Categories
Video KYC Video KYC for Banks Video KYC India Video KYC verification

Data Security in the KYC Process

A few days ago, news reports of the personal data of 4.5 million Air India passengers leaked in a cyberattack on the airline’s data processor came out. The breach involved data such as name, contact, passport details, and credit card details of passengers. Air India faced this cyber-attack in February and quickly secured its servers right after.

News of cyber-attacks and data breaches is not as uncommon as you think. Larger organisations need to invest heavily in data security to prevent breaches such as the incident with Air India. Data security is a process by which data can be secured against unauthorised access, theft or corruption through its entire lifecycle. Usually implemented through a series of data encryption, hashtagging, key management, masking, and tokenisation practises, data security measures protect your organisation’s servers from cybercriminal activities and often against human errors.

Data Security in Video KYC and Digital KYC

As Video kyc was approved for use by the Reserve Bank of India in January 2020, the questions regarding data security in these processes became often debated. Video KYC or VKYC is a process by which banks and other financial institutions can authenticate your identity via live video interphase through a smartphone. In this process, a representative from the financial institution is present at the other end. KYC is a process by which institutions verify the identities of their customers to gauge their identity and credibility. Earlier, this process was done in person through a series of meetings and hand-written and signed documents. Reportedly, India is one of the first countries to introduce the Video KYC option for financial institutions.

VKYC has made the KYC process less tedious for both the institution and the customer and accelerated the response rate. Sometimes, a loan takes just a few hours to disburse from start to finish. Additionally, Video KYC also prevents data and identity thefts better since customers do not have to submit physical copies of identity proofs.

Last month, the RBI revised KYC norms and extended VKYC to small and medium enterprises and allowed limited KYC accounts to be converted to full KYC accounts through VKYC. The announcement also enables the use of a KYC identifier of the Centralised KYC Registry (CKYCR) to submit electronic documents (including Digilocker channels) as identity proof.

While VKYC is inherently more secure, it is still essential to implement specific security measures within your institution to keep your servers fully protected. It is vital to ensure that cybersecurity and customer due diligence processes are implemented hand-in-hand with protecting customer data. According to RBI’s guidelines, for a financial institution to implement VKYC or V-CIP, the technology infrastructure should be housed in its premises to meet the baseline cybersecurity framework. Industry experts do not recommend using third-party apps such as Zoom or Google Meet for Video KYC.

Kwik.ID offers a modular, platform-independent, and plug-n-play Video KYC solution as mandated by RBI, SEBI, IRDAI, and PFRDA. Our solution is platform agnostic and takes less than a week to integrate into your existing system. The VKYC solution includes a two-way video calling facility with one-way recording. Our Digital KYC and Video KYC solutions also consider RBI’s recommendation of having AI for better process integrity. We use an AI-enabled image processing software for identity verification by comparing user images across various documents, including ID documents, studio photographs, and selfies. Additionally, since the Video KYC for Banks process requires bank officials to validate each video through a ‘liveliness’ check, our solution has an integrated liveliness detection function – where the live-action commands can be customised as required by our clients.

We also provide DigiLocker integration to our Video KYC and Digital KYC solutions, using which we enable easy digital document exchange with consent. Our DigiLocker supports over 210 digital documents from several issuing authorities, including UIDAI, NSDL, CBSE, State Education Boards, and significant banking and financial institutions. As the pandemic threatens to bring financial transactions to a pause, adoption of Video KYC and Digital KYC are essential steps to help us collectively perform while accepting pandemic-related restrictions. While these digital disruptions are crucial in the long term, it is imperative to understand the threats involved in these processes and safeguard your institution against cybercriminal activities and data theft.

Categories
AadharXML AI enabled Artificial Intelligence BFSI Customer experience customer identification Customeronboarding data breach data privacy Digital KYC Digital transformation DigitalKYC Digitalonboarding Face AI face match financial inclusion Fintech fintechs fraud checks fraud detection fraud prevention frauds identity threat IRDAI OCR PAN PFRDA phishing Physical KYC RBI SEBI spoofing V-CIP VCIP Digital KYC solutions video based kyc Video based KYC identification Video KYC Video KYC for Banks Video KYC India Video KYC vendors Video KYC verification VideoKYC

Prevent Identity Theft by Implementing Digital KYC

Identity theft happens when someone steals your personal information like Aadhar card number, PAN details, or credit card information to make an online purchase, access your financial accounts, create a new bank account, or commit any other type of fraud.

