Digital Transformation – From the Physical to the Digital User​

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Digital Transformation – From the Physical to the Digital User​

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As an enterprise digitally transforms, the connection between a user’s physical to digital identity is tenuous. How do you know that johnsmith@exampledomain.com is the John Smith that is applying for a checking account?  

In the old days, a person would go to the local branch, show a driver’s license and be off to the races. Today, most of these interactions are digital and, in fact, one analyst firm estimates that up to 80% of these transactions will use document-centric identity verification by 2022. So, same model, same goal, much different technology. 

This interaction has to be frictionless and secure and that’s why just scanning a driver’s license and snapping a selfie is not enough. 

Frictionless Security: Orchestration of Identity Verification 

Identity verification solves the link between a user’s physical and virtual identities. Employing a robust orchestration between the common factors of what a user has (phone), what a user knows (KBA) and what a user is (biometrics), establishes the connection between a user’s digital and physical identities.  

There are a million items an enterprise can verify before establishing the checking account we referenced above such as:  

  • Scan of driver’s license photo matches selfie 
  • Address and date of birth match known records 
  • Device used for MFA is owned by user in question 
  • User knows the address of every house they’ve ever lived in 

But you don’t want to overwhelm the user to verify each of those attributes or even rely on a single one. The most secure results with the least friction will involve orchestration of what factors you verify. Employing workflows to establish the correct level of trust for that specific interaction guarantees the best blend of security and friction for an organization to know exactly who their customer is. 

Employ a policy workflow that escalates the verification only if the trust isn’t established initially. Send an OTP to the phone that is being registered to verify physical ownership, then determine if the carrier data on the phone matches the name and address of the account being opened to triangulate those details. If that fails (maybe for good reason, using a friend’s phone), then prompt for knowledge based answers (KBA) from a credit bureau. If that fails, then have the user take a selfie, scan their ID and match the photo. 

This workflow-based technique will involve the least friction with the highest degree of confidence and security. Very few good actors will need manual verification and you will catch the great majority of the bad actors (lawyers won’t allow me to say all but you know what I mean)! 

A Network of Attribute Providers to Orchestrate 

The key to orchestrating all of these attributes and verification techniques is to have a network of attribute providers, no one provider has all of the data you need. Hence the orchestration, and hello AXN. ID Dataweb’s AXN offers a single interface, a single contract and a single API to access over 190 attribute providers from the credit bureaus to risk consortiums to professional validation to background checks. 

The scale and breadth of the AXN network provides flexibility in data sources and dynamic failover across providers to meet the unique needs of each application. Tailor the attribute providers to your specific use case. 

The AXN policy engine allows an enterprise to build the perfect verification flow for the security and usability needs of each customer interaction. If transactions are involved, up the security, if brand interaction is prioritized, lower the friction. The policy engine allows for this. 

Consider the lifecycle of the user, checking risk at onboarding doesn’t negate the need for ongoing verification and risk assessment through the customer’s journey. AXN’s orchestration of one time and ongoing verification ensures the security of all transactions and customer interactions now and in the future. 

As more and more customer interactions happen digitally, ensure that you know who your customer is during the first and last mile. Tie their physical identity to their digital identity, reduce friction while increasing security, and enjoy the digital transformation of your enterprise and your user.