Telecommunication leaders, spam and fraud experts, and industry regulators gathered at Hiya’s 2023 State of the Call Summit in New York City on Oct. 5. The goal of the summit was to bring together the brightest minds in the industry to discuss how they can collectively restore trust in the voice call and improve the consumer experience.
The 2023 summit was the first return convening of the group since 2019 after a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guest speakers address industry challenges
The summit kicked off with a keynote address by Hiya CEO Alex Algard. In his welcoming remarks, Algard called on industry leaders to collaborate in an effort to fight spam calls. He noted that Hiya’s data shows that 87% of consumers believe unidentified calls might be fraud. As a result, most unidentified calls go straight to voicemail — and 90% of voicemails are never played back. Algard was also joined by special guest Sarah Franklin, Salesforce President and Chair of the Advisory Board, where they discussed the pivotal role of effective communication, the rise of AI in voice interactions and how to build trust across customer experiences.
The State of the Call Summit featured more than 30 guest speakers. Highlights included:
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The future of voice – The voice call is the cornerstone of modern communications and remains one of the most trusted and taken for granted methods of communication today. In this panel discussion, Campanile Partners LLC founder and former T-Mobile senior vice president Jason Young was joined by panelists from YouMail, Accenture, and Gabb Wireless to discuss the future of the voice call, and the roadmap that needs to be charted to get there.
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The 40+ billion dollar problem: Panel discussion on the high cost of phone fraud – Approximately 1 in 5 Americans fall victim to phone scams every year - costing a staggering $40 billion each year. FICO’s Scott Schumacher, Mastercard’s Michael Friedman, and Eric Lookhoff of FLEETCOR discussed the financial implications of voice fraud — including who bears the cost of monetary losses.
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Voice fraud and the threat of generative AI – Hiya’s Chief Product Officer James Lau showed how generative AI is creating new ways for criminals to target their victims, and what the industry can do to protect consumers from these new threats.
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Consumer security and mobile apps — Panelists from YouMail, Breakout Growth Labs, and Teltech discussed some of the biggest challenges in the fight against voice spam and fraud, and how subscribers are responding.
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Call authentication for a safer voice channel — While STIR/SHAKEN and regulation has helped address part of the problem - it’s not a complete solution as robocalls and spoofing continue to present a significant threat to the integrity of the voice channel. Panelists from Gated Networks, Securelogix, and iconectiv gathered to discuss the complexities, challenges, and opportunities for improving call authentication and how TSPs, regulators, and spam analytics providers can help.
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The regulatory approach to combating fraud – Partner at Wiley Rein, Kevin Rupy, assistant vice president of external affairs at AT&T, Linda Vandeloop, and former FCC Deputy Bureau Chief Madeleine Findley and current partner at Jenner & Block was featured in a fireside chat on combating fraud as emerging technologies like voice-generated AI, imposter spoofing and other new tactics impact the security of the voice channel.
Watch the State of the Call Summit 2023 on-demand here.
Get the State of the Call Summit Special Report
Attendees at the summit received a copy of a special report prepared exclusively for the State of the Call Summit. The report highlights spam call rates in the first half of 2023 in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and worldwide. It also details the major phone scams targeting consumers in 2023. You can download a copy of the report below.