Identity thefts are far more common than you think. According to Norton Cyber Security Insights 2021, nearly 2.7 crore Indians were affected by identity threats in 2020 – that is, 45% of adult Indian internet users. With such high levels of risk, financial institutions need to re-evaluate their current KYC processes to reduce instances of fraud while engaging with new customers. As instances of fraud will see an upward trend, it is time for financial institutions to opt for secure Digital KYC processes in place of legacy practices.

Before we understand how to reduce risk, let us know how one becomes vulnerable to identity theft.

  • Unsecure and public browsing: For the most part, accessing the internet is safe. But, unsecured websites and public Wi-fi increase the risk of data, landing into hackers’ hands.
  • Data breach: A data breach is a security incident where sensitive information is accessed without authorisation. This year, personally identifiable information of 5,00,000 Indian police personnel was hacked into and put up for sale online, which was traced to a police exam conducted in December 2019.
  • Malware activity: Malwares are malicious programs that perform several functions like stealing, altering code, hijacking, deleting sensitive data, and encrypting.
  • Phishing: In this type of attack, a fraudulent communication appears to come from a reputable source, which, when clicked on, lands data in identity thieves’ hands.
  • Physical theft: Sometimes, losing a credit card or mobile phones makes data available at ease, to thieves.
  • Card skimming: In credit card skimming, thieves use a small device to steal payment card (credit card, debit card or ATM card) information. When the card is swiped through this device, it captures all the data from the card’s magnetic strip.

Digital KYC to Address Identity Theft

KYC (‘Know Your Customer’ or ‘Know Your Client’) is a process by which institutions verify the identities of their customers to gauge their identity and credibility. Banks, insurance companies and financial institutions heavily rely on KYC before opening a new account.

Identity verification with KYC mainly addresses identity theft. Despite RBI guidelines for KYC, forged documents and financial fraud continue to be a problem. Recently, in Delhi, a group of fraudsters cheated several popular banks and utilised 22 PAN cards, 9 Aadhar cards, and 21 voter ID cards for their operation.

The current KYC processes are heavily dependent on outsourced vendors and are susceptible to both customer and employee fraud. Kwik.ID provides both Digital and Video based KYC identification to address the issues that KYC processes currently face. Our Video KYC process is used for customer identification as mandated by RBI, SEBI, IRDAI, and PFRDA. The process uses end-to-end encryption for maximum data security and prevents your risk of breach or theft with an on-premises setup.

We verify all officially valid documents (OVD) like PAN, Aadhar, Driver’s License, and Voter ID card from the Central Government Database using our Digital KYC offering. Using Optical Character Recognition, our software recognises characters in ID documents within seconds. Besides incorporating security questions to verify details, AI-enabled image processing is an integral part of our Digital KYC process.

We establish identity consistency by comparing user images on selfies, institutional photographs, and photograph on official ID. We also detect liveliness using AI with live-action commands. Both these steps together significantly minimise instances of fraudulent customers.

Get in touch with us to know more about our streamlined Digital and Video kyc process – we can customise a solution based on your requirement.

Categories
BFSI Customer experience customer identification Customeronboarding data privacy digital banking Digital KYC Digital transformation DigitalKYC Digitalonboarding financial inclusion KwikID KYC one stop video kyc One stop video kyc solution unbanked V-CIP VCIP Digital KYC solutions Video based KYC identification Video KYC Video KYC for Banks Video KYC India Video KYC solution providers Video KYC vendors Video KYC verification VideoKYC

Banking on the Unbanked

Before we delve into the subject of unbanked and underbanked, here’s a look at some statistics – Seven countries across the globe account for 50% of the world’s unbanked population, and India is second on the list. 11% of India’s population is completely unbanked, and even more are underbanked. Although there has been a decline in figures in recent times, there is no ignoring the fact that a large part of the population still needs to be catered to.

Who is an unbanked or underbanked customer?

An unbanked customer is one who doesn’t have any savings or current account with a bank, owing to which they cannot use traditional banking services either. On the other hand an underbanked customer has access to savings and current accounts, however, these are through alternative financial institutions and not banks.

There are plenty of reasons as to why someone may be unbanked. Some of these being

  • Not having enough savings
  • Having concerns about privacy and security
  • Not wanting to pay bank charges; and more.

But the primary concern, at least in India, continues to be that firstly, rural areas don’t have enough transport facilities to reach the bank. Secondly, the interiors do not have enough bandwidth to support online banking processes, even if the branch is distant.

Why you need to bank on the unbanked?

