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3 Steps to Hassle-Free, Ultra-Secure Digital Identity Authentication For Financial Institutions

As a consumer, there is nothing more frustrating than calling into the same bank or credit union you’ve used for years --  maybe even all your life -- only to find you have to jump through millions of hoops to identify themselves. That frustration rises further when you finally get through that last hoop and find out the person you’re talking to can’t actually answer your question. Now, you’re transferred and may need to go through the process of identification again.

 

These bottlenecks in digital identity authentication cause an increase in consumer dissatisfaction and decrease in consumer retention and traction. But what can financial institutions do to fix it? More importantly, what can your financial institution do to better your experience, without sacrificing security?

 

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Step 1: Acknowledge the Value of a Safe, Seamless Consumer Call Center Experience

Convenience – efficient and simple processes – is vital for wooing today’s consumers, and biometrics are making it possible to increase speed and decrease friction.

When you partner with the best in biometric screening for financial institutions, your institution can reap the benefits of:

 

  • enhanced member experience or customer experience, 
  • cost-effective measures,
  • and a hybrid, comprehensive digital identity authentication engine/fraud prevention solution.

 

Seth Schaefer, President and CEO of Rivermark Community Credit Union, spoke on the value of his members using unique digital identity credentials. He said, “We found the average time savings to verify identity through our member solutions center was 60%. Along with a more seamless authentication process, which also translates into cost savings.

An enhanced experience comes from the ease of a feature like one-time easy enrollment into a unique identity credential. This credential can be reused and easily updated, allowing for your consumers to enter your call center experience with ease. They won’t need to prove themselves, because your call center employees will be able to see the consumer’s unique identity credential. In fact, your employees can even know who’s calling in before they answer the phone.

 

 

Generally, authentication took up to 90 seconds. It was a really bad way to start the conversation. So, empowering our employees to start the conversation with their best foot forward was vital,” Schaefer noted. “Changing the conversation to be, ‘Welcome to Rivermark. We already know who you are. How can we help you,’ has given us new paths forward. We can talk about things that are important to the member, as well as cross-sell and provide new solutions.

This innovation can also work across channels. Whether it’s in-person transactions, calling into your call center, chat, working with a video teller or simply using your online applications -- this digital identity authentication tool will integrate seamlessly.

 


Step 2:
Understand the Differences in Security Between Biometric Screening and Traditional Identity authentication

For financial institutions to get behind such a forward-thinking innovation, there needs to be a clear understanding of how secure biometric screening and unique identity credentials actually are. It’s also important to remember that biometrics are here to stay

With fingerprint scanning and facial recognition widely used thanks to Apple, and even voice recognition with Amazon’s Alexa, the average consumer is already used to having biometric screening as part of their daily lives. According to a Global Markets Insights study, North America, with the U.S. at the helm, will represent more than 30% of the overall biometrics industry share by 2024. 

Why are so many corporations shifting away from the traditional security metrics of asking for a consumer’s social security number or having them answer security questions? That’s simple.

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Biometric screening offers an embedded environment of advanced security layers

It’s important to note that the best way to keep biometric screening safe and secure is to have multiple points of authentication. For example, some digital identity authentication solutions employ an assortment of authentication methodologies using biometrics, cryptography, encryption techniques, and data sources to create the secure identity credential. 

At the end of the day, a user-centric approach will also give members and customers better peace of mind when visiting your organization. You’ll want to work with a digital identity authentication software that allows users to control personally identifiable information.

Artificial intelligence results in less human error

Gone are the days prone to human error when entering security information, or the not-at-all secure approach of needing to repeat, out loud -- maybe even in public -- things like their social security number. 

Integrating machine learning into biometrics presents a unique measure of security, as the biometrics can then intelligently learn the differences in human behavior between individual consumers. The biometric reader’s learning isn’t static, so the device will be able to adapt to changes in the user’s behavior over time.

This means that any drastic change in behavior for your consumers will result in additional prompts for the consumers to authenticate themselves. Having artificial intelligence and biometrics aligned in the same software could be the difference between a breach and a close call.



Step 3:
Determine the Best Strategy for Implementing Enhanced Digital Identity authentication at Your Institution

By working with partners in the financial services industry, as well as a well-rounded team of security, network, data privacy, cryptography and technology experts, implementing biometric screening can be safe and seamless for your institution. Implementation can also be hassle-free.

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One of FTSI’s newest partnerships provides financial institutions with no code and low code mobile apps, web apps and APIs for easy integration. It allows most financial institutions to integrate a biometric screening and unique digital identity authentication service into their environments in a matter of days.

Are you ready to improve your end-to-end consumer experience? Schedule a coffee break and chat with us about how we can help your institution innovate and eliminate roadblocks. Coffee is on us!

 

 

About FTSI

FTSI is the largest independent provider of custom digital and branch solutions for financial institutions. FTSI offers a full suite of solutions, including digital, hardware, software, electronic security, software professional services, project management, service maintenance, cash services, and a range of consultative services.