable telecoms supplier that follows best practice as verified by the FCS and confirm the company meets the high quality of criteria laid out in the programme.
The first offering being launched is the Fraud Mitigation Standard that is designed to dramatically reduce the costs of potential fraud brought about by the rise in hacking attacks on business networks. It shows that SIP trunk provider member companies have the ability to protect the critical reseller/client relationship by enabling end users or resellers to control access to called destinations and limit the amount of daily minutes. This is critical as hacking and fraud in general is still a major concern for FCS members and the industry at large. It has led in the past to huge bills for resellers and/or their clients that can accumulate into the tens of thousands of pounds if left unchecked.
It is planned to produce a similar Fraud standard for Traditional Digital Telephony services; and next in the pipeline is a Dispute Resolution standard that will set out how Channel Providers who have met the criteria will deal with any issues that arise in the switching and porting processes.
"As a trade association, we welcome the collaborative drive from within our membership to attain standards that set our members above the rest," said Chris Pateman, CEO, FCS. "We believe the Fraud Standard is a great starting point for a range of subjects that members can work to achieve and allow them to display the FCS Mark of Excellence.”
Visit the FCS at Convergence Summit North on 17/18 March for a demo of a SIP trunk based Mark of Excellence product and to talk to the team about the benefits of membership. You can sign up to attend the event for FREE here http://north.convergencesummit.co.uk/