Achieving PEAK performance in IDV

I've had the privilege of serving large global companies and their customers at three of the top identity verification (IDV) companies in the world where I solved digital onboarding, compliance, and trust & safety challenges at massive enterprise scale.

What's always inspired me is how mission critical such services are for companies starting new relationships with their customers. Equally important is accurately resolving a real-world identity in a human-centric way. The ethos of each of my previous employers was to provide sound digital identity verification results with diversity, inclusivity, and equitable access at the core. Each company I worked for pushed the frontiers of digital identity verification’s potential leveraging cutting edge artificial intelligence, data science, machine learning, and computer vision technologies to combat demographic, socio-economic, and cultural inequality while facing growingly sophisticated fraud attacks like deep fakes and synthetic identities.

Yet, success in identity verification is not easy. A person’s identity isn’t always static. Humans are complex beings with a network of even more complex social and financial connections. Our identities define us as individuals, and each of our identities has a unique history, digital footprint, and can be transient in nature.

What makes you, you? Is it your face? Your voice? Is it the email address or the phone number you use? Is it your home address? Your date of birth? The street you grew up on? Your bank account balance, your social security number, or your credit score? Perhaps a driving record? Or maybe the social media account that you use to publish your most personal thoughts and life moments with friends and family connections? In many ways, all of the above. But with time, some of these attributes can change making it challenging to consistently and accurately ascertain the authenticity of an identity claim.

The pandemic accelerated the importance of trust in virtual interactions. For many, the new normal includes enrolling in a university without ever visiting a campus, or starting a new job without ever meeting your co-workers face-to-face, or receiving medical care without visiting a clinic or your doctor... in each of these scenarios, how do you prove that you are really you? And how do you prove your claim without unnecessarily overexposing sensitive personal details? How do you protect your personal information and your privacy from authorized access or abuse?

Across the world, privacy is seen as a human right and governments have ensured it through enacted regulations. Privacy protects us individually but we must also protect our online interactions from the cloak of digital anonymity because without asserting our identities and creating mutual trust with others there is little to no consequence for malicious behavior. While anonymity is an important tool for the underrepresented or voiceless, it can also be a weapon for the ignorant and malevolent. As such, the systems and technologies we as business leaders build and implement must create trust between people and between businesses while adjudicating with an assumption of genuineness and sincerity.

A Tough, Unsolved Problem

In May 2005, Kim Cameron , then Identity and Access Architect at Microsoft wrote :

“The Internet was built without a way to know who and what you are connecting to. This limits what we can do with it and exposes us to growing dangers. If we do nothing, we will face rapidly proliferating episodes of theft and deception that will cumulatively erode public trust in the Internet.”

Here we are in July 2022, fraud and digital misrepresentation are rampant on the Internet. The online identity problem is unsolved. While many IDV solutions exist, the market is fragmented and geographically disparate. There is no clear, single winner that solves the needs of multinational, global companies at massive enterprise scale. Additionally, we as private citizens lack insight into how our personal data is used by companies to make important trust decisions about us. As such, there is a lot of inefficiency in how solutions are evaluated, selected, implemented, and optimized. Further, because many marketing messages of different providers tout the same capabilities and performance, it is confusing for enterprise buyers to choose the right provider among a litany of vendors.

Introducing PEAK IDV

As I think about my own identity, my 20+ years of professional experience, and my 7+ years of IDV industry expertise, I’ve also thought about the best use of my working time. As someone that has worked in numerous roles across product development, product management, strategy, and sales, I recognize most companies and governments don’t achieve the best possible results with their IDV implementations. There are always ways they can increase pass rates, reduce friction, lower costs, improve accuracy, eliminate bias, and achieve peak performance. In turn, their customers will have better, safer digital experiences.

For this reason, I’m starting PEAK IDV to help clients maximize their success and achieve peak performance in the complex identity verification ecosystem. I'm also excited to announce artificial intelligence and computer vision thought leader Sanjay Nichani will support the business in an advisory capacity. Collectively, we have over 15+ years of experience in the IDV industry. Simply put, PEAK IDV provides unique qualitative & quantitative approaches to understanding digital trust companies in a complex, fragmented market.

PEAK IDV provides unique qualitative & quantitative approaches to understanding digital trust companies in a complex, fragmented market.

For Buyers of IDV Solutions

PEAK IDV is expertise in your corner guiding each phase of your business’s IDV journey. From discovery, to evaluation, to selection, negotiation, integration, and ongoing optimization. If you are in the market to buy an identity verification solution or perhaps you have an existing solution you would like to augment or replace, our expert advisory services can help you prevent costly mistakes and save months, if not years, in your implementation & optimization journey.

PEAK IDV also has an elastic bench of experts in artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, web & mobile software development, and cloud computing. Our team is capable of delivering bespoke IDV solutions to fill gaps in the market. Does your company have a unique, unsolved identity verification problem? Does the solution fall outside of existing feature sets or below vendor priorities and roadmaps? We can help you mind the gap.

For Investors in the IDV Industry

Biometrics and digital identity verification companies are one of the fastest growing categories in financial technology and artificial intelligence innovation. Use cases for identity verification systems are universal and global. Venture capitalists, angels, and institutional investors that have a keen interest in the space will find tremendous value in the unique insights that PEAK IDV can offer.

According to the “Identity Verification: Global Markets 2021-2026” research report by BCC Research, the global identity verification market reached USD $8 Billion in 2021 and is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 17.1% to USD 17.7 Billion by 2026. Additionally, Quince Market Insights forecasts the market to reach USD 42.4 Billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 18.2% in its “Identity Verification Market - Market Size & Forecasting (2018-2030)” report .

The IDV market is rapidly expanding and fluid. There are many established, legacy data-centric providers, but there is also a new generation of document-centric and phone-centric players disrupting the status quo. When IDV technology is combined with authentication platforms, a holistic strategy orchestrating numerous signals becomes a powerful amplifier of digital trust, and future opportunity for massive returns. PEAK IDV can help your investment firm navigate the IDV red ocean.

In Summary

Never has confirming real identity online been more important than it is today. Identity verification is foundational infrastructure not just for financial technology but for today’s digital economy. There is no global, one-size-fits-all platform that solves all needs and all use cases. Whether you are an enterprise buyer investing in IDV infrastructure or an equity investor buying into the industry's future, PEAK IDV can support you with identity market intelligence and consulting services. Let's get started.

If we’re not connected, hit the +Follow button below. On LinkedIn, I share thoughts on fintech, identity verification, artificial intelligence, biometrics, blockchain, the future of work, agile software development, high-performance teams, build culture, and more.