Mobile connectivity continues to be such a powerful catalyst for much of the digital transformation taking place across the globe. And never has this been called upon more, than right now.
With millions of us stuck at home, the temptations of the online, digital world are strong. As indeed is the requirement to meet many of our basic needs via digital channels. With physical premises of so many businesses closed and inaccessible, millions new to digital have found themselves thrust into cyberspace rather unceremoniously.
Mobile might facilitate access to countless services including eCommerce, banking, healthcare and insurance but it also has the power to do so much more – the ability to bring financial inclusion to the unbanked and underbanked across the developing world. Today, 1.7 billion adults around the world have no bank account, yet two-thirds of them own a mobile phone that could help them access financial services (source: GSMA). Simply owning a mobile device is not enough to drive the adoption of mobile services. Trust is key.
Before consumers carry out transactions, they need to feel that the organisations they are sourcing goods and services from are doing everything in their power to protect against security risks and potential fraud. Over half of the value of fraudulent remote payments in 2019 are estimated to have originated through mobile channels and this is expected to increase to over 70% by 2024 (source: Juniper).
With smartphones becoming more common, the door is slowly opening for biometric methods of recognition and authentication to become something mainstream. Embedding fingerprint, voice and face recognition within mobile devices is becoming reality and can help users create trusted digital identities.
Growing up, 2021 sounded just so futuristic and far away, yet the realities we face today are anything but. With so many globally still without access to the Internet SMS still has a critical tole to play in the world of security. We’ll come back to that.
In November 2009, European Union (EU) members signed and implemented a proposal designed to regulate payment services and payment providers in all EU and European Economic Area (EEA) member states. That proposal was the Payment Services Directive 1 – PSD1. Its objective was threefold: to protect customers, improve the quality of services and to stimulate competition across Europe.
The rise of the online world brought about the creation of the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), coming into force in January 2018. PSD2’s principal aim is to regulate the emerging world of Third-Party Providers, the key mechanism being the implementation of a standard level of security offered to financial services customers across all member states. This is called Strong Customer Authentication (SCA).
Businesses offering payment services within the EEA are now legally obliged to deploy additional security measures on electronic payments of more than €30. All customer-initiated transfers, such as bank transfers and single card payment are subject to SCA safeguards. Payments deemed as being initiated by merchants (such as direct debits) remain outside this directive.
Under SCA, companies now have to verify a customer’s identity by two of the three following factors (or elements): something the customer possesses – I.e. the credit card, smart card or mobile device; something only the user knows, such as a PIN or password; and something that the user is, which means biometrics. This is 2-factor authentication (2FA).
Mobile devices have become so integral to our lives and we take them everywhere. Application-to-Person (A2P) SMS is a great way to help meet SCA safeguards. 2FA today is most commonly deployed using A2P SMS as the primary delivery channel, with Voice sometimes appearing as a back-up.
Regulation or not, leaving the security of clients to chance means competitors will use this weakness to their advantage, positioning themselves as being truly customer-centric. 2FA is not an option, rather a necessity for Enterprises in order to build and maintain trust. And Intis Telecom is here to fulfil your authentication requirement using the powers of SMS. Whether you call it Bulk SMS, A2P SMS, Business SMS or just plain SMS, the channel is critical to the business of building trust. Trust us to deliver rapidly and accurately 24/7.
