It’s a constant hassle to determine how to strike a proper balance between customer privacy and supplier risk control. An over cautious privacy focus may lead to unwanted transactions, while too strict risk controls will likely reduce transactions.
For instance, you want to rent out your car for the weekend. An apparently nice couple responds to your advert. Will you hand over your keys and trust all will be fine? Or will you first do a background check, based on the names you have been given? Probably you will do some research, although there’s no certainty that you’ll be doing it on the actual people that want to rent your car. The names provided may not be unique, nor true. On the other hand, how would you feel, as an honest and careful person, when your background is being checked without any assurance that this is done correctly? I wouldn’t be comfortable with that. Luckily there is a smooth way to manoeuvre through all this.
Imagine someone expressing interest to rent your car. All you may want to know is whether this person has a valid driving licence and that, in case something goes wrong, you know how to contact him. Preferably this information is handed to you by the renter in such a trustworthy way, that you don’t have to do any investigations yourself. For the renter this is a clear, controlled, and limited flow of information. If the renter doesn’t agree to hand over this information, his identity remains unknown to you. And you will likely not rent out your car to him.
In order to perform this transaction in a high-privacy, low-risk manner the renter needs to have a (one) trusted online identity account through which data from verified sources can be accessed. At the centre of this lies a verified ID document of the account holder. After performing Mitek’s Mobile Verify process, the verified data are stored in the user’s online account, secure and unchangeable. This is the start for providing evidence for all sorts of eligibilities. With these data, the account holder can unlock data in verified sources elsewhere. For a check on the validity of the driving licence a link would be made to a register of drivers who have their license suspended. If your renter is not in there, it is safe to assume he’s OK to drive your car. And, as said, the renter explicitly consents to use his data to access the ‘suspended drivers’ register. There’s no need to go behind his back, which is not only a customer friendly approach, but also compliant with Europe’s new privacy regulation GDPR.
Trust, the top indicator for good business
Enabling customers to use verified personal data increases the level of trust for each party in online transactions. And trust has always been the top indicator for good business. Plus, suppliers who show they care for their customers’ privacy will be among the most trusted.
Benefits of online identity verification
To summarize, here are the key benefits of online identity verification, both for customers and businesses:
For the customer / renter:
- Easy and fast high-value transactions, fully online
- Control what data is shared with others
- Minimise the amount of data shared
- Know and consent to what the recipient does with his data
- Verify an ID document only once
For the supplier / car owner:
- Provide frictionless transactions which improve the customer experience
- Be assured of the validity of data you receive
- Minimize the amount of data you receive, and need to keep safe
- Be transparent on what you do with the data received, and have consent for that
- The least possible effort for a risk-reduced transaction
At JanusID we are happy to be partnering with Mitek, and previously IDchecker, to ensure these benefits are to be realized for all types of transactions, anywhere in the world.
JanusID is a European, comprehensive provider of Online Identities designed for privacy, trust and security in B-to-C and C-to-C transactions.
About Irwin M.N. Oedayrajsingh Varma, initiator and CEO, JanusID
Irwin M.N. Oedayrajsingh Varma is the initiator and CEO of JanusID. He has extensive experience in diverse areas, both public and commercial, and with his open and multi-disciplinary approach manages to achieve original and lasting results. Currently Irwin also acts as GDPR manager for Dutch Railways (NS Group).