Digital Transformation Process: Beyond Biometrics

By Sebastián Stranieri, VU's CEO

Digital transformation is the new star player in the fintech world. Everyone has heard of it, but they don't necessarily know what it is or what it does. In many cases, banks have implemented biometrics solutions to incorporate digital transformation into their business model. However, that is only part of the story, as the concept is much broader and should have the customer at the center to generate services that safeguard the privacy and confidentiality of users, reuse the information captured to improve the customer experience and find ways to recapture the user once they leave the process.

Something similar happens with cybersecurity, which is no longer a technological problem but has become a key business issue. That is why, in recent years, the issue has made the covers of the main media worldwide. Between 2011 and 2014, energy supply companies in Canada, the United States and Europe were affected by the Dragonfly cyberespionage group. In 2017, WannaCry and NotPetya ransomware held hostage public and private telecommunications, healthcare and logistics organizations, among others. Meanwhile, Meltdown and Spectre were the biggest cyber threats of 2018, proving that vulnerabilities are also found in hardware, not just software. According to the latest report conducted by VU Labs in more than 18 countries in Latin America and Europe, 45.3% of the participating organizations claim to have been victims of a cyberattack in the last three years.

These trends will continue to deepen in the coming years. In fact, it is estimated that by 2023, the global cybersecurity market will reach $248 billion. The same study conducted by VU Labs revealed that 73.8% of companies surveyed include cybersecurity investments in their budget, demonstrating its importance in outlining a successful strategy.

Integrating cybersecurity into digital transformation

Cybersecurity solutions are incorporated into the business strategy to:

1. Eliminate identity silos. Today, companies and their employees log into different platforms to access services. Biometrics solutions integrated within an application server and powered by behavioral analytics and machine learning, enable people to operate with a single identity anytime, anywhere and across any platform. This helps improve the user experience through frictionless processes that improve citizens' lives.
2. Generate services that protect the privacy and confidentiality of users. The identity of users is one of the most valuable assets a company has and is key to its business. Currently, many companies use biometric solutions to protect it. However, it is relevant that, given the new regulations and the nature of identity, we focus our efforts so that each person is truly the owner of their identity and that user data is protected at all times from any type of threat.
3. Reuse the information captured to improve the customer experience. Currently, it is a challenge for companies to win back users once they unsubscribe from a service and start thinking about strategies for when the services they provide are 100% digital. However, thanks to technology, it is possible to know why the person abandoned the company and many times it is possible to take the necessary measures to improve the solution and the service to attract this person again. To avoid reaching this stage, it is recommended that companies develop UX tactics that incorporate the usability of the user from the conception of the product and service, to improve the experience and significantly reduce the levels of desertion.

Cybersecurity is no longer an unknown to become a key element of any strategy to enhance the business. It can be applied in any market segment and has countless uses: from validating a user to enter a building to paying for a product at the supermarket or a bank transaction. In any case, the aim is for security systems to be infallible, secure and fast, by identifying the unique features of each person, preventing the possibility of sharing passwords, access codes or access cards. Cybersecurity is the key to safeguarding the digital identity of the citizens of the future.