In addition to the clear risks, such as an increase in fraud, attracting new foreign customers presents less apparent challenges, including the absence of standardized documentation and language barriers. These are the results of a global survey conducted by Regula, a global developer of forensic devices and identity verification solutions.
“As the world is starting to pilot the concept of digital IDs, it is possible that in the foreseeable future, we will achieve a certain level of identity document standardization. That means some of the current challenges in international ID verification will likely be mitigated”
Key challenges for businesses
When it comes to identity verification for international customers, including a growing community of digital nomads, organizations from various industries participating in Regula’s survey tend to point out the following challenges:
- The lack of unified document standards. 41% of decision-makers in all sectors report a significant challenge due to the lack of standardized identity documents. This inconsistency affects the efficiency and speed of IDV processes. For government services, the problem seems to be even worse, since 48% of the respondents in this sphere named this issue as the main challenge.
- The increase in fraud. Identity-related fraud continues to be a major concern, affecting 40% of businesses overall. Higher impacts of fraud are observed in Banking and Financial Services (48% of respondents call it a key challenge) and Retail (44% of respondents).
- Language barriers. Complexities due to language differences are reported by 36% of businesses. For the Healthcare and Insurance industries, this is an even greater concern, with 41% and 39% of respondents correspondingly naming it among the top three challenges.
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Dealing with new identity documents and facing new risks, organizations strive to pursue a high level of identity verification (IDV) security and accuracy, with every third of them expressing the need for an increase in their IDV budget by up to 20%.
“As the world is starting to pilot the concept of digital IDs, it is possible that in the foreseeable future, we will achieve a certain level of identity document standardization. That means some of the current challenges in international ID verification will likely be mitigated,” says Henry Patishman, Executive Vice President of Identity Verification Solutions at Regula. “In the meantime, both businesses and IDV providers have to concentrate on tackling fraud and language barriers. From our experience, we see that there are two effective ways of dealing with these issues: enhancing the set of document and biometric checks, with a strong emphasis on data cross-checks to spot any possible inconsistencies that may indicate fraud, and growing your own document knowledge database to be able to read any document in any language correctly.”
Major concerns for customers
In their turn, digital nomads who settle in foreign countries for short or long periods of time also face challenges related to identity verification. Predominantly, their concerns revolve around the document validity period, which has an expiry date and proof of residency, such as rental agreements or utility bills. Each of these issues is a challenge for 19% of Regula’s survey respondents.
Apart from that, 18% of digital nomads have difficulties with ID verification because of their frequent travel and changing locations, which create inconsistencies in the information provided, and potentially lead to delays or rejection in identity proofing. Another 18% of respondents feel a lack of trust and credibility from institutions due to the unconventional nature of their lifestyle and work arrangements.
As for the language barrier, 70% of digital nomads say they have encountered language difficulties in understanding the instructions during the verification process. However, only 16% of nomads cite language barriers as a top frustration during the ID verification process. At the same time, twice as many digital nomads (36%) feel frustrated because of Internet connectivity issues: majorly relying on public Wi-Fi networks, they face an increased risk of cybersecurity threats and data breaches during the verification process.
The research has also shown that only 29% of nomads are very comfortable with providing sensitive identification documents online while being in a foreign country.
To learn more about the concerns and frustrations for both businesses and digital nomads, read the full report on the survey. To find out how to cope with various difficulties during the identity verification process, please visit Regula’s solutions page and learn about the advanced technologies for document and biometric checks.
*The research was initiated by Regula and conducted by Sapio Research in September 2023 using an online survey of digital nomads and Fraud Prevention decision makers across the Software/Tech, Financial and Banking Services, Technology, Telecoms, Travel and Hospitality sectors, and others. The respondent geography included the US, UK, Germany, Spain, UAE, and Mexico.
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