Features

Study Shows Consumer Worldwide Prefer Biometrics

By Sophia Mayengbam

Nearly 70 percent of consumers worldwide favor using biometrics technologies such as fingerprints or voice recognition administered by organisations, such as banks or healthcare providers, as a way to verify an individual’s identity, according to new global research from Unisys Corporation. The research conducted by the Ponemon Institute for Unisys, also found that 66 percent of consumers worldwide also favored biometrics as the ideal method to combat fraud and identity theft as compared to other methods such as smart cards and tokens.

This finding shows a slight increase from the separate research that Unisys conducted in September 2005, which found 61 percent of consumer’s worldwide favored biometrics as the preferred method to fight fraud and identity theft.

Scott Whyman, Vice President and General Manager, Unisys Asia South said the research is revealing since many headlines today seem to question biometric adoption because of legitimate privacy concerns. He added, “System developers and owners must address those concerns so that these technologies can move toward the mainstream on a large scale with appropriate protection and sensitivity.”

The research also revealed that convenience was the top reason for biometrics support with 82 percent citing the benefit of not having to remember separate passwords or other login data. More than three quarters of consumers cited improving the speed of the identity verification process as their primary reason for using biometrics.

The research found that voice recognition is the most favoured authentication method, cited by 32 percent of respondents, followed by fingerprints (27 percent), facial scan (20 percent), hand geometry (12 percent) and iris scans (10 percent).

Fig. 1: Pie Chart Showing Preference Among Voice, Fingerprints, Facial Scan, Hand and Iris Scans Biometric

Consumers from North America support biometrics for identity verification more than any other region (71 percent), followed by Europe (69 percent) and Asia Pacific (68 percent). In contrast, Latin Americans were the least supportive (58 percent).

Fig. 2: Bar Graph Showing Biometrics Support in Various Regions of the World

The use of biometric solutions is expected to rise in the years to come as industry leaders plan to move towards the technology for products as e-passports, travel and customs applications, healthcare verification records, financial data, law enforcement and other situations.

Whyman said. “Companies and governments can achieve the benefits of secure business operations with biometrics solutions through added efficiency and greater customer service.”