Business leaders have been urged to build trust-based processes across their systems in order to thrive in the post-COVID-19 economy.
The co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of VerifyMe Nigeria, an identity verification and Know Your Customer (KYC) technology company, Esigie Aguele gave this advice against the backdrop of instability and risks confronting businesses as they adapt to the realities of a pandemic driven environment.
According to Aguele, trust is the new currency of business in the post COVID-19 era; adding that, it has become increasingly clear that it is a major economic driver that enables faster and more cost-effective transactions.
This he said makes it imperative for businesses to consciously invest in processes and systems that establish trust in every action, relationship and transaction.
While adding that trust will enable businesses to attract the right kind of partners in order to achieve their goals, he stressed that it will be a grave mistake for organisations to continue to view trust from the lens of a token social virtue.
“In the past few weeks, Nigeria has seen most businesses adapt their processes to work remotely in response to the repeated lockdowns. As this becomes the new normal, identity authentication and fraud solutions must become the competitive differentiator for organisations if users are to put their faith and money in them,”
“In financial service industries such as banking, insurance and credit-lending institutions, businesses have statutory and reputational-risk mandates to ensure that new customers are adequately vetted during on-boarding”, he said.
He stressed the need to verify that customer’s match who they claim to be even without physical interaction.
He also said that establishing a digital identity and KYC infrastructure will help organisations within the sector protect their ecosystems as they grapple with the expected increase in demand for their services, particularly with approving customers for loans and other forms of credit.
Explaining how organisations can balance customer needs while reducing risks and maintaining regulatory standards, Aguele pointed out that most customers are frustrated by lengthy and cumbersome on-boarding processes, which affects their trust in a company even before the relationship starts. However, he noted that businesses are also concerned about fraud prevention and regulatory compliance.
“For most organizstions, digital identity verification offers a solution to this problem,” he stressed.
