Today’s landscape is a competitive one, with businesses always on the lookout for new technologies and improved ways of doing things that increase speed, efficiency, and, of course, security. So it’s no surprise that the global market for biometrics is booming, as organisations across a range of industries realise its potential, beyond traditional security applications.
Argus has a longstanding history in government and high-threat environments, but over the last few years, we have seen rapid growth in the adoption of biometrics across the commercial space. Increasingly, we are designing biometric solutions for clients who want to improve their business processes.
Whether it be in banking and finance, where biometrics is enabling secure, multiple authorisation points for international transfers, or childcare where biometrics is keeping tabs on staff movements and all-important child-to-carer ratios, we are seeing an explosion in the application of biometrics. We are working across such a wide range of industries, including retail, manufacturing, finance, and even data centres.
Biometrics keeps data safe
As more and more physical IT infrastructure moves into the cloud, essentially putting mountains of potentially sensitive data online, smart organisations are looking for security solutions that provide certainty of identity. At Argus, we are seeing growing demand for our complete identity management system when it comes to securing server rooms and racks. As our world moves online, we need to be providing secure access to information with full audit trails and biometrics is, in my opinion, the best way to achieve this.
The possibilities are endless
Recently, we were recognised in the Australian Financial Review’s AFR Fast 100 growing companies as an Australian success story, and while these accolades are always exciting, we believe we have only scratched the surface when it comes to what biometrics can really achieve.
As technology becomes more and more dominant in every part of our lives, so must security and efficiency. When so much of our lives are played out online and interacting with automated and robotic systems, the need to quickly determine identity is at the forefront, and end-user adoption of biometrics is on the rise. What was once the bastion of organisations in the security space is rapidly becoming mainstream, with the everyday consumer becoming comfortable with the technology to interact with their mobile device, endorse payments, or prove their identity at an airport. This acceptance will only grow – with technology constantly evolving, the possibilities are endless.
Think about the driver-less car, for example, a technology that is on the cusp of introduction to everyday life. Where you have many ‘drivers’ using one vehicle, making sure the company and the individual are adequately insured will require certainty of identity – that’s a huge market. Or the smart city concept, whereby data and analytics are used to drive economic activity, manage resources and keep transport moving, security and certainty of identity will be key.
The market is growing across the globe
The future is bright for the biometrics industry, in fact, according to a recent report by Grand View Research, the global industry will reach $59.3b US by 2025.
The North American market is currently the biggest in the world, but we are seeing substantial growth across the globe. In the Asia Pacific, biometrics is being used to manage everything from healthcare to transport. In fact, it’s the fastest growing market in the biometrics space, driven by large populations and wide acceptance of mobile technologies.
At Argus, we saw the global potential of biometrics when we started, some twenty years ago, and have been expanding our footprint across the globe. Alongside our headquarters in Australia, we now have offices in the UK, Czech Republic, and the United Arab Emirates, where we are seeing the adoption of a wide range of biometric technologies to improve business outcomes across security, profit protection, workforce management, business process, and workflow.
With change the only constant, we may not know exactly what the future looks like, but one thing is clear: organisations who put biometrics at the centre of their organisations now will see benefits today, while also putting themselves on the front foot for tomorrow – whatever that looks like.