With so much data flowing through modern organizations, verifying that the information on file is correct has become increasingly more difficult.
If a company fails to verify the names, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers of their users, the overall experience of end users will decline, and the company can end up putting itself at risk.
Global data quality company Melissa came out with its Personator Identity tool in order to fight against this potential business problem, and allow users to be sure that the data they have on file is up to date and accurate.
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“If customers will give us a name, address, and date of birth, we then do a real time call to one of the credit bureaus to see if the data matches against the data that they have,” said Michael Lee, sales engineer at Melissa. “After, we will give the status of that data back to the client and say that the name matched, the national ID matched, the address matched, but maybe the date of birth did not match, so we didn’t return that.”
The Personator Identity tool works to verify individuals in real time using several different matching options.
The first option is Proof of Address, which verifies that only the name and address match. The second is Identity Verification (eIDV), meaning that name, address, date of birth, national ID, phone numbers, and emails all match.
The last option is 2×2 Match, which takes two pieces of information, like name and date of birth, and confirms a match against two authoritative sources, like a credit agency, utility company or PEP list (Politically Exposed Persons).
What is particularly important about this process is that it takes place in real time. Therefore, adequate checks are made seamlessly while onboarding a new customer which is ideal for financial, insurance and retail service providers to deliver a smooth customer experience while protecting against fraud and ensuring appropriate KYC/AML compliance.
“The whole objective is to make sure that you know your customer, and make sure that you are not onboarding anyone that is putting in any fake information,” Lee explained.
According to the company, Personator Identity also screens individuals against national watch lists so organizations can be aware if a name pops up on lists such as politically exposed persons, government sanctions, anti-terrorism, anti-money laundering, and government agency.
Lee stated that this is intended to allow companies to be aware of any potential risk that they may be exposing themselves to. This helps to avoid any backlash that could come from associating with certain political figures or other “high risk individuals.”
“The idea with national watch lists is to ensure that you are not onboarding anyone that has ties with FBI most wanted terrorists, or anyone that might cause potential threat or risk of fines due to the laws,” said Lee.
This all translates to users being able to establish a heightened level of trust with their customer base. By having the ability to verify their information and be sure that the data they have submitted is accurate, businesses can feel confident with the customers that they are allowing to be onboarded.
Lee also explained that the Personator Identity tool works to cleanse and standardize users data so that when it is checked against different databases for accuracy, it is as easily digestible as possible.
“With Personator Identity, this is built in. So, what we do is grab the data that was submitted, do the cleansing and validation step, and then we send it out to different providers to check if it matches or not,” Lee said.
To learn more about Melissa Personator Identity, visit the website.
