Throughout January at FindBiometrics we are examining the results of our 12th annual biometrics industry Year in Review. This year we received more responses than ever before, compiling the opinions of over 150 identity industry experts and professionals.
Last week we took a look at what the industry’s brightest minds thought of as the hottest space in identity management last year. This week we are turning our gaze to the next 12 months, examining what the industry has chosen as the most exciting vertical markets for 2015 in terms of biometrics and identity management.
The Year of Biometric Banking?
The most immediate difference between our participants’ projections for this year and reflections on 2014 is how banking fits in. When we looked at the industry picks for last year’s hottest spaces, we observed a very notable dissonance between mobile payments and biometric banking. When we turn the question into excitement for 2015 however, the gap between payments and banking is dramatically shortened.
Mobile payments still takes the lead here, and understandably so: the number of biometrics enabled mobile payment solutions slated for rolling out this year is unprecedented. The Biometric MasterCard, Apple Pay competitors and the already newly released devices from Natural Security Alliance members give reason to believe that 2015 will be even more filled with mobile payment solutions.
In 2014 though, we saw the strong differentiation between banking and payments as areas of application. While parties involved with banking necessarily took their time to set the stage with major partnerships and the due diligence that high risk financial transactions require, the payments industry beamed its way into the hands of an early adopting consumer public.
Judging by the results of the above graph, the industry was paying attention to the partnerships and pilot projects centered around biometric banking, and there has been a build up of excitement for this area in 2015.
Only time will tell if this is the year that will see biometrics see major adoption in the world of banking, but the foundation setting in 2014 has certainly stoked the industry which has long been waiting for increased traction in this particular area of finance.
Healthcare
Another segment that has people more excited for the coming months despite not receiving as much attention in our first survey question is healthcare. In regards to strong authentication, biometrics have long been touted as a solution to allow for mobility and connectivity in clinics and hospitals, cleaning up and securing electronic health records.
In 2014 the biometrics companies active in this field were few, but those that made the news helped champion strong authentication in this high demand areas. BIO-key International, for instance, announced a number of partnerships that will see its fingerprint technology integrated into EHR platforms. Lumidigm was also active in EHR, helping track vaccination records around the world.
Entering 2015 a number of things have changed that position healthcare as a hotbed for biometric innovation. One new ingredient this year is the beginning of what seems to be a proliferation of vital biometrics technology which is frequently being used in remote health monitoring applications that leverage mobile devices and wearables. There is a potential opportunity for strong authentication applications in this area that seems untapped as of this writing.
The increased affordability of high grade biometric technology is also key here, and as premium strong authentication solutions lower in price, they become more attractive to hospitals.
Looking Up For The Verticals
Aside from the education market, which found itself decidedly in last place as far as excitement from our experts goes (despite there being a demand for time and attendance solutions in the market), there is a healthy amount of enthusiasm for biometrics going into 2015 across all vertical markets listed.
Law enforcement will likely continue to adopt biometrics for time track and criminal identification purposes as it did in 2014, and now that the FBI’s Next Generation Identification program is online, such solutions are even more powerful for agencies in the United States.
The border control markets were exciting for all of last year, and that enthusiasm seems poised to continue this year as Automated Border Control solutions continue their march into projected global ubiquity.
Cloud services are more exciting this year too, as more vendors recognize the demand for ID as a Service (IDaaS) solutions, particularly in enterprises. The same goes for physical access control, which thanks to the efforts of biometrics companies like EnterTech Systems and Suprema Inc, are being made more appealing through a pointed effort to eliminate adoption barriers. Throw in the rising popularity of the Internet of Things and you can bet that biometrics will continue to unlock doors of innovation.
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Stick with FindBiometrics next week as we continue to examine the results of our Year in Review. Join in the conversation by following us on Twitter and using the hashtag #FBYearInReview.
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January 14, 2015 – by Peter B. Counter
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