Category: Global

JT’s innovative Fraud Protection Services combines data and technology in the fight against fraud and financial crime, saving businesses and their customers millions as fraudsters step up their attempts to breach accounts.

Although stricter online security measures are making it harder for criminals,  the compromise of personal and financial data remains a significant problem for many businesses as they seek to protect their customers from scams.

There has been a worldwide increase in SIM card fraud – an account take over, where control is transferred from a genuine SIM card to one controlled by criminals. To combat this JT International developed a detection service, now widely used by international banks and leading businesses in the UK and around the world,  giving them the ability to automatically check if the identity of the person attempting to make a transaction is genuine.

One bank that’s using JT’s Fraud Protection Service (FPS) says the advanced technology is preventing an estimated loss of $100,000 every time a SIM swap fraud is detected.

By working with mobile network operators around the world, JT’s Fraud Protection Services is preventing criminal gangs from targeting call centres in their attempts to steal customers’ credentials to buy goods, access bank accounts or move and transfer money.

Clare Messenger, Head of Fraud Protection Services at JT, said: “Fraud is on the rise and with people more reliant on digital and mobile phone services, criminal organisations have been quick to exploit certain weaknesses. One such weakness identified as a prime area where account takeovers can occur is within call centres, a facility that is seen in many industries. At JT we have built strong relationships with network operators globally which means we can use our unique Fraud Protection Service to check customer credentials in milli-seconds, giving our customers peace of mind that their customers are swiftly protected without any drop in customer experience – a seamless, yet reassuring service.”

Paul Taylor, Managing Director, JT International said: “JT is well known for creating innovative products and services, and for some years now we have been building up our Fraud Protection Services, becoming the ‘go to’ partner for many leading finance houses and other service providers around the world. Fraud crosses all sectors, using real-time checks can speed up the time it takes to onboard customers, identifying possible problems while fast-tracking those that have passed the checks.  Our services can also be used throughout the lifecycle of a customer, continuing to provide ongoing insight that will help combat fraud.’’

JT’s focus on customer care and customer experience (CX) during the COVID-19 pandemic shone through at a national awards event last week, where JT’s team were awarded Gold in the ‘Customer Experience in the Crisis’ category.

JT were up against strong global entries from much larger companies, like TalkTalk and Pharmacy2U. The judges decided JT’s commitment to meeting the unprecedented demand for fast and reliable connectivity to every household during the pandemic made it a worthy winner.

Daragh McDermott, Managing Director JT Channel Islands, said: “COVID-19 has challenged everyone, and our first priority was to always keep our customers connected. We were acutely aware of how reliant the whole community was on our infrastructure and services, so we worked quickly to support customers when they needed us most.  Measures like introducing free landline calls, upgrading our broadband network to 1GB/s at no extra cost and removing charging if customers went over their usage limits, were quickly put in place to ensure people stayed connected. I am really proud of how our teams have worked together and that they have been recognised in this way, as they too have found things very challenging during these extraordinary times.”

JT was also a finalist in the ‘CX in the Community’ and ‘Business Change Transformation’ categories, and also won Silver in ‘The Best Use of Insight and Feedback – Customers Voice’, beating insurance giants Vitality and broadband provider Swish Fibre.

Tamara O’Brien, Group Head of Corporate Communications, Brand & CX, added: ‘It’s fantastic to see our people’s total commitment to our customers, their colleagues and our wider community has shone through on a national stage, up against world class global companies such as TalkTalk and Pharmacy2U.

Our people were incredibly swift to adapt our services based on what our customers needed and to use the customer insight and data we had to help us support them.  This recognition underlines how important continuing to listen to our customers and evolving the service and experience we provide is.”

To see all the winners see : https://cxa.co.uk/winners-and-finalists-2021

Keeping customers at the very heart of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic has put JT in the running for more National awards for outstanding customer experience from its teams.  JT’s customer commitment shone through with the company reaching the finals in four categories at the leading UK Customer Experience Awards. This follows similar success last month where JT’s teams are finalists at the International Digital Experience Awards.

JT’s priority throughout its 130 history as the Channel Islands only locally owned telecoms company, has been to keep customers connected while providing a world-class customer experience. Never more so than during the Coronavirus Pandemic, when the demand for fast, reliable, connectivity to every household was unprecedented.  It became vital to ensure every islander could continue to work, learn and stay connected from home, online and equally receive the support from JT when they needed it.

That was recognised in two of the categories the company has been shortlisted for – ‘Customer Experience in the Crisis’ and ‘CX in the Community’ – where it will face competition from leading national brands TalkTalk, the Co-op and LV. JT is also shortlisted in ‘The Best Use of Insight and Feedback’ and ‘Business change and transformation’ categories.

Daragh McDermott, Managing Director JT Channel Islands, said: “ COVID-19  created a global humanitarian and economic crisis which brought challenges for every business in every sector and for our island as a whole.  For JT that meant swiftly combining our expertise and ability to adapt, with our passion for and dedication to excellent customer service. Like so many others, our teams showed immense courage and strength, coming to work every day even if it was from the spare room or the kitchen table – they did it with smiles on their faces and a commitment above all to serve others and make sure our customers stayed connected. We are nothing without the people that make up JT, these dedicated teams are the guardians of the islands critical infrastructure, and this is recognition of that service.”