When banks don’t engage with the unbanked and underbanked, many financial institutions lose out on the opportunity to reach out to them as well, because they don’t appear on the financial map. Additionally, owing to the current digital shift, there is a growing need to reach out even to the hinterlands because digital is the future, and the only way to be all-inclusive is to reach one and all and offer a standardised payment process for all. 

Some other reasons why you should focus on the unbanked include:

  • Higher revenue for financial institutions
  • Connects you to an emerging market
  • Safeguards the interests of the lower income groups

Here’s how you can reach them:

Eliminate barriers: Many people from rural areas fear banking, offline or online, because of illiteracy or language barriers. Using technology like chatbots, translators, Neurolinguistic programming, virtual assistance, etc, you can assure your potential customers that they can bank on someone who understands their needs well and is willing to guide them thoroughly with every step of the process.

Reduce physical branches: If the underbanked find it difficult to go to banks, you bring the bank to them. With digital opportunities like Video -KYC onboarding and internet banking, customers don’t need to step out anymore to complete the banking formalities. Promise your customers that the system is completely secure with AI based features like liveliness, facematch, and two-step authentication, so they don’t have any security concerns. At Kwik.ID we noticed that these additional security features in our V-KYC tool made a huge difference while onboarding customers who were worried about their data being misused.

Offer a low-bandwidth facility: How are customers going to opt for digital banking if high data requirements won’t let them complete their procedures? Building a low-bandwidth infrastructure for your unbanked and underbanked population is imperative for noteworthy results. Let media upload sizes be at a minimum, and let your software adjust to data speeds as low as possible. Offering a data speed as low as 170 kbps, we noticed that our Video kYC onboarding call drops reduced drastically and we had an 85% success rate owing to low bandwidth and easy accessibility.

Encourage financial education: Another significant reason why the unbanked don’t invest is because they aren’t aware of banking benefits in the first place. Train your employees and agents to educate them better. They can use digital media in the form of short videos, flowcharts, images and more, to explain the onboarding and banking process, needs for savings, credit application, and many other topics that can easily be conveyed over video. Connect your customers to regional agents who are comfortable speaking the language and can understand the client better. This is necessary especially during the Video -KYC onboarding process, or any other video interaction that makes the conversation more smooth-sailing.

Banking the unbanked isn’t as tough as it looks and doing so has its advantages for both – the banks and the customers too. With the right technology, the right V-KYC tool, and the right goals, the 11% of unbanked India can soon be well-banked and serviced too.

Categories
customer identification data privacy Digital KYC KwikID KYC One stop video kyc solution VCIP Digital KYC solutions Video based KYC identification Video KYC Video KYC for Banks Video KYC India Video KYC solution providers Video KYC vendors Video KYC verification

Addressing the Five Challenges Customers Experience during a KYC Process

KYC compliance is a double-edged sword for financial institutions. On one hand, customers expect quick onboarding with minimum checks and documentation. On the other hand, regulators penalise financial institutions for inconsistencies in identity verification and risk assessments. To bridge the gap, banks, NBFCs and fintech companies continuously focus on revamping their KYC processes to comply with the latest norms while providing customers a seamless onboarding experience.

Here we address the five common challenges customers face during the KYC process and how financial institutions can resolve those using Video KYC (V-KYC). Reach out to us to know more about how Kwik.ID can help you fast-track your KYC compliance.

Challenge 1: Geographical Constraints

The traditional KYC process required customers to submit the application form and the necessary documentation in person. This meant that customers could only opt for banks in their vicinity, based on their current geographical location.

Solution 1: Online Video KYC with Geotagging

In the V-KYC process, the entire verification procedure (including remote onboarding) is conducted online through a live video call. Instead of standing in long queues, a customer can simply schedule a call by registering on the website. Even address verification happens in minutes through geo-tagging using Google Maps.

Challenge 2: Elaborate Documentation

Traditional KYC is a tedious process fraught with endless paperwork. It usually involves lengthy application forms, photocopies of identity and address proofs, and other documents like bank statements and utility bills.

Solution 2: API-Integrated KYC Verification

APIs that aggregate primary data from various verified sources, using e-documents like OVD (Officially Valid Documents) or PAN card, can replace the need for paper-based documentation. Additionally, the use of AI-powered facial recognition tools using Video based KYC identification ensures better accuracy than manual verification.

Challenge 3: Delay in Onboarding  

Conventionally, onboarding is a laborious process. Customers in need of urgent funds often turn to other (informal) sources at higher interest rates given the delays in assessment and onboarding.

