What Is STIR/SHAKEN & How Does It Help Businesses?
A survey conducted by communications platform company Ooma, Inc. found that 84 percent of businesses get robocalls every day.
Out of the total respondents of 500 business owners and managers, 54 percent of them received five or more per day. The average cost was USD 9.46 per call. The worst part is more than three quarters of the respondents said that they had to pick up the phone every time it rang as they didn’t want to risk missing a customer call.
Another study by Juniper Research projected the total losses to fraudulent robocalling globally will jump from USD 64 billion in 2023 to USD 76 billion in 2024. The Juniper study, however, predicted the losses to robocalling will reduce steadily from 2026 due to STIR/SHAKEN protocol, which is extremely effective at blocking illegal robocalls and preventing caller id spoofing.
In this blog post, we will discuss the STIR/SHAKEN protocol in brief details and how it benefits businesses across all sectors. If you are interested to know more about the framework and how beneficial it can be for your business, we have got you covered. Read on and thank us later.
What Is STIR/SHAKEN?
“Shaken, not stirred.” This iconic line is familiar to all who have watched a James Bond movie. But what has it got to do with the telecommunications industry and contemporary businesses?
As it turns out, a lot, in fact. STIR/SHAKEN is the acronym for Secure Telephone Identity Revisited/Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs.
Its foundation was laid by Greek-American inventor Ted Paraskevakos. In 1968, he devised the idea of devices similar to modems that would send and receive information over normal voice lines.
The protocol evolved to become a call authentication framework, which can detect caller id spoofing, scam calls, fraudulent calls, and malicious robocalls. It has helped innumerable businesses combat caller id spoofing.
Let’s discuss the various ways the STIR/SHAKEN framework helps businesses.
How STIR/SHAKEN Framework Helps Contemporary Businesses?
The STIR/SHAKEN framework has proven to be a boon for those businesses that used to receive several robocalls every day. As mentioned by Juniper Research, the STIR/SHAKEN protocol will reduce the menace of robocalls steadily in the near future. For any business consultant or organization looking to streamline communication, this protocol offers significant advantages. Let’s take a look at the major benefits of the protocol for modern businesses.
1. Reduction in Spammy and Scammy Robocalls
Be it spam calls, scam calls, fraudulent calls, malicious calls, or caller id spoofing, STIR/SHAKEN protocol can detect and block all of those. A report published in 2023 found illegal robocalls from the top seven carriers dropped by two percent on a y-o-y basis. It can also steadily reduce the instances of spoofed caller ids.
2. Authentication of Callers’ Identity
The attestation mechanism (both gateway attestation and partial attestation) of STIR/SHAKEN protocol authenticates originating caller’s identity by matching the displayed information with the actual number. For instance, a data found, in August 2024, 31.3 percent of calls signed with A-level attestation, 3.8 percent were signed with B-level attestation, and 11.1 percent signed with C-level attestation.
3. Elimination of Costly and Irreversible Mistakes
Implementing the STIR/SHAKEN protocol doesn’t cost a lot of money. But it surely can help businesses eliminate costly and irreversible damages. When businesses use the protocol they can be assured of legitimate calls, secure handling, signature based handling, and combat caller id spoofing. Undoubtedly, the authentication service and verification service returns on investment is massive.
4. Increased Trustworthiness of Incoming Calls
Just imagine a situation where a business regularly receives scam, spam, and malicious calls from spoofed caller ids. What would be the atmosphere every time the phone rings? The STIR/SHAKEN protocol eliminates distrust and apprehension. It enhances the trustworthiness of each and every incoming call.
5. Higher Call Answer Rates
When businesses receive legitimate calls only, the number of answer calls automatically goes up. The STIR/SHAKEN protocol allows the incoming phone calls solely after verifying the originating caller’s identity and calling numbers. That means the genuine calls are not missed because of the fear of illegal and malicious robocalls.
6. Compliance with Regulations
The STIR/SHAKEN protocol empowers telephone service providers and all other service providers in the telecommunications industry to comply with regulatory and legal requirements of all regulatory bodies including that of Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and more.
7. No More Number Spoofing
Caller id spoofing has been a major concern for many businesses. The growth in STIR/SHAKEN coverage plays a huge role in combating and preventing caller id spoofing. A study found the coverage of STIR/SHAKEN increased by 6.8 percent—the largest increase in three years. This can be extremely effective to combat spoofed caller ids.
8. Secure Customer Communication
Would it be surprising to know that the STIR/SHAKEN protocol can secure telephony identity and enhance security? Of course not. With encrypted digital certificates, digital signatures and public certificate repository, STIR/SHAKEN ensures secure handling of calls. By doing so it ensures that no business loses money or their customers’ data to scammers and malicious actors.
9. Higher Customer Trust
The STIR/SHAKEN protocol not only empowers businesses to prevent malicious and dubious robocalls, it does the same for customers. A YouMail Robocall Index study found in August 2024 alone U.S. customers received about 4.5 billion robocalls. It translated to 143.8 million robocalls per day. In terms of seconds, it’s 1,664 robocalls per second.
10. Enhanced Brand Reputation
More legitimate calls from businesses and low (or zero) instances of illegal robocalls means more trust from customers. More trust means greater brand reputation. Businesses that invest in STIR/SHAKEN protocol secure telephony identity. That can go a long way in enhancing their brand reputation.
All Said and Done,
Since its introduction, the STIR/SHAKEN protocol has proven to be immensely valuable for contemporary businesses. It’s one of the most important innovations in the telecommunications industry.
The protocol has not only empowered organizations to avoid illegal robocalls it also prevents billions of people around the world from falling into the traps of scammers and malicious individuals.
All businesses must consider implementation of the STIR/SHAKEN protocol in their communication systems. If you are considering implementing the STIR/SHAKEN framework in your business communication system, you must do your research and choose the right solution provider in the extremely competitive market.
