Identity and facial recognition. — Image courtesy of © Tim Sandle.
Many businesses are using digital identity verification as a strong fraud prevention measure and a tool to improve customer experience. Not all businesses have made the switch, and some areas remain heavily reliant on manual, paper systems.
Is digital identity adoption still lagging behind for most businesses? According to a new study from Forrester Consulting commissioned by Regula, many organizations still rely on physical documents for identity verification.
Regula commissioned Forrester Consulting to survey 226 manager-level and above decision makers responsible for their organization’s identity verification solutions, with respondents representing more than 500 employees, primarily located in Europe, North America and the Middle East.
The key findings of the survey highlight the gap between technical capabilities and actual implementation, underscoring the complex journey many businesses face when it comes to adopting digital identity.
Digital identity is an online representation of an individual and includes personal information, credentials, and attributes used to establish and authenticate identity in the digital space.
The “New Imperative: Digital ID” survey highlighted the continued need for physical identification, revealing that 46 percent of organizations still verify documents manually, even in sectors typically associated with digital advancements, such as finance.
Some businesses are automating this process (53 percent) or switching to more secure forms of user authentication such as biometrics (54 percent) or multi-factor authentication (49 percent).
A significant number of businesses (44%) use third-party services that often rely on physical documents for thorough identity verification.
There are many reasons why many industries still rely on paper systems: despite progress being made on digital identity, many barriers remain that prevent widespread adoption, including a lack of global standards, cybersecurity concerns, and technology gaps.
In the case of global standards, the lack of a common legal framework was rated as an obstacle by 74 percent of respondents. The majority of businesses would like to see global digital ID standards and legislation in place to ensure identity interoperability across borders.
How likely is it that global regulation will emerge? Differing regional views on identity and privacy (71%) and technology gaps between countries (70%) are also cited as concerns that will make it difficult to agree on these standards.
This means that although digital ID will increase, many businesses will still keep paper records, at least until a common framework is developed.