Solution 3: Real-time KYC verification

Since identification happens in real-time digital, it removes the need for physical signatures and visits from bank officials. This feature makes the onboarding process smoother, allowing customers to have quick access to financing.

Challenge 4: Dropping out of the Process 

Given the prolonged KYC process, several customers often drop out midway as they often patience (or the need for funds). Financial institutions lose out creditworthy customers too in this process.

Solution 4: Visibility and Tracking 

V-KYC helps customers complete processes faster while also providing visibility on the status of the verification. Banks can ensure customers finish the Video KYC for Banks by tracking what percentage of documentation is completed. 

Challenge 5: Cost of Compliance

Traditional KYC involves high costs due to factors like going to the bank in person, procuring several documents, etc., compromising a customer’s time and money. Financial institutions also spend significant amounts in verifying KYC, which is an additional burden to customers in the form of service charges and processing fees.

Solution 5: Internet-powered KYC verification

V-KYC’s internet-powered processes with the help of trustworthy Video KYC vendors make it accessible, affordable and convenient. It also enables considerable cost savings for the service provider, making financing more cost-effective for the customer.

Categories
Digital KYC DigitalKYC KwikID Video based KYC identification Video KYC Video KYC for Banks Video KYC India Video KYC solution providers Video KYC vendors Video KYC verification VideoKYC

Looking into the future of Digital Business

The pandemic has changed our ways of working. “Phygital” seems to be the new normal and digital the future. Many businesses had already made the offline to online shift much before the pandemic, while the last six months have witnessed only online transactions and dealings.

Organisations have also revisited their priorities as they find new solutions to accelerate the business growth and aim for long-term success. Traditional face-to-face methods have been replaced by tools like online wallets, e-commerce business, Video KYC for banks and insurance firms, AI-led instructions and more.

Organisations will soon start building their digital platforms while utilising advanced analytics with greater intensity. For example, DBS Bank understood the need to do more for its customers and adopted a RED mantra: Respectful, Easy to deal with, and Dependable. This involved tech-driven processes because they strongly believe that making banking joyful should involve making the ‘banking’ part, invisible.

Here’s how the country is paving the path for digital business growth.

Digitising Sales and Customer Processes

Organisations have started to think about digital tools and techniques, particularly for selling the product and meeting client measure prerequisites. Companies are adopting and implementing a host of applications, digital payment methods, self-service platforms, digital documentation, onboarding and electronic signatures to ensure that internal operations, income and revenue continue to flow. Indeed, even the smallest organisations have taken to digital to keep the client inflow flawless, by embracing the most recent AI innovation and apparatuses like face recognition and biometric signatures, and they don’t appear to be returning to their conventional ways in the near future.

The finance business, including banks, NBFCs, fin-tech, insurance, and numerous others presently pick online processes to make business simpler for clients, including opening an account through video KYC. Clients presently don’t have to visit the branch to finish all the formalities and fill lengthy forms. Video KYC speeds up the cycle guaranteeing they are onboarded in only two minutes!

Digital Marketing to Customers

The manner in which organisations market their products is developing quickly. Given that industry events have shut down because of the pandemic, B2B organisations like Slack and Zendesk have embraced better approaches to connect with clients by means of their digital advertising that has created new business leads. Digital content, particularly promotions guided through online media stages should be information driven, customised and shown to the correct clients for a continued boost of sales and advertising. This can likewise help improve productivity and ROI.

Empowering Employees with the Right Tools

To ensure that representatives meet their maximum potential it is imperative for organisations to receive innovation that makes activities and cycles simpler and more effective. Representatives should be instructed about the most recent advances and prepared in the best way to manage new clients, digitally, for maximum consumer loyalty.

For example, Kwik.ID, our Video KYC tool is enabled with customer queueing facility to reduce customer repetition. The analytics dashboard helps agents manage their time more efficiently. Finally, the Neuro Linguistic Programming software ensures agents understand and guide customers better, and (instantly) resolve their issues.

Utilising the Cloud for big business applications, planning and management, workforce management, billing and many others, not only provides easier employee access to technology but also helps manage cybersecurity better as everything is housed together.

It is significant for associations to have all the documentation and client information in one spot—regardless of where the agent or employee is, information can be accessed from a distance and work needn’t stop. At Think360, we suggest dealing on-the-go, which our video KYC apparatus empowers, by storing all the information in one spot.

In the coming months, online instruments like advanced banking, e-wallets and Video KYC India can essentially profit financial backers, insurance agencies and specialists, banked and unbanked areas, non-banking entities and numerous others. While these tools support business, they additionally help fight sluggish business attributable to COVID, while guaranteeing that work moves consistently from any place across the globe.

