New and fast-evolving threats such as synthetic identity fraud and other types of cybercrime, have made the exercise of staying ahead of fraudsters to protect consumers and provide a seamless consumer experience more and more challenging. According to Experian’s 2022 Global Identity and Fraud Report, more than 70 percent of businesses say that preventing fraud is their top concern — the highest point that figure has ever been. 

In the past, businesses relied heavily on personally identifiable information, such as name, address, date of birth and Social Security numbers to verify and authenticate individuals; however, the sheer volume of consumers’ information available on the dark web has rendered that approach ineffective when used alone. The fraud prevention industry has responded with new, specialized fraud and identity point solutions that can enhance business’ backend fraud prevention and authentication systems. Examples include device risk assessment or step-up verification services such as one-time passcodes and digital document verification. Now, there are many risk signals that can help a business verify an identity or locate a fraudster. 

Managing and optimizing all of these signals places increasing pressure on businesses in several ways. First is the operational burden of integrating and maintaining multiple fraud defense solutions. Industry research indicates that the average financial institution has more than seven integrations to external fraud and identity services.

Second, the complexity of working with various point solutions makes it difficult for businesses to optimize their workflows and manage the inevitable overlaps. Third, fraud threats are so dynamic that it’s hard to keep up – even the definition of ‘identity’, particularly in the online world, is rapidly evolving and expanding. The extensive testing required to ensure that a new capability will not compromise or “break” another risk-signal solution already in place has a high fixed cost. Not to mention, fraud prevention professionals have to constantly justify any new spend, often finding themselves in competition with investments that drive business growth, such as launching a new product.

To better address the pressures that fraud places on a business, risk managers need an integrated, multi-layered fraud and identity platform that enables easy additions of point solutions, and then consolidates and orchestrates both the identity verification, and the fraud risk signals, into a single view for more efficient decision-making.

Experian has a deep history and expertise in identity, stretching from fraud prevention to healthcare to advertising. We understand that a consumer’s identity is personal, and we have a responsibility to help businesses protect those identities while also providing a positive experience. That why for decades, we’ve helped businesses with products and services that use a layered approach to risk based authentication, identity proofing, fraud detection and more. However, as fraud prevention and leveraging identity for varied business applications have become far more sophisticated, we undertook a deliberate, companywide identity-oriented journey to tap advances in innovation from across our organization, engaging dedicated client-facing sales and support teams, and testing our integrated solutions and processes.

The result is a multi-layered product and services approach called Experian Identity that incorporates different solutions and technologies to uncover data-driven business opportunities through segmenting, targeting, acquiring, and engaging consumers. More specifically to fraud, Experian Identity includes a combination of products and strategies that enable businesses to recognize legitimate identities and identify risks while adhering to regulatory requirements and providing a positive customer experience.

Integration Speeds Decisioning & Customer Journey

With so many fraud prevention tools and resources available, deepening our clients’ connectivity to products and services across internal and external sources from a single access point is paramount to success. This integration of fraud and identity solutions, and the flexibility it provides, enables businesses to activate dynamic decisioning workflows and advanced analytics to protect consumers’ identities in real-time throughout the customer lifecycle.

A business’s ability to strategically and seamlessly leverage document verification, biometrics, and email- and device-risking capabilities, among other risk signals, enables businesses to more effectively protect consumers’ while also creating a frictionless experience. Also, by incorporating identity driven business decisioning in every brand touchpoint with every customer, the resulting customer journey when interacting with your brand becomes evidently personalized, responsive, and value-ladened.

Keeping Ahead of Fraudsters

Staying ahead of “bad actors” who misuse identity requires building and continually evolving an enterprise-scale identity solution that interconnects with your own unique data and systems to create attribute-rich profiles to more effectively recognize your customers’ identities.

The data contained in these profiles dramatically extends beyond personally identifiable information (SSN, name, address, date of birth) or even innovative data sources such as biometrics and device intelligence. It involves a level of identity awareness across a brand’s consumer journey combined with much broader, multidimensional, privacy-compliant data on a consumer’s human experience. That profound understanding of each consumer drives continued creativity and innovation in how to recognize people, accelerate their journey, and spot fraudsters. That’s Experian Identity.

The most successful solutions adapt and grow with the marketplace, empowering businesses to provide a strong, branded consumer journey to validated customers while locking out those with malicious intent. 

To learn how making identities personal builds trust and helps organizations create improved experiences for consumers and businesses, download the “Making Identities Personal” white paper.