Three in five organizations will soon use biometrics, but perception problems persist

Biometrics and digital identity for cloud-based access management are joining the mainstream as a way to secure hybrid workplaces, a report from HID Global indicates.

The 30-page ‘2023 State of Security and Identity’ report identifies five trends shaping security and identity this year, from supply chain issues, to increased focus on sustainability, and the relationship between hybrid work and cloud-based access management. Ever-faster adoption of digital ID and contactless biometrics are the other two.

HID polled more than 2,700 people, just over half of them partners and the rest end-users of the company’s technology, with organizations of various sizes from small businesses to large enterprises, to inform the report.

Company executives discussed the findings in a webinar this week.

Four in five are still working in a hybrid model, and two-thirds of those surveyed say MFA or passwordless authentication is the most important technology for the transition that marks the future of work. This change is driving cloud-based access management into the mainstream, HID says.

HID found that 43 percent of government agencies are planning to use IDaaS in the near future.

A solid majority (59 percent) of organizations plan to use, or at least test biometrics in the next five years. The others are more likely smaller organizations, explains Lena Abdelahad VP of HID’s IAM authentication business.

Abdelahad notes that FIDO growth is helping push MFA and passwordless adoption, and layering in behavioral biometrics to increase security is a growth area for the industry.

Asked by Biometric Update about the understanding organizations have of how to utilize newer technologies with more complex architecture, Abdelahad says most businesses are not used to thinking in terms of technology layers.

“I do see us having to come and serve as a trusted advisor to help organizations navigate those complexities or misperceived complexities around, let’s say, the regulations, or the deployment, or the use cases,” she says.

Asked if there is a skills gap holding back adoption, Abdelahad emphasized the need “dislodge some of those misperceptions to really help them get to their business goals and their security goals.”

The availability of mobile devices and sustainability goals are each driving adoption of mobile authentication, according to Sanjit Bardhan, head of the global mobile business for HID’s physical access control solutions.

Article Topics

access management  |  biometric authentication  |  biometrics  |  enterprise  |  HID  |  identity access management (IAM)  |  market report