smooth digital transactions key to business survival in pandemic

Business

'Smooth digital transactions key to business survival in pandemic'

A new global and India study by the Economist Intelligence Unit for TransUnion has overwhelmingly found the key to whether or not companies go out of business hinges on providing consumers friction-right digital transactions.

As many as 94 per cent of India and 85 per cent of global executives surveyed as part of the study said they believe smooth transactions are "essential to business survival", rather than merely a competitive edge.

"Covid-19 has dramatically accelerated digital transformation with 61 per cent of our global survey respondents saying their organisation has changed their digital transaction process due to the pandemic," said Shaleen Srivastava, Executive Vice President and head of Fraud, Solutions and Alternate Data at TransUnion in India.

"But all of this digital progress will be wiped out if we can't remove these barriers to building bilateral digital trust. For instance, two-thirds of global executives in the study who said their company changed their digital transaction process as a result of the pandemic experienced glitches."

The report, "New Dimensions of Change: Building Trust in a Digital Consumer Landscape," included responses from 162 executives from India, and 1,448 executives in Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, the Philippines, South Africa, the UK and the US. The research uncovered how technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), national digital IDs and super-apps can help overcome hurdles and possibly create new challenges to building digital trust.

In the survey, large number of respondents said biometrics will be the dominant payment customer authentication method while improved fraud detection and security is the greatest benefit to using AI and a national digital ID system will help prevent consumer fraud.

Approximately 93 per cent of India and 85 per cent of global executives say biometrics are likely to be used to authenticate the vast majority of payments in the next 10 years. About 37 per cent of India and 43 per cent of global respondents noted that improved fraud detection and security is the greatest benefit to using AI. This was the top selection by far with smoother customer experience being the second most used answer globally at 29 per cent worldwide and 27 per cent in India.

Furthermore, the vast majority of executives, 95 per cent in India and 79 per cent globally, think national digital IDs will help fraud prevention in consumer transactions.

"Ensuring consumer trust starts with preventing fraud. Our research overwhelmingly showed that biometrics, AI and national digital IDs aren't just a fad for consumer fraud prevention. They are key for trusted commerce for the foreseeable future," said Srivastava.

In the survey, about 91 per cent of India and 73 per cent of global executives believe consumers are comfortable sharing personal data with private companies, while nearly 71 per cent of worldwide and 93 per cent of India executives believe consumers are comfortable sharing personal data with governments.

Brazilian, Chinese and Dominican Republican executives have vastly differing views about whether or not consumers are willing to share data with private companies versus government bodies (more than 10 per cent difference in each country between sharing with governments and companies).

Chinese respondents believe consumers are much more comfortable sharing personal data with government bodies than companies. Brazilian and Dominican Republican executives have the opposite belief.