Jumio makes ‘huge orbital jump’ from biometric ID verification to orchestration

End-to-end orchestration capabilities have been added to Jumio’s KYX Platform to provide businesses with flexible digital identity management and fraud protection throughout the customer lifecycle, underpinned by the company’s core government ID document and selfie biometric checks.
The KYX Platform now features a complete suite of digital identity and fraud risk detection tools, including risk analysis for the end-user’s device, email address, and other data points, offered as a multi-layered, configurable orchestration solution.
Jumio Chief Product Officer Bala Kumar tells Biometric Update that up to this point, transactions for ID proofing have come to Jumio when customers are carrying out compliance checks or step-up authentication. With the orchestration capability, Jumio handles consumer identity and fraud risk from the start of the onboarding process throughout the entire customer lifecycle, including ongoing monitoring.
“What we want to do is be at the front door,” Kumar explains. “So it is not just our core ID verification capabilities and the biometric checks, we have now integrated additional KYC checks, device checks, fraud list checks, email list checks et cetera. We can essentially replace all the vendors in the ecosystem.”
The change, according to Kumar, represents “a huge orbital jump for Jumio,” from ID verification to the orchestration space.
Jumio is still focusing its efforts on its core biometric identity verification technology, but has partnered with what Kumar says are best-in-class service providers to offer any other capabilities needed around that IDV core for a variety of different workflows.
“Our orchestration layer essentially is connecting to all these different vendors, we do the risk checks across all of them, we bring it all together, and we look at the overall risk for the transaction,” Kumar states.
The various checks generate a single risk score and deliver a decision back to the customer. Customers are typically working with anywhere from five or six to “a dozen plus vendors,” according to Kumar, which creates operational challenges in terms of signing contracts and integrating technologies, but still fails to deliver the full potential benefit.
“They are not getting the holistic view of the consumer,” Kumar contends. “They’re getting bits and pieces from all these different sources, and the customer has to do the heavy lifting of stitching all of these pieces together.”
Flexible implementation
With its configurable end-to-end orchestration platform, Kumar says Jumio is giving businesses the tools to ensure that the friction of selfie biometric authentication is only introduced when it is needed to prevent fraud.
This is not only different for different industries and organizations, he points out, but even for different divisions within the same business.
Some want to know the risk associated with the device and email, then perform step up authentication as necessary, while another may want to start with authentication before or without asking for an email address. They may also want to change over time, which Jumio’s orchestration platform allows with no coding, Kumar says.
“A configuration specialist on our end can essentially move the blocks around, and establish the workflow in real-time.”
Kumar acknowledges that Jumio is not the first player in the orchestration space, but he sees both strong customer demand and differentiation for his company’s offering.
Several years ago, he says, pricing was a challenge for fraud prevention, but the cost of data sources has declined. Now, he says, fraud expertise and a unified view of the workflow and users are important. Reducing integration points by providing the full complement of tools through one API is a key selling feature.
Kumar compares the platform’s modular architecture approach to Lego bricks, moved around and snapped into place based on configurable risk thresholds.
An early preview of the platform’s case review and risk management tool is also being conducted. The tool was previewed at Money20/20 ahead of an expected production launch in the first quarter of next year.
“The way I like to roll products out is get some early access customers using the product, get their feedback, continue to make it better, and then roll it out to the broader customer base,” Kumar says.
There are currently five or six customers using Jumio’s orchestration solution, and a backlog of other customer who want to use it.
One of those already doing so is Latin American fintech Rappi, according to the press release. Kumar is expecting more fintechs to be part of the Jumio orchestration platform’s customer base, but he notes that traditional banks, which can often take three or four quarters between engaging with a vendor and deploying a technology in production, can benefit from the speed and comprehensiveness of orchestrated deployments.
Jumio’s existing customers have been enthusiastic in their response, according to Kumar.
“They are super-exited, because they’re dealing with these challenges right now,” he says.
The ease of deployment also applies to adding new capabilities. After the initial integration, customers can add a new capability just by sign a pricing addendum.
Underlying data advantage
“The challenge with the current orchestration market is they’re all relying on data sources that are compromised,” Kumar observes, referencing the frequency of breaches involving data that is used in risk checks.
Jumio’s continuing focus area, therefore, and the company’s experience providing it, is the biggest thing that sets its new second focus area — the orchestration solution — apart from others, according to Kumar.
“That’s the significant differentiator, and why I believe that we are not just entering the orchestration space, we are storming it with this enhanced capability.”
The company had already made the investment to expand its core by acquiring the KYX layer from Beam, Kumar says, which is now augmented with the orchestration layer.
This allows the company to “Reduce friction for good consumers,” he says, noting that, “Fighting fraud does not mean you have to introduce friction.”
He compares the ideal experience to a visit to the physical bank branch. No security guard demands ID at the door, and if anything, a customer service welcomes the consumer.
Similarly, he says, Jumio’s platform allows friction to be introduced only when required by risk.
The leap into the orchestration space, Kumar posits, is being made therefore from a position of strength, because “no other ID verification company sees the type of volume that we do, and we’ve been doing this for several years.”
“We’ve got the data and we’ve got the insight.”
Article Topics
AML | biometrics | digital identity | fraud prevention | identity management | identity orchestration | identity verification | Jumio | KYC | monitoring | no-code | onboarding | secure transactions
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