The market for global electronic Identity Verification (eIDV) is already large and growing rapidly. From financial institutions who need to on board international customers to e–commerce marketplaces driving down fraud by verifying the identity of sellers on their platform, eIDV solutions are helping verify and build trust with new customers in a variety of different industries. Even social networks are seeing the benefits of verifying the identities of their members to keep out bad actors and harmful users. 

With this growth, multinational companies are now relying on electronic global identity verification services to meet their Know Your Customer (KYC) needs and remain compliant with Anti-Money Laundering regulations.  

While it can be hugely effective when done right, eIDV solutions must be tailored to specific customer needs in order to be effective. There’s no such thing as a “one size fits all” eIDV solution. Different types of customers bring unique challenges.  Localized data solutions like our Worldview platform allow companies tailor their on-boarding systems to reduce friction for international customers and meet compliance requirements in multiple jurisdictions.  

The Power of Localized Data

In every case, localized data from in-country data experts will always be better than a generic data solution for companies. Here are a few reasons why:  

1. Local data partners are considered to be experts in their region.

 They will have deep local knowledge, which is a key requirement when working with a service or process that spans many languages, alphabets, and business customers. 

By serving clients in their home countries, they are familiar with the legal and political environment. Even more importantly, local data experts live and breathe their own standards of data compilation, making them able to understand their specific region’s data privacy regulations better than anyone else.   

2. The depth of coverage that local data experts can provide is second to none.

Local data experts represent a wide range of businesses from large credit bureaus to small data quality firms. Meaning when you work with local data experts, you’ll also be able to gain access to more data sources and inputs. Since most local data experts own their data on their own servers, you’ll gain access to these more robust, refined data elements options that get refreshed more frequently.  

Having more data and knowledge about the region you cover – as local data sources naturally do – ensures a better interpretation of the output information for your company. It will prevent false positives and thereby increases match rates. 

3. Customer feedback allows for reliability.

Local experts are focused completely on serving the needs of customers or users from the same local market. Customers of local address engines are also providing constant feedback about the accuracy of the local provider’s outputs. This is a great resource base for constantly improving the output results. Reliability is baked in. Globalized generic solutions that don’t have a strong customer/user footprint in local markets don’t benefit from this same user feedback loop meaning, they can’t iterate improvements at the same rate as a local provider that is directly accountable to its clients for results. 

For these reasons, local sources of data are much better when it comes to international identity verification. They will generate a more accurate output result and a better result for users whether they are locally or globally located. 

Creating a Shared Vision 

Local data experts are extremely relationship-driven. Many of these private data businesses are still run by their original founders. They are proud of what they have spent their lives building, and they don’t want to work with just anyone. They want to work with organizations they know they can trust.  

 So how do we build up the trust factor with potential data partners? 

Whether it is with a partner in Brazil, Argentina, or Colombia, building that relationship should always start in the same place — creating a shared vision of how identity verification can help enable consumers and businesses globally. 

The Data Consortium Model 

For example, here at Global Data Consortium (GDC), we have lofty ambitions. Our goal is to be the one point of access for businesses that use global electronic identity verification, offering the most countries with the deepest coverage and most data elements possible, which is why we believe so deeply in the power of localized data. 

The foundation for our cloud–based platform, Worldview, is our data partner network, which is made up of businesses that collect and maintain identity information in their home countries. They are our Consortium members, and without integrating into their services, we could not meet our goals. 

So, how do we invest in relationships to build mutual trust with our data partners? 

When we enter a partnership, we create clear expectations with our data partners for what their services must be able to do for our customers. We ensure high quality by testing what they have. We help them with enabling technology if they need it, but we also make the relationship a two-way street. Not only do partners provide us with access to their data, but we also let them use the full GDC platform so they can offer a wider set of products to their own customers.  

Most importantly, however, we get to know them personally. This seemingly minor detail counts so much when building a real-time electronic identity verification platform that relies on a broad network of global suppliers. 

Having a personal connection is part of the GDC Way and a big part of the reason companies with valuable data assets choose to partner with us. 

For businesses that need to know the identities of their customers all over the world, Global Data Consortium provides a single access point to local, high-quality reference data via our cloud-based platform. Through Worldview, our identity verification platform, we are able to provide access in over 50 countries around the world. We do this with the help of our strategic partners, who are local experts with access to the best in-country sources of information. To learn more about what we do or to request a proof of concept to test the functionality of our data for your business needs, visit us at globaldataconsortium.com. 

For more information about GDC, reach out to us at sales@globaldataconsortium.com