Melissa UK Team | 2022, Digital Identity Verification, ID Document Verification, Identity Verification

The first benefit of ID document verification is being able to verify a customer’s physical ID in real-time digitally. This enables organisations to authenticate that a person is who they say they are, from any remote location. This removes the need for timely manual checks where a staff member would have to check the ID and match it against that person physically, which is often a waste of resources.

This leads us to our second benefit, that ID document verification speeds up the customer onboarding process. Implementing digital ID document verification adds a new element of convenience to any organisation. As we continue to move forward toward an online approach this service future proofs businesses, being able to verify and onboard customers in a matter of seconds.

The third benefit is all about the KYC factor, nowadays fraudulent activity is posing a massive threat toward organisations and knowing who you are doing business with has become a crucial element in today’s world. ID document verification can add serval layers of verification to give a business a 360 view of their customers when engaging in their onboarding process. This is particularly important to organisations that regularly deal with high-value transactions such as banks, financial institutions, and governmental counterparts. Organisations like these need to know the absolute certainty of who they are doing business with when reviewing and verifying such account applications.

ID document verification can also be utilised in gaining more confidence in an individual’s identity rather than using it for KYC and anti-fraud initiatives. For example, Workplace onboarding; as more companies transition to hybrid work environments, a person could apply for a job, have an interview, and be accepted into that position then begin work without ever meeting their new employer. Organisations could turn to ID document verification to remotely identify this person before granting them access to their systems and assets.

The fourth benefit is all about technology, and using the latest to streamline those KYC initiatives, all in a 3 step process. The first is simply taking a photo of an official document like a driving licence, passport, or bank statement. Machine Readable Technology (MRZ) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) are used to extract crucial information from any ID document.

The second stage is comparing this to selfie-taking on a mobile phone which the service will use the power of biometrics to determine a match. Biometrics used in ID document verification can determine over 80 facial features to distinguish changes in someone’s face, hair, makeup, age etc.

The third stage is a liveness check where a person is asked to do various facial movements over a video to distinguish eye movement and other facial rotations, this simply adds that extra layer of verification to ensure that there is no tampering with the selfie presented. This is a common problem nowadays where fraudsters may attempt to hold up a photo of someone instead of a real-time photo to bypass KYC processes.

Find out more about how ID document verification works here

At times, businesses may want to add even more steps for added security like address verification and checking their data against third-party data sources. This is handy for businesses selling age-restricted products and services such as tobacco retailers or simply want proof of address.

The fifth benefit is the use of Artificial technology, while this may just be an addon to the latest technology advantage, it’s set to make a big shift in the ID space. It currently plays an important role in delivering automated KYC and AML compliance embedded within the stages of ID document verification in both onboarding and retrospective ID investigation. This is also known as semantic technology. Giving machine reasoning and automated pattern recognition to help identify possible fraudulent applicants in real-time. Also, semantic technology makes it possible to apply context and make an inference with data, ensuring properly validated identities as well as broader data quality and integrity.

Finally, the last benefit is gaining trust from your customers and users on your platform, delivering a standout experience will only give positive outcomes and show customers that your process is secure.