Bytes Systems Integration launches biometrics-as-a-service solution

South African IT services provider Bytes Systems Integration has launched cloud-based biometric solution BioVault, according to a report by IT Web.

Bytes developed and hosts the new cloud biometric service, which enables financial services providers to access biometrics without the risk of an upfront capital investment, according to Nick Perkins, divisional director of identity management at Bytes.

BioVault allows companies to rent devices for capturing biometric data, as well as demographic information, a photograph, a signature and relevant documentation — all of which is encrypted and stored centrally in Bytes’ South African data centers.

Once the user is enrolled in the BioVault, the information can be used to facilitate further financial transactions with the same person because it is securely linked to his or her biometrics.

“Biometrics offer the best way to identify people safely and help reduce fraud,” said Perkins. “But a fully-fledged biometric solution represents a sizable upfront capital investment, the risk of choosing the wrong technology and the burden of ongoing maintenance and support. BioVault provides a compelling alternative because it offers a ready-made solution that can be implemented fast, and paid for on a consumption basis, as a purely operational (rather than capital) expense. Most CFOs prefer incurring operational rather than capital expenses.”

The cloud biometric solution enables retailers and telecommunications providers, as well as companies in other sectors to link to the Home Affairs National Identification System (HANIS).

BioVault allows organizations to overcome the challenges of capital expense and management time with a fully biometric solution as a service, which Perkins referred to as “essentially an electronic safety deposit box containing all the information a company holds on an individual.”

“Incorporating the biometric devices in a hardware as a service approach further facilitates the ability to ease the impact of capital outlay in favour of a managed services operational expenditure model that suits most financial officers,” Perkins added.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  biometrics-as-a-service  |  Bytes  |  financial services  |  South Africa