5 reasons to automate your customer verification process

Biometrics Team • 9 December 2022

Customer verification is one of the most important challenges facing today’s businesses. With fraudulent activity and data breaches occurring more than ever, it’s important to know that your customers are who they say they are. But by automating your customer service verification process, businesses can gain much more than enhanced data security. Read on to discover the top five reasons why it’s time to automate your customer verification process.

What is customer verification?

Customer verification is the process of ensuring that your customers are who they say they are. There are many reasons that a business might need this information, from preventing underage purchasing of age-restricted goods, like alcohol, to protecting your customers against credit card fraud. Automating the process can take a variety of forms, including two-factor authentication, identity verification software, or biometric technology.

But what are the benefits of automating your customer verification process?

The customer comes first

We know that customer experience is vital when it comes to your business, and upgrading to an automated customer verification system can be a great way of enhancing their experience. With biometric technology, customers can be identified and approved in seconds - eliminating waiting times and maintaining customer satisfaction.

Our biometric range uses local processing embedded in the hardware, so the entire interaction is as swift as possible. You can find out more here.

Safe and responsible

It’s not just your business that can benefit from enhanced customer verification. Identity theft is a real issue and it’s your responsibility to help minimise risk for your customers. And with fake IDs accounting for almost a third (29%) of all false documents uncovered in 2021, it’s particularly important to ensure that younger customers are safe and kept from dangerous or age restricted products.

For these reasons, customer verification is more than a business decision - it’s a social responsibility. Investing in biometric solutions like ICU Lite and MyCheckr can help ensure you’re doing your bit to keep your customers safe.

Happy employees

It can be taxing for employees to manually verify your customers - especially as your business grows and the volume of customers increases. Automating the process, therefore, is a great way to relieve pressures on your employees. The automated technology removes the concern around customers growing hostile at being challenged, as well as reducing the risk of human error. Plus, less time spent analysing ID cards means more time spent on other aspects of their roles, which could increase efficiencies in your workforce.

Still prefer to have a human opinion? With products like MyCheckr, you can get the best of both worlds. MyCheckr uses facial analysis technology to provide an anonymous age estimation, which then alerts your employee as to whether a manual check is recommended based on the findings.

Adherence to regulatory requirements

Each industry has its own wealth of legally-enforced requirements to follow, but this is especially true when providing goods and services to consumers. Legal age limits and Trading Standards on the buying of products like alcohol or tobacco, as well as the use of slot machines and other gambling services, are strictly monitored and come with hefty penalties for businesses caught breaking the rules.

With automated customer verification systems, you can add another level of accuracy to your age checks. Biometric analysis technology is proven to be highly effective in estimating age, helping you to be sure that your age-restricted items aren’t falling into the wrong hands.

Our age estimation biometric solutions, such as ICU Lite, have all been independently tested by the Age Check Certification Scheme (ACCS). The plug-in device is proven to be highly accurate, with an average underestimation of just 0.19 years - so you can sell age-restricted items with confidence.

Protected data as a priority

In 2021 alone, more than 5bn data records were breached by hackers and data thieves. Data protection is a top concern for businesses and consumers alike, so it’s important to know that your customers are who they say they are - and their data isn’t at risk.

This can be a concern when using biometric verification solutions, as the data used for facial analysis could be a target for thieves. That’s why it’s important to research the solution you use and ensure it has a robust data protection plan in place. For example, the biometric solutions from Innovative Technology use our own algorithms that are not publicly available, eliminating the possibility of hackers accessing the information and leaking the data. You can find out more about our privacy policy and data protection here.

We know that upgrading to an automated customer verification process can feel like a big job, but it doesn’t have to be. The Innovative Technology biometrics range features simple, easy-to-operate devices that you can start using straight away, without compromising on quality or accuracy. So, isn’t it time you went automatic?

Find out more about our biometrics range or get in touch with our expert team to learn more.

TrustID, 2022.
IT Governance, 2022.

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