Expanding beyond the credit and banking industries and into markets like
government will expose ID Analytics' ID Network and related technology to
anyone who needs to confirm an identity, including corporations issuing
credentials for sensitive projects and facilities. This will present an
interesting test for ID Analytics' plans.
"I don't think the average corporation will pay for it," said Avivah Litan,
VP and research director, payments and fraud, at Gartner. But Litan does see
one way in which ID Analytics' business model can expand and open up new
opportunities. If the company could get enough revenue and mature so it
could provide a service like a credit bureau, which performs quick ID scores
for a fairly nominal cost, then it would appeal to a much wider audience.
Of course, nothing brings down prices like competition, and according to
Litan, ID Analytics could have some company from some familiar faces soon.
Litan said Fair Isaac has a very similar concept for fraud scoring in the
works, and Fair Isaac, with products in use by 80 percent of U.S. card
issuer market, could be a formidable opponent.
Costs will drive whatever happens in the future of identity scoring. While
both ID Analytics and Fair Isaac have an opportunity by scoring identities
for new accounts, there's quite a distinction between new accounts and
ongoing activity.
"It comes down to 'Are you better with a front-end system or a back-end
system?'" Litan said. Potential customers will have to ask if they are
better off looking at suspicious activity, or issuing some type of token to
confirm identities during ongoing activity.
ID fraud may be a 21st century problem brought on by a world of convenience,
but Litan said the solutions will rely on something as old as identity
itself: "It really comes down to cost."
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