UK’s On-Demand Culture – Building Trust & Security with Digital ID Verification

People across the world are spending more time on the internet ever since the pandemic struck the world. The COVID-accelerated internet penetration rate in the United Kingdom is significantly higher this year. Research reveals that Britons spend 3.5 hours on their smartphones on average which was just an hour before the pandemic. The surprising fact is, the number for people who live and work through commerce developments is much higher. The digital surge, however, has resulted in a plethora of questions for the regulatory bodies and digital service providers, trust and security being the top concerns. 

How to keep Britons safe in the digital world? Let’s find out. 

The Digital ID Surge and On-demand Culture in UK

Some intended and some unforeseen, the proliferation of digital products and services for the end-users in the digital world has a wide array of effects. With multiple choices available for customers, a one-time negative experience is just enough for them to switch to competitors. 

With reference to the frequently increasing on-demand culture in the United Kingdom, consumers have high expectations from digital identity verification systems during the onboarding process, giving businesses a chance to devise the perfect strategy. People need an ID verification system that is fast, reliable and accessible. 

Suggested Read: Industries that Need Digital Identity Verification and Why? 

Building Trust and Security 

According to McKinsey, digital identities can unlock economic value equivalent to 3 – 13% of GDP. As more people are functioning digitally, public and private stakeholders have an increased responsibility to ensure security, reliability and safety of the use of the internet. 

One way of doing so is employing all possible cybersecurity measures like identity verification, two-factor authentication, biometric authentication, and anti-money laundering (AML) screening. 

Achieving the On-demand Compliance 

About 85% of the UK’s population has access to the internet via a smartphone and identity verification systems that are available both on web and mobiles will be considered on-demand compliant. In case the system is not accessible on their desired device, it will hardly take a second for users to switch brands. Digital identity solutions that fall short of the on-demand culture risk losing customers who will ultimately claim poor customer experience. In simpler words, businesses need an omni-channel identity verification system to effectively comply with the UK’s on-demand culture.  

Suggested Read: Online Identity Verification – The Hallmark of Surviving the Digital Upheaval 

Cutting Ties with Fraud in the Digital World 

Financial crimes like money laundering are on the rise in the digital world where virtual identities are taken for granted. 

The cybersecurity threats for businesses in 2021 predicted replay attacks, synthetic identity fraud, deepfakes to significantly increase. Digital ID solutions that are accessible, easy to use, and accurate will definitely change the regime in the UK. The ideal digital identity verification solution must combine national identity documents with biometrics to facilitate the on-demand identity verification requirement. 

Recommended:  5 Types of ID Fraud Skyrocketed in the First Half of 2021 

This will effectively fight ID frauds and other financial crimes to create a secure environment so that Britons can trust the digital economy. 

UK Government’s Stance on Digital IDs

The new draft framework for digital IDs by the UK government discussed new rules about digital identity applications and how individuals verify their ID online. The draft highlights principles, standards, policies, and procedures that regulate the use of digital ID. As the document says “Digital IDs are not the government-issued ID cards.” In addition to this, the law making body elaborated how the information will be shared with public and private companies. 

As per the draft, digital ID will have a combination of attributes and some of these attributes could be:

• The number of children someone has
• Someone’s bank account number
• Someone’s National Insurance number
• Someone’s NHS number
• The number of people that work for a company
• A Companies House company number
• That someone is over 18

The document further mentioned that these attributes will not only help in constituting digital identities, but they will also help in seamless identity verification. The ID verification service providers have to create a digital identity, manage the accounts created with the organisation (suspend, close and recover accounts when needed). Moreover, these solutions should treat all individuals equally, or in other words, the ID verification system should keep AI bias out of the game. 

Recommended: Keeping AI Bias Out of the IDV Game with Shufti 

User-centric Approach

Apart from authenticity and reliability of the digital identity verification system, it must be easy to use since it’s all about the end-user now. Henceforth, a user-centric approach to develop the solution is essential. The good news is Shufti offers a customer-driven digital ID verification solution with a market-leading accuracy rate of 98.67%. Moreover, our globally acclaimed services have helped more than 500 businesses in fighting fraud, that too in just three years. In addition to this, our omni-channel solution verifies in 150+ languages supporting more than 3000 ID document types. 

Suggested: 10 Reasons Why Businesses Should Choose Shufti 

Key Takeaways

Digital adoption has significantly increased thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. The excessive use of online services has given rise to an on-demand culture and consumers expect frictionless solutions from all companies. From online banking applications to the digital identity verification system, convenience is what the end-user expects. 

Shufti’s digital identity verification solution is what businesses need right now to effortlessly onboard legitimate customers. To know more about the solution, talk to our experts.