Embracing the human pillars of digital trust in an ‘Authentaverse’

Rapidly evolving technologies are laying the foundations for a new era of seamless digital service provision, where end-users will be automatically recognised, precluding the need to repeatedly enter personal information and passwords. 

The most sought-after and valuable currency in this new ‘Authentaverse’ ecosystem – as outlined in a report from LexisNexis Risk Solutions and The Future Laboratory – will be strong, assured digital trust. The race is now on for banks to establish the frameworks upon which this digital trust infrastructure will sit, and that will help realise the full potential of a quicker, more seamless era of user authentication.

A new era of authentication

An Authentaverse could represent a positive tipping point both for society, and the organisations that serve it. Recent years have seen consumers increasingly embrace more seamless ways of self-identification, from fingerprint recognition to voice and facial recognition. Society is fast-moving away from a time where passwords and passcodes alone are the dominant mechanism for proving who you are. These are progressive signs that people are increasingly comfortable with technology taking a more leading, self-governing role in our online experience processes. Soon the day will come when we won’t need to repeatedly click, swipe or fill-in forms when managing our money. 

This is great news for consumers. Loan and credit applications, for example, will become much quicker and easier, without any regulatory or risk compromise for lenders. Credit checks will still take place to satisfy risk criteria, and the full scope of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) due diligence will mitigate threats of fraud and financial crime. The difference will be a notable lack of apparency in these processes. Accelerated verification and authentication will be both invisible and instant to the end user. In the near future, customers may well have an application accepted and suddenly realise they gave no personal details. Fewer pain points for consumers also equals less time and resource-intensive support from organisations.

Digital trust will be the heartbeat of this new era of authentication, an Authentaverse, and will require service providers to have knowledge and understanding of how to build trustworthiness with their customer base. Policies and processes will be important, but are essentially hygiene factors that will only go so far in convincing customers. 

Proper two-way, genuine – human – trust is built on mutual respect and understanding. Businesses embarking on digital trust strategies must aim to understand and embrace the four human pillars of trust through every touchpoint in their customer journey: Empowerment, protection, understanding, and respect.

Empowerment helps to build consumer confidence. It avoids blinding individuals with jargon and complex information that can create confusion, concern, and cynicism. Instead, consumers better understand how their data is shared, collected, and stored, and why it is important for helping protect their interests. Education is crucial for empowering consumers and is something that organisations can achieve through small steps. For example, inviting customers to ask questions about how personal information is used and shared, can tackle myths head-on. 

Protection must evolve to prioritise access for true customers, rather than being all about stopping criminal access. There’s no doubt it’s hugely important to address the threats of fraud and financial crime but this must not come at a cost to the convenience and requirements of genuine individuals. If they are frustrated by levels of protection, they will seek out service providers who better understand what matters to them – or those with quicker, but weaker controls. Technology is fast-evolving, and banks are best-placed investing in necessary authentication methods that customers don’t find invasive. 

Understanding is all about a change in mind-set. Organisations must think about humans first, when they are looking at personal information and remember there’s a real person behind each data point. This dilutes the cold, commercial approach to data and can develop a much deeper, richer comprehension of target customers. An audience’s needs and motivations can be contextualised, so that products and services can be adjusted to suit their habits and demands. The value of ‘understanding’ will become paramount as digital experiences become ever more persuasive.

Respect is all about setting up a more equal value exchange with users, and ensuring they retain power and control over their data. Where customers see the benefits of sharing and keeping their personal data current, it has the potential to benefit everyone. Banks could explore how to build data collection or privacy processes overtly into the customer experience, which will help build trust. Open and consumer-controlled data models can reduce fraud and financial crime through real-time device and transactional data building.   

To find out more about the solutions that can embrace the human pillars of digital trust, contact LexisNexis Risk Solutions: [email protected]

Or click here to download the free report; The Future of Trust: Authentaverse.