Year in Review: The Consensus Solidifies on Biometrics Testing

Professionals in biometrics and adjacent industries have long agreed on the importance of standardized testing of biometric technologies, but that consensus may be strengthening further.

That’s one way to interpret some of the latest results from FindBiometrics’ Year in Review survey. The question at hand here concerned whether respondents agreed with the following statement: “Standardized biometric testing is crucial for the industry’s future.” And, as in last year’s results, an overwhelming majority concurred: 40 percent said they “Agree”, and 51 percent said they “Strongly agree”. Meanwhile, only seven percent said they “Disagree”, and two percent said they “Strongly disagree”.

It’s a very similar result to the previous year’s answers on this question, when 41 percent said they “Agree” and 48 percent said they “Strongly agree” that standardized testing is crucial for the industry’s future. Back then, however, 11 percent answered in the negative, whereas only nine percent disagreed in this latest survey.

It’s not a big change, but it does suggest that the consensus around the importance of standards-based testing is solidifying. Likewise, the infrastructure supporting this kind of testing is also strengthening: for example, iBeta, the NVLAP-accredited testing lab renowned for its Presentation Attack Detection evaluation program, became a certified provider of Mastercard’s Formal Approval Services last spring; likewise the FIDO Alliance accredited three additional testing laboratories in the first half of 2019 as well. Alongside this trend, industry leaders like FaceTec continue to leverage their success in biometric testing programs like those offered by iBeta to make a strong case for their solutions in the market.

Of course, not everyone can make such claims; but that’s the whole point of standards-based testing. Objective, third-party assessments help every participating company to assess how it’s doing in absolute terms and relative to its competition, and these are evidently valuable benefits to the industry professionals who participated in FindBiometrics’ latest Year in Review survey.

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The 2019 FindBiometrics Year in Review is made possible by our sponsors: Aware, Inc., Clear, IDEMIA, SecuGen, Iris ID, FacePhi, Jumio, BioConnect, BIO-key.

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January 27, 2020 – by Alex Perala