Tamara O’Brien, Group Head of Corporate Communications, Brand & CX, added: “We’ve always dedicated ourselves to reviewing and analysing how we do things, it’s how we learn, grow and improve. During the pandemic customer enquiries increased by more than 350%, and with that came invaluable feedback and opportunities for us to adapt how we supported our customers better and faster and across the channels they needed us most. From this insight we very quickly adapted our customer experience efforts to meet customers’ primary needs, which were safety, security, and everyday convenience. Our teams rose to whatever challenge came their way, adapted to providing a faster and more digital service and I am so pleased that their efforts are being recognised on a national stage.’’

The winners of all categories are due to be announced in October after a rigorous judging and presentation process: https://cxa.co.uk

After nearly 12 years as CEO, the Board of JT has agreed that Graeme Millar will step down as JT Group CEO. He will remain in Jersey, to head-up its recently sold Internet of Things (IoT) business.

John Diamond, who has been with JT for 11 years – most recently in Australia where he is Senior Vice-President, Asia Pacific – will act as Interim CEO of the JT Group, while a recruitment process for a permanent replacement is carried out.

Phil Male, JT Chair, said “I would like to thank Graeme for the passion and devotion to JT he has shown over the years and the work he has done to transform JT into one of the planet’s most innovative and commercially astute telcos. This has been achieved whilst retaining the company culture that aims to truly support and serve our customers. Whilst both Gigabit Jersey and our international growth have been major successes during Graeme’s time in office, I am most proud of the way that he lead JT to support our communities when Covid hit.

“I know that Graeme will work closely with John Diamond who has for many years been part of our CEO succession plans. John will arrive in Jersey, later this week to take up the position of Interim Group CEO, working with Graeme for a few weeks to ensure a smooth transition. In July the Board will launch the process to select a new permanent CEO.”

Graeme Millar added: “It has been the greatest honour of my lifetime to lead JT, but with Gigabit Jersey complete; a successful sale of our world beating IoT business and our Covid support efforts starting to wind down it is the right time for JT to select a new leader for the next decade. I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead the next phase of growth of JT IoT and especially pleased that this will allow me to continue to live in Jersey.

“I would like to thank all of my colleagues at JT that have made the last 12 years so enjoyable and successful. Finally, special thanks to the three Chairmen that I have served under: John Boothman, John Stares and Phil Male, without whose guidance and support I would have achieved so much less.”

St. Helier, Jersey: JT Group has today published its Progress Report for 2020, describing a strong year for its core business.

Overall, the Group’s Financial Statements detail an increase in profit before tax of 17% on 2019, at £4.7m – JT was also able to maintain a healthy dividend to its shareholder, the Government of Jersey, of £6m (2019: £7m).

The strong performance of the Group’s core activities meant that the cash generated by the business increased by 30% on 2019, and the level of net debt reduced by 41%.

Total Group revenues fell by 13% as a result of a one-off strategic decision to exit Voice Trading business, but that had little impact on profits, as it was low margin.

The Progress Report also explains how JT played its part in supporting islanders to cope with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by doubling broadband speeds to 1Gb/s at no extra cost to support people working at home, providing free local landline calls to its customers, and suspending charges for both late payments, and exceeding agreed data limits.

In addition, the Report details the success of the Group’s Internet of Things (IoT) division which was created by JT in 2014 and has doubled in size every year for the last 3 years. It provides device connectivity solutions to customers across the world.

JT Group Chairman, Phil Male, commented: “Clearly, 2020 needs to be seen through the frame of COVID-19, and in the light of what many people experienced in that year. JT played its part to support the community in any way it could, perhaps notably by doubling broadband speeds to help islanders to work from home. I would like to thank our people who pulled together brilliantly under some really tough circumstances to make that happen quickly, and with the minimum of disruption – I know I speak for the whole leadership team when I say how very proud we are of them all. 2020 was a year when we were all tested – but JT has come through it strongly and is very well set-up to continue supporting the islands as we go forward.”

Graeme Millar, JT Group CEO, added: “2020 was a year when our whole community faced considerable challenges, and I would like to echo Phil’s comments about how well the JT team pulled together in the face of such tough circumstances.

From a trading point of view, it was a very solid performance. We had to contend with the negative effects of Brexit, the pandemic and general volatility in global markets. But we took a prudent approach to those challenges, protected our core business and looked to focus on new opportunities for growth. That core businesses performed very well indeed, and proved how resilient the JT Group is. And we see excellent future opportunities both for our Internet of Things division, but also for Fraud Protection Services, and for our international business generally. Closer to home we enabled the cultural shift to working-from-home, something which demonstrated the deep capability of our network; we will continue to invest in that to make sure the islands have the essential infrastructure they need to prosper.”

ENDS

You can read JT’s Progress Report 2020/21 and Financial Statements here >