„Password-Self-Service“: ERGO wants to hear from you

Just imagine simply using your voice to reset your ERGO login password if you forget it. What sounds like science fiction is now reality for ERGO staff. 

“In the ERGO Group, my voice is my password”

This sentence has literally been true since 1 July 2020. Staff members who record a biometric profile of their voice receive, after voluntary registration, a new and secure ERGO login password in record time if they have forgotten or misplaced their password. During registration, staff simply need to say the sentence above three times to securely store their voice profile.

Traditionally, ERGO staff who had lost or forgotten their password had to dial a central phone number for help from the User Service Center – and then go to the trouble of sending a copy of their government-issued ID or their company ID. Staff had also been able to verify their identity by correctly answering personal questions. But this was possible only within the internal network, making this alternative less of an option for people who cannot enter a valid password. This means that colleagues on a business trip could not authenticate their identity. In addition, people sometimes required a new password when the Service Center was closed.

Faster and more secure

For these reasons, ERGO began suggesting in early summer that staff use the new password self-service. Over the course of eight weeks, batches of emails were sent. All ERGO users in Germany – both within the Group and at our agents – received two emails, namely

• an email that presents and describes this new service, and
  
• an email with detailed instructions and a personalised PIN to register their voice profile via phone.

Registration and use are voluntary. If you do register, you can then immediately call a central phone line to authenticate your identity by recording a biometric profile of your voice and providing your personnel number. If you ever need a new password, you can get one anywhere, anytime, 365 days a year. And it takes just a matter of seconds. The self-service system will state a temporary password several times to ensure that staff can make a note of it. The user must then log in right away and has to specify a new personal password that replaces the temporary one.

More efficient for ERGO

The advantages of this new solution are clear: the password self-service is

• faster and easier for registered staff to use as they can reset their password by calling the central number,
  
  
• more efficient for ERGO, as a lot of calls to the User Service Center and waiting for help are no longer be necessary,
  
  
• more secure because copies of ID cards no longer need to be sent. In addition, staff can securely manage their voice profiles. Once a user has registered for this service, they can delete their voice profile at any time by calling the central phone number.