Categories
agent productivity Digital KYC DigitalKYC Digitalonboarding Face AI KwikID KYC one stop video kyc One stop video kyc solution VCIP Digital KYC solutions video based kyc Video based KYC identification Video KYC Video KYC for Banks Video KYC India Video KYC solution providers Video KYC vendors Video KYC verification

Choosing the Right Video KYC Vendor

With work from home becoming the new normal, businesses too have adapted to digital platforms, and everything that once happened in-person, now happens online. From reaching out to your customers, onboarding them and providing them with the best customer service. But how does one choose a Video KYC (V-KYC) tool to onboard customers instantly?

Traditionally, video-based customer identification process (V-CIP) took days, but with the best Video KYC tools, it can be done in less than 3 minutes!

Here’s what to look out for when choosing a V-KYC platform.

Security and Fraud Prevention

For financial institutions and banks, nothing matters more than protecting their data and ensuring that no fraudulent activities occur in the onboarding process. Any step in the process is a major concern—from storing video data, customer details, adhering to regulations, et al., to making sure there is no data tampering or leakage. With a V-KYC tool like Kwik.ID, which offers end-to-end encryption and AI-assisted Liveliness, Facematch and OCR, businesses are promised complete data security and customer authenticity. The Liveliness tool also captures the customer in real-time, thereby eliminating the risk of any bot breaching the platform’s security.

Demo V-KYC

How often have you been told to buy it only after you try it? When you invest in a V-KYC tool that is important for your business, you deserve nothing but the best. Make sure you are given a guided demo of the preferred V-KYC tool. Right from the ease of operation to the user dashboard, security measures, multilingual interface, low bandwidth mode, your V-KYC vendor should have everything ticked off the list that your business needs for a smooth onboarding experience. Pick the right one only when you are completely satisfied with the KYC demo. You can also register for Kwik.ID’s demo here.

Drop-off Rate

At Kwik.ID we understand how frustrating call drops can be, which is why we are strong advocates of low bandwidth compatibility. With a speed of 176 kbps, we noticed over 85% success rate with fewer call drops and more customer satisfaction with quick onboarding. When your customers are spread across the country, they could be in remote areas without enough access to high-speed internet. In such cases, you need to ensure that your V-KYC/ Video KYC vendors offer a low bandwidth mode, so that no matter where your agent or customer are located, business does not cease due to poor network.

RBI Compliance

For businesses, especially Video KYC for Banks and financial institutions, adhering to the policies and norms is an integral element. Ensure that the V-KYC tool you choose is 100% RBI compliant, ISO certified, and driven by an RE official and an auditor who are trained and authorized to work on a V-KYC platform. Kwik.ID’s V-KYC tool also offers easy deployment on RE’s cloud domain as well as its data centres.

Cost Reduction

Remember the time, effort and money spent sending field agents across areas to complete the customer verification process? Or the wait time customers spent in a queue to get documents verified?

Choosing a time-efficient V-KYC vendor will eliminate all of that. From onboarding 5 customers in an hour, you can onboard up to 20 in an hour! Not only does a good Video based KYC identification tool save time and complete the verification process in < 3 minutes, it also helps reduce travel and documentation cost by  ~80%.

V-KYC Accuracy

After making sure that your V-KYC tool matches all your requirements, you certainly need to assess its ROI via a dashboard that monitors and manages all your data and details stored. Check that your dashboard offers key metrics like drop-off rate, completion rate, call wait time and more, so you can track agent efficiency and check on how to improve your onboarding service. Other accuracy checks involve AI-assisted tools like Facematch and Liveliness, which verify customer authenticity and allow no room for error.

Choosing the right V-KYC platform is just as important as training your agents and employees to get it right. If you are investing in a tool that eases your business process, you will prefer to invest in the best. With V-KYC vendors like Kwik.ID, you are promised all of the above and swift onboarding in just 2 minutes.

Choose wisely!

Categories
customer identification KwikID KYC One stop video kyc solution video based kyc Video KYC Video KYC for Banks Video KYC vendors Video KYC verification

Customer Care 2.0

Business technology today is not what we are used to anymore. Social networking and online interactions have seeped into our professional lives and are clearly here to stay. Despite building all kinds of online connect though, we still yearn for that human interaction (evident in the last few months of the pandemic). This is where the online-offline balance comes into play—businesses need to focus on driving customer care and engagement with the same energy as they do with implementing technology into the system.

