5 ways companies get more through reusable identity

Identity is a crucial enabler for transacting successfully in today's world. With a competitive market and tough business conditions, organisations need to speed up transactions while improving governance.

Further complicating the process, security for customers needs to be built in. While this is happening, companies must actively avoid money laundering and financial crime penalties by adhering to regulations and good business practices. A vital ingredient in achieving these objectives is the identities of customers, employees and contractors.

Reusable identities

Identity is complicated, because the entity processing it wants to retain control. You want to ensure you only use what you need from an identity. Ideally, you want to automate those processes and integrate them into your business systems without creating compliance or security issues. And you want to make these features available only to those who need them — whether that's a specific person, a department, a branch office, a franchise or a partner. This is why reusable identities matter. A reusable ID is a single, standardised digital identity that multiple services can access for specific details.

Integrated identity platforms such as Contactable are making this possible for far more organisations, large and small.

Cost-efficient and scalable across multiple systems, branches and users, these platforms can verify identities across many checks. Contactable's AI-driven platform completes approximately 1.2 million verifications monthly, either directly on the platform or via API integrations with business systems.

Many sectors and companies already treat reusable identity as the foundation of remote interactions. So how do they benefit? Here are five sector-specific case studies from Contactable:

Case studies

Less admin and more admiration

Car dealerships of all sizes need to vet potential buyers. Above-board transactions require them to confirm people's credentials against Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) regulations, and to do so quickly. Even a cash transaction requires identity verification to avoid becoming snared in money laundering. A reusable identity platform makes this process straightforward, and it can be deployed centrally as a service across multiple branches and dealerships — even third parties.

Three clicks to onboard — an insurance fantasy?

Insurance products require substantial personal identity verification of the prospective policyholder and other beneficiaries. This can frustrate an insurance sale and create complicated risks for agents — especially when the agent is a third party acting on behalf of an underwriter. A reusable identity platform enables insurers to safely extend specific identity services to their staff and partners, and to automate processes for quicker verification and self-service enrolment.

Why is the salary bill so high but the output so low?

Ghost employees are a big problem in large, complex environments — particularly in sprawling, siloed industries that employ thousands of people, such as the public sector. A reusable identity platform can be centrally managed but extend specific checks to different departments. Administrators and auditors can quickly confirm whether an employee genuinely exists or is a fabricated persona.

How well do we know our retail clients?

Retail outlets, especially online operations, benefit greatly from accurate customer personas based on identity details. They also want to give those customers peace of mind by letting them manage their personal data through a retail app, website or customer service rep. A reusable identity platform readily integrates all these features into the retailer's systems.

Can we trust this user account?

Cybersecurity operations must scrutinise and manage thousands of user accounts, as fake identities threaten this diligence. A proven remedy is to integrate account management with human resource systems and correlate data to catch anomalies. A reusable identity platform provides fast, trusted verification, integrated with HR and human-centric security systems, to deliver ring-fenced identification functions that don't put personal employee or contractor information at risk.