Due to the restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic, consumer habits have changed, with banking and public service transactions being increasingly performed online. At the same time, people have enjoyed the flexibility of shopping for products and gifts using online services. This has resulted in higher expectations regarding user experience and the associated levels of security provided. These two aspects, however, are often in direct opposition. After all, many users are all too aware of the sometimes complex requirements imposed for passwords and other login details and shy away from the effort involved. Consequently, customers will often terminate a purchase in frustration and simply leave the site or app concerned. This puts businesses under pressure to simplify their processes and prevent consumers from shopping elsewhere. To achieve these aims while also maintaining high-security standards, companies can benefit greatly from a smooth login process supported by "customer identity and access management" (CIAM) and multi-factor authentication. These procedures provide consumers with a straightforward login method combined with the greatest possible level of convenience – in a secure and passwordless way.
In the digital age, fulfilling the highest standards throughout the customer journey has become increasingly relevant. At the same time, however, people’s understanding of good and bad service has also changed. Major corporations such as Amazon, Google and Apple have played a particularly important role here. By offering a virtually seamless customer experience, they have established an automatic expectation on the part of the population that today's customer journey will be simple, fast, straightforward and secure.
Increasing awareness of security issues
For most of the population nowadays, security issues and digital well-being are highly important. This was evidenced in the recent D21-Digital-Index social survey carried out by Germany's Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The survey provides an annual overview of the degree of digitisation in Germany. The results show that knowledge of security issues is on the rise, with 73 per cent of German citizens aware that Internet services transfer data to external companies. It's therefore unsurprising that around two-thirds of survey participants regularly adjust the data protection settings on their smartphones. In addition, more than 55 per cent of respondents utilise anti-virus software and set new, unique passwords for their online services.
A need for information about online security
Nonetheless, there is a need for further information in the general population. This was demonstrated by a survey of trends carried out by the German Ministry for Information Security (BSI) as part of the "Safer Internet Day" that took place on 1 February 2020. In the survey, three-quarters of respondents stated a desire for more information as regards digital security. The fields of online and mobile banking, along with the protection of digital end devices, were rated as particularly relevant by 35 per cent and 24 per cent of people, respectively. Respondents also felt that they lacked adequate information when shopping and communicating online.
A move from complicated login procedures to the use of biometric data
However, sometimes complex login procedures should also be simplified, according to the responses given by many citizens. One in five consumers regularly abandons online purchases because the process is too long-winded and complicated. For businesses, this results in disappointed customers who are likely to fill their shopping trolleys elsewhere. On the other hand, a further 17 per cent of people fail to complete their purchase because they distrust the website when providing personal bank details.
The solution – a combination of CIAM and multi-factor authentication
CIAM offers the perfect way around these issues. Instead of requiring a long, complex password for each account, the solution dispenses with the need for a password altogether when bank accounts and other services are accessed. Instead, CIAM utilises biometric identity features such as Face ID, fingerprint recognition or an iris scan. It enables secure and unique passwordless authentication that is virtually ‘unhackable’ during the login process for bank and online accounts. Combining two or more pieces of information in the context of multi-factor authentication increases the user-friendliness of the security process still further when a person's identity is checked. For the user, the login process is then not only faster and less complicated but, above all, more secure.
