Henry, an accountant, always takes the train on his way to the office. That particular day, he missed his usual cut-off time of leaving home and had to rush to the train station. He was terribly late for work and didn’t have a minute to swipe the card or scan the code to pay for his ticket. Then, Henry reaches the terminal and just places his index finger to purchase the ticket and proceeds to catch the train.
Sounds like a scene of a sci-fi movie, right? What if I tell you this is happening right now?
Well, that is biometric authentication, where an individual’s unique physical traits are captured and stored by electronic devices. The captured information will be used to authenticate the individual’s identity when making a purchase.
It is no secret that we often struggle to remember our passwords or PIN numbers. So, we resort to having our birthdays or our name as our password or PIN. Ironically, this also means we leave our sensitive data out in the open.
With the global adaptation of mobile payments, the pressing need for a more secure system, as opposed to the existing authentication systems, is on the rise. Fingerprint scanning, iris recognition, and facial recognition are some of the biometric systems now in place.
It does come with a slew of advantages like higher security, improved customer experience, and customer retention. But, on the flip side, the concern of personal information, especially one’s unique traits being out in the open, is a problem. Also, installing biometric systems requires a considerable investment that often retailers shy away from.
What does the future hold?
Biometric adoption will be the future of the payment industry. And it is an innovation-driven by institutions and individuals wanting an upgrade from password/PIN input. Right from wearables to injectable chips, the idea of biometric authentication seems to have taken root.
The world of payments keeps evolving with many futuristic trends in payment processing every day. Explore more.
It looks as if the future is just a step away………. Or rather a scan away.
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