First half 2020 results for ID R&D show biometric authentication reaching mainstream

A combination of factors have driven ID R&D to three times more customer signups in the second quarter of its fiscal 2020 year than the same quarter in 2019, and the company has doubled its staff to deal with the demand.

In a post to the company website, ID R&D reflects on the first half of 2020, saying it represented a break-through for ID R&D, and a possible tipping point for the industry more broadly.

The impact of COVID, with people and businesses requiring touchless access, secure remote authentication, and a dramatic increase in digital onboarding, has created new demand for biometrics. Passwords remain problematic, both in terms of security breaches and management expenses, while improvements in the accuracy of face and voice biometrics, along with the development of liveness detection for spoof prevention, have bolstered the technology’s value as a replacement for passwords. Finally, consumer familiarity and comfort with biometrics is increasing. ID R&D notes that Mercator recently estimated 41 percent of smartphone owners now use biometrics, a 50 percent increase from 27 percent a year ago.

ID R&D is hiring new members in different locations to build out its sales and partnership activities.

Sales for the company this year have included many new customers seeking to add its passive facial liveness, which was recently explained in a white paper, to active projects. ID R&D also sees voice biometrics applications broadening, and launched a contact center solution specifically to meet demand for fraud prevention among Telcos.

Inquiries into ID R&D’s passive facial liveness, voice biometrics, and voice anti-spoofing technologies continue apace, suggesting that the bump is not just a temporary one in reaction to the pandemic’s disruption. The company sees its inclusion on FinTech Global’s CyberTech100 and success tackling the looming problem of deepfakes as signs of biometrics ongoing importance in the security realm.

Article Topics

access control  |  biometric enrollment  |  biometrics  |  consumer adoption  |  contactless biometrics  |  financial results  |  ID R&D  |  passive facial liveness  |  remote authentication