Digital technologies are disrupting everything and Africa’s digital economy is poised to explode, with funding for Africa’s startups at a record high.
Web 3.0 and the Metaverse. Blockchain and Cryptocurrency. Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence —one technology powering the potential of the other. What we’ve seen in 2021 so far is that nothing is allowed to stay the same.
So as we expect fireworks in our digital airspace – we must ask a fundamental question.
“How do we propel a digital economy in a continent filled with digitally invisible people”?
For example, as of June 2020, only 38% of Nigerians have any form of identification.
As Africa goes into uncharted territories with decentralized finance, cybersecurity, new sets of data compliance rules, and an insatiable customer appetite, Digital Identity Verification must become a staple hold in future-forward public and private organizations.
Digital identity verification is the process of electronically capturing attributes about a person, validating those attributes, and then verifying that they belong to the real owner.
No matter what industry your business is in, there’s an increasing need to verify your customers are exactly who they say they are. Companies must carry out Know-Your-Customer (KYC) processes in line with regulations and they need to be sure the individual is real, not a ghost/bot or fraudster.
When successfully implemented, here’s how identity management remarkably solves four of the biggest challenges that Africa’s digital society faces:
- Complex Customer Onboarding Process
In the UK, a quarter of financial service applications are abandoned due to difficulties in the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) process. This figure triples in the e-commerce sector, with most users dropping off during login or payment verification.
The numbers could be a lot worse for Africa’s Impatient and more populated customer base.
It’s hard to fault companies for this. In order to comply with data regulation, it’s important that KYC and AML (Anti-money laundering) protocols are strictly followed during customer onboarding.
Unfortunately, these procedures slow down the onboarding process, and this disrupts the user experience.
Today, customers want a seamless and fast user experience. Being able to verify a customer’s identity quickly helps digitally inclined companies enable that experience with faster turnaround times.
Seamfix Identity verification software, ‘Verified’, takes care of the identity verification process better than any other manual/alternate process – as it breezes through KYC compliance with faster and safer customer onboarding.
Verified connects to the largest pool of valid ID databases, helping businesses authenticate any Valid ID in real-time while maintaining Strict Compliance To NDPR Rules And Data Security Standards.
With Seamless API Integrations, Verified was built with both developers and non-techies in mind — allowing anyone to start verifying identities with little or no coding required.
- Distrust amongst businesses and customers
Trust has become even more crucial as customers actively seek out businesses they can rely on. In an era of continual data breaches and user impersonations —running identity verification checks ignite trust in what’s becoming an unsafe online world.
Without this trust, the digital economy will lose money and speed.
African Startups need to be able to trust that their customers are who they claim to be, and this is where identity verification solutions come into play.
Not only do these solutions allow companies to save customer acquisition costs as they weed out the fakes, but they can also help them to glean market intelligence from the truth as only accurate customer data goes into the analytics.
- Identity theft and fraud
An accusation of fraud can be the end of the road for a business, regardless of its size.
As a result, organizations are leaning towards using models that incorporate identity verification to assess which users might be at high risk. They can then use this data to create authentication levels based on the risky possibilities of certain transactions.
This is becoming increasingly important as African startups and top organizations get digitized. Making sure customers are who they claim to be is a primary component in creating digital trust.
Identity Verification is a lifesaver in a world where one comment from an Instagram account can undo all an organization’s hard work.
- Administrative burden
Having staff still manually request, process and confirm ID documents in 2021 is a joke.
When verifying identities manually, there will be back-and-forth communication required over incorrectly formatted documents, wrong details, or unplanned hindrances.
With something as simple as a link created directly from the user on your website to an online ID checking service, the user can upload any information directly and correctly to the service then validation is done instantly.
Save your staff hours, reap productivity in return!
Run your online business with peace of mind and Protect your customers
The digital economy is going nowhere. We might likely continue to see fraud rates and data breaches increase as more businesses move online and go digital, so, trust must be prioritised for businesses to succeed.
Whether it’s business to business or business to consumer, digital trust and fair trade will not be possible without secure and reliable identity verification technology.
Identity is a right and not a privilege. Seamfix is proud to be a key enabler of Africa’s digital economy as we empower people and businesses to participate in the economy and access digital services with verified identities.
