
For decades, taking payments over the phone has been the customer service industry’s necessary evil. Essential for convenience — but fraught with risk. In a world where data breaches make headlines and compliance rules tighten by the year, the humble phone payment has become a pressure point for every organisation that handles customer information.
Yet phone payments aren’t going away. If anything, they’re becoming more important — especially for insurers, utilities, and BPOs handling high volumes of customer transactions. What’s changing is *how* those payments are processed, and who carries the compliance burden.
Welcome to the era of PCI-compliant voice payments.
Why PCI Compliance Matters More Than Ever
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) exists for one reason: to protect cardholder data. If your systems, staff, or technology touch card information — even for a second — you’re in scope. That means recording calls, typing digits, or storing card numbers anywhere within your environment can bring you under PCI scrutiny.
Non-compliance isn’t theoretical. It means fines, higher acquirer fees, and, in the worst cases, reputational damage that lingers long after the incident fades.
The challenge? Most legacy IVR or call-centre setups were never designed for this world of compliance complexity. They were designed for convenience, not control.
The Old Way: High Risk, Low Control
In the traditional phone payment model, the agent captures card details verbally or via the keypad, often while the call is being recorded. The data passes through multiple systems — from IVR to CRM to payment processor — creating exposure at every step.
That exposure brings three major risks:
- Agent access — staff can see or hear card details.
- System exposure — card data flows through infrastructure outside PCI scope.
- Compliance overhead — audits and certifications become costly and time-consuming.
It’s no surprise that many organisations have simply stopped offering phone payments altogether. But that’s no longer necessary.
The Modern Approach: Segmentation and Tokenisation
Today’s PCI-compliant solutions, like those powered by Shuttle’s Voice Payment Layer, take a different approach. Instead of keeping sensitive data inside your systems, they isolate and tokenise it in real time.
Here’s how it works:
- The customer enters their card details using their phone keypad (DTMF tones) or a secure payment link fallback.
- The data is captured directly by the PCI-certified payment layer — not by your IVR, agent, or CRM.
- Only a secure token is passed back to your systems, allowing the transaction to complete without ever exposing the raw card data.
The result is powerful: your environment remains out of PCI scope, while your customers enjoy a seamless, trusted experience.
Beyond Compliance: Creating a Better Experience
Compliance may be the driver, but the benefits go far beyond audit reports. By embedding payments directly into your voice and contact-centre workflows, you create a smoother, more intelligent customer journey.
Consider these gains:
- Speed — customers can pay instantly, without being transferred.
- Security — no card data ever enters your systems or recordings.
- Consistency — every merchant, region, or channel uses the same underlying process.
- Scalability — new payment flows can be deployed rapidly across multiple clients or brands.
That’s not just compliance — it’s commercial advantage.
Voice Payments for the Multi-Merchant Era
For BPOs and service providers managing payments across many clients, PCI compliance used to mean duplicated infrastructure and endless audits. Shuttle changes that.
By centralising payment logic into one secure, multi-merchant layer, BPOs can manage hundreds of client environments while maintaining strict isolation and compliance controls. Each client remains distinct, but the underlying compliance burden is shared — dramatically reducing overheads.
The Role of Twilio and Programmable Voice
When paired with Twilio’s programmable voice, Shuttle’s architecture allows you to integrate secure, PCI-compliant payments directly into your existing IVR or AI workflows — no hardware, no custom builds, no compliance headaches.
It’s the simplest way to bring PCI compliance to your voice stack while keeping full flexibility over your processors, merchants, and customer journeys.
Redefining Trust in Voice Payments
PCI compliance is often seen as a box to tick. But in voice commerce, it’s something more fundamental: a signal of trust.
When a customer pays by voice, they’re not just buying — they’re trusting you with their most sensitive information. Shuttle ensures that trust is never misplaced. It makes compliance invisible, security automatic, and payments effortless.
Explore Shuttle’s IVR & Voice Payments
Want to learn how PCI compliance can become a competitive advantage, not a burden?
Explore Shuttle’s IVR & Voice Payments here — and see how we’re helping enterprises and BPOs automate every payment moment with confidence.