Video KYC, Video KYC for Banks and Video based KYC identification are also available at low bandwiths. They are really catering for the customers easing their worries more than ever.

The resulting customer support tools when designed for the future, enable swift business in just a few minutes, improve brand reputation, increase agent productivity, and help build stronger relations with customers. It is imperative for businesses now, to think beyond basic chatbots. They need to cater to current and potential customers with programs that simplify the customer journey, guide them through the process, and keep them engaged with real people at the end of the video platform. They need to focus on the future of customer care. This will involve:

Understanding that human interaction has never been more essential

Imagine your customer running into a technical problem or not comprehending a certain instruction and then being caught in the endless vortex of chatting with a bot, receiving auto-responses, but no human assistance. Needless to say, they’d get annoyed and drop off instantly, unlikely to return. The need for human assistance has been aggravated by COVID-19, especially in sectors like insurance and banking that encourage online business.

Through our own experience we noticed that when Video KYC was introduced in the banking and insurance sectors, along with the increased demand for the tool, there was also an increased demand for virtual assistance by real agents. Customers might begin by engaging with a chatbot, but eventually they will want some kind of a video interaction or an offline phone call with the agents. At the end of the day, chatbots cannot process empathy and react accordingly. That’s something unique to human beings.

Providing a more personalized and interactive voice response

The last thing customers want is to hear an annoying tune or the phone ringing incessantly during the wait time. Customer service providers (like us and many others) should incorporate an IVR system that keeps the caller engaged while the agent is away. This IVR system would introduce the caller to the various services the company offers or all the necessary details that they can demand from the tool they are using. Allowing callers to interact in their local language and adding a personalized touch with additional options and a welcome message are just some of the features this virtual assistant would offer.

Ensuring skill-based routing for agents

With modern technology enabled Video KYC for Banks and other customer service tools, calls coming through needn’t just go to any agent available but can be transferred to the one best suited for assistance. This feature, known as skill-based routing, categorizes agents based on their demographics like language, locations, area of expertise and more. After the IVR has interacted with the customer, the line is routed to the agent most qualified to resolve the issue. Needless to say, this elevates customer satisfaction.

Offering CRM integration

When your online service tool is integrated with a CRM software, agents have a 360-degree-view of all caller details, so that no matter who answers, customizing the experience for the caller gets easier once the details are right on the screen. Besides personal client information and call logs, agents also have access to previous tickets, cases, chat transcripts and other data, which offer a comprehensive view to make client interactions more efficient and effective.

Offering new services like instant onboarding, video KYC and others certainly require new technology that’ll help businesses improve completion rate, conversion rate, overall customer satisfaction and agent productivity.

As we progress into the ‘new normal’ business, we need to ensure that these tools and technologies are implemented in our customer care software to achieve speedy business and maximum ROI.

Categories
AI Artificial Intelligence BFSI Chat feature covid19 customer identification Customeronboarding digital banking Digital KYC Digital transformation DigitalKYC Digitalonboarding Fintech fintechs Insurance KwikID KYC One stop video kyc solution V-CIP video based kyc Video KYC Video KYC for Banks Video KYC vendors Video KYC verification VideoKYC

Insights into the Future of Digital Business

The pandemic has irreversibly changed the way we work. “Phygital” seems to be the current scenario and digital the future. Many businesses, however, had already shifted from offline to online processes long before the pandemic while the last six months have witnessed only online transactions and dealings.

Organisations have also revised their business priorities as they strive to find new solutions to accelerate the business pace and find long-term success. Traditional face-to-face methods have been replaced by tools like online wallets, e-commerce business, Video KYC for banks and insurance firms, AI-led instructions and more.

Organisations will soon start building their digital platforms while utilising advanced analytics with greater intensity. For example, DBS Bank understood the need to do more for its customers and adopted a RED mantra: Respectful, Easy to deal with, and Dependable. This involved tech-driven processes because they strongly believe that making banking joyful should involve making the ‘banking’ part, invisible.

Here’s how the country is paving the path for digital business growth.

Digitising Sales and Customer Processes

Businesses have begun to consider digital tools and processes, especially for selling a product and meeting customer process requirements. Companies are adopting and implementing a host of applications, digital payment methods, self-service platforms, digital documentation, onboarding and electronic signatures to ensure that internal operations, income and revenue continue to flow. Even the smallest of businesses have taken to digital to keep the customer inflow intact, by adopting the latest AI technology and tools like face recognition and biometric signatures, and they don’t seem to be going back to their traditional ways anytime soon.

