Authentication tools permit the reliable identification of individuals through unique biological elements using visual, audio and behavioral data. The tools can detect features such as fingerprints, eyes, voice, scent or DNA to perform reliable user authentication.

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Customer Experience Tools and Trends

Our insights share how the right CX tools make customers’ lives richer and more fulfilling and strengthen a company’s economics by holding down costs and securing new revenue streams.

Authentication is a digital control using several approaches: single-factor based on one credential, two-factor that adds a known attribute or data owned by a user, or multifactor, which relies on three or more data inputs. The underlying technology can also vary across certificates, privacy keys, tokens, biometrics or device telemetry.

Biometric tool adoption has grown rapidly as companies look to provide customer experiences that are frictionless, personalized and secure. These tools can improve the experience while reducing cost, fraud and complexity.

How companies use authentication tools

• Purchases. Retailers use biometric tools, such as facial recognition, to power automatic checkout features. As the technology continues to evolve, retailers will be able to collect the same shopper-level data in-store that they currently collect online, enabling personalized experiences and tailored offerings.
• Financial transactions. Banks are using authentication technology, such as ATMs that can scan a user’s fingerprint, to speed transactions and prevent fraud.
• Airport security. Used from check-in to boarding, authentication tools can provide a quick and seamless experience and reduce the need for personnel.
• Next-generation customer care. Voice recognition can give chatbots or representatives all the customer information they need to provide a service.
• Dynamic access management. Intelligent access enables teams to grant permissions based on group membership and user context. Examples include location context (a new city, state or country), device context (new device), network context (new IP, network anonymizers) or user profile context (group membership, user or administrative consent).
• Prevention of identity attacks. Adaptive multifactor authentication and single sign-on software block suspicious login attempts to prevent threats such as phishing, credential stuffing, password spraying and social engineering.

Key considerations

• Assess data sensitivity. Authentication technology might capture extremely sensitive data, so it is essential to evaluate the risks of existing and future systems, and identify any necessary security enhancements.
• Transfer and store data securely. Security and privacy protection are critical when transferring data from biometric hardware to storage equipment.
• Test and learn. Leading companies start with small pilots to weed out bugs, minimize failure risk and make sure their efforts yield meaningful improvements.
• Provide seamless experiences. When customer identification and authentication are an integral part of an experience, they must be frictionless, personalized and secure.
• Centralized tracking. Companies should record real-time access and authorization logs to baseline normal access and allow early detection of threats.