CIO South Africa’s latest Associate Partner believes that the community fosters a collaborative environment for IT executives and professionals, encouraging knowledge sharing, and networking opportunities.
iiDENTIFii, an award-winning face authentication and identity verification platform, has thrown its support behind the CIO South Africa community. According to the company, it recognises the immense value of connecting with decision-makers within the CIO South Africa community on a neutral platform, enabling them to forge meaningful relationships and drive innovative solutions together.
In fact, iiDENTIFii saw that value first-hand in September this year, when they presented at the second instalment of the CIO South Africa Pitch Parade. Lance Fanaroff, co-founder of iiDENTIFii, reflected on the company’s story during his presentation, and said that iiDENTIFii originated from a fundamental passion to eradicate identity theft. The technology balances speed and safety, while offering trust and convenience, in its suite of biometric authentication solutions. “Our platform has advanced facial recognition capabilities,” he told a captivated audience.
Of course, business and new partnerships are definitely top of mind for iiDENTIFii, but their purpose, Lance says, extends beyond that.
“Our commitment extends beyond business interests,” he explains. “We aim to make a positive impact on individuals' lives and careers within the CIO South Africa community, empowering them with the resources and support they need to thrive in their roles.
“By supporting the CIO South Africa community,” Lance adds, “we seek to inspire organisations to adopt cutting-edge technologies and best practices, thus contributing to the overall growth and advancement of South Africa's, and indeed the continent’s, IT landscape.”
This is important because iiDENTIFii’s association with CIO South Africa is born out of a shared vision with the community, of driving down-to-earth engagement, world-class events, and compelling original content that elevates the IT sector, elevates professionals, and ultimately contributes to a better, more tech-savvy South Africa.
Responding to CIOs technology needs
Lance believes that as digitisation accelerates, the demand for liveness detection and identity