The finance industry, including banks, NBFCs, fintech, insurance and many others now choose online processes to make business easier for customers, including opening an account through video KYC. Customers no longer need to visit the branch to complete all the formalities and fill out extensive forms. Video KYC speeds up the process ensuring they are onboarded in just two minutes!

Digital Marketing to Customers

The way companies market their products is also evolving rapidly. Given that industry gatherings have shut down, B2B companies like Slack and Zendesk have adopted new ways to engage customers via their digital video advertising strategy and generated new business leads. Digital content, especially ads directed via social media platforms need to be data-driven, personalised and displayed to the right customers for a continued boost of sales and marketing. This can also help improve efficiency and ROI.

Empowering Employees with the Right Tools

To ensure that employees reach their maximum potential in these times, it is imperative for companies to adopt technology that makes operations and processes easier and more efficient. Employees need to be educated about the latest technologies and trained on how to deal with new clientele, digitally, for maximum customer satisfaction.

For example, Kwik.ID, our Video KYC tool is enabled with customer queueing facility to reduce customer repetition. The analytics dashboard helps agents manage their time more efficiently. Finally, the Neuro Linguistic Programming software ensures agents understand and guide customers better, and (instantly) resolve their issues.

Using the Cloud for storage of enterprise applications, planning and management, workforce management, billing and many others, not only provides easier employee access to technology but also helps manage cybersecurity better as everything is housed together. It is also important for organisations to have all the documentation and customer data in one place—no matter where the agent or employee is, data can always be accessed remotely and work needn’t stop. At Think Analytics, we recommend working on-the-go, which our video KYC tool enables, by storing all the data in one place.

In the coming months, online tools like digital banking, e-wallets and video KYC can significantly benefit investors, insurance companies and agents, banked and unbanked sectors, non-banking entities and many others. While these tools boost business, they also help battle slow-moving business owing to the COVID crisis while ensuring that work continues seamlessly from anywhere across the globe.

Categories
AI Artificial Intelligence covid19 customer identification Customeronboarding Digital KYC Digital transformation DigitalKYC Digitalonboarding intermediaries KwikID KYC NPS OCR one stop video kyc pension PFRDA Social Distancing socialdistancing V-CIP video based kyc Video KYC Video KYC vendors Video KYC verification VideoKYC

PFRDA Allows Onboarding Subscribers via Video KYC (V-CIP)

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) permitted its intermediaries on October 6 to use Video based Customer Identification Process (V-CIP) for new onboarding and/or account withdrawals by National Pension System (NPS) subscribers. PFRDA’s announcement comes on the heels of IRDAI allowing life and general insurers to leverage video KYC facility, to vet customer credentials for new customer onboarding. Earlier this year, the RBI had amended the KYC norms, thereby allowing all banks and lending institutions to use V-CIP. Not to forget that most NPS distributors are regulated by the SEBI and RBI, who had already approved video based KYC. It is not surprising that  PFRDA has followed suit.

The need and benefits are many, some obvious, and some not so much.

Why was the VCIP process required?

PFRDA which regulates NPS has been constantly introducing new methods of subscriber authentication and various modes of KYC to make the overall process seamless and subscriber friendly. It has already announced a slew of measures like offline Aadhaar based onboarding, third-party reliance for KYC, OTP/ eSign based onboarding and e-exit for eNPS Subscribers.

Still, NPS subscribers were facing many challenges. For instance, they had to be present for in-person verification at the POP (Points of Physical Presence) which resulted in a delay in the process of withdrawal as well as exit. Video-Based Customer Identification Process (VCIP) will do away with the requirement of compulsory physical presence. 

VCIP allows for remote/ at-home opening of NPS account

With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing everyone into their homes, the turnaround time for onboarding processes has gone up significantly. Residential buildings have multiple rules around allowing visitors, for instance, which adds to further inconvenience and friction.

VCIP, apart from making the overall process paperless and instantaneous, also helps subscribers avail NPS services without being physically present at the POPs. The truly remote and secure nature of VCIP allows for better customer experience

Cost-effective vis-a-vis Physical KYC

Video KYC is as much about speed as it is about cost effectiveness. Processes can be designed for minimal steps (UI) and great User experience (UX). Opting for digital video identification solutions also brings down the cost compared to physical KYC. Additionally, a single agent delivers 15-20x productivity of an in-field agent. If the average cost of physical KYC of the customer would cost Rs 200, the video-based process cost will come down to 10-20 percent of the entire cost over the medium to long term.

VCIP reduces dependency on third party service providers and facilitates 2 mins onboarding process

The traditional KYC process can often take 10-15 days as there are were too many steps, entities, and checks and balances involved. On the other hand, a direct two-way audio video communication between the customer and authorized agent of the regulated entity can be established, thereby eliminating the dependency on any third party. One can complete KYC and onboarding through VCIP in a single video call, powered by intelligent queuing and experience management algorithms, as it will be a direct interaction between the customer and the representative. The humanisation of digital channels creates seamless, empathy and higher conversion rates. Well designed journeys can be executed in less than 2 minutes

Video KYC makes life easier for intermediaries as well

As per the the new guidelines, Points of Presence (PoPs) registered with PFRDA, must adhere to the V-CIP guidelines, issued by regulators for performing NPS related activities. By doing this the PFRDA intermediaries will not have any extra burden due to the introduction of the VCIP facility.

Technologists often speculate about the next wave of customer engagement. Video, with the decreasing cost of bandwidth and increasing adoption of internet based communication (such as Whatsapp Videos, Tik-Tok, Zoom, etc.), is the next big of driving customer interactions, and will increasingly be used by businesses to drive B2C interactions. The introduction of VCIP across products will also drive positive impact  in financial inclusion initiatives; bringing people who were hitherto unable to avail financial services due to geographical and access challenges, time constraints or cost factor, into the mainstream.

Categories
Artificial Intelligence Digital KYC fintechs Insurance video based kyc Video KYC for Banks Video KYC verification

A Look at How AI is Transforming the Insurance Sector

With IRDAI introducing Video KYC for insurance companies, the sector gets much relief to operate swiftly, as people turn to digital businesses and onboarding. Of course, with the introduction of this new digital tool comes the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Insurance space, which the industry is slowly but surely adapting to.

AI makes life simpler not only for the parent companies, but for insurance agents as well, who can now get detailed insights into customer interests, understand their insurance needs better, and onboard them in a jiffy, and do all of this, online. With the introduction of Video based KYC in insurance, we at Kwik.ID have noticed an instant willingness to adopt AI, among customers, agents, and companies. Here are some reasons that explain its growth trajectory.

The digital age welcomes the power of AI seeping into insurance

AI and the Insurance Sector

AI technologies aren’t a new term for businesses and are widely used across operations and applications including data analytics, automation, and natural language processing which helps understand the customer better. With AI, agents are assured of better insights regarding customers which thereby culminate into better customer service. Apart from that, AI eliminates the risk of fraud, encourages better productivity and even helps market and up-sell insurance products better. It is believed that by the next decade, AI will reshape the insurance sector with insights regarding a client’s idiosyncratic risks.

Customer Service

AI-powered chatbots add value to your business by providing top-notch support and services. They work without human intervention and also answer complex queries while supporting NeuroLinguistic Programming, which interprets and analyses the customer’s verbal statements and provides an accurate answer. These AI bots can be integrated not only into your website, but across social platforms and other digital interaction tools, so as to streamline your customer data and interactions with them. This helps the company achieve better customer engagement and productivity.

Fraud Detection and Prevention

Fraud detection is a knowledge-intensive activity which is applied across industries like banking and insurance. AI analyses historical data and identifies a set of patterns using Big Data and IoT (Internet of Things) to unlock hidden insights. Moreover, it supports e-signatures, and face detections so as to prevent any kind of fraud. At Kwik.ID, our cutting-edge Video KYC tools are integrated with AI-powered Liveliness and Face Recognition which ensures that the customer being dealt with is real and genuine.

KYC Process

Various regulators and industries have begun noticing the potential of V-KYC for a superior customer driven process that helps onboard them in minutes. IRDAI recently released a circular that permits Video KYC for insurance companies as well as for agents, which benefits everyone, including policy buyers, who can now buy with ease. The compliance process has been made simpler, physical contact has been minimised and business continues to move faster than ever before, owing to a quick video KYC process. It takes barely two minutes to onboard a customer now with our video KYC tools, so we can certainly vouch for it being a swift process.

Claims Management

AI technologies make information systems more adaptive and improve the interaction between humans and computer systems. Bots can review claims, verify policy details, check for fraud, and process payments, making the process much faster and efficient. Underwriters have a more accurate risk assessment, and applications are processed in just a fraction of time.

Insurance executives believe that AI will significantly transform the industry in the near future by enhancing the customer experience with automated personalized services. As customers embrace the digital age and AI adoption gains momentum across industries, insurance companies have begun to show signs of stepping up and transforming their processes with cutting edge technologies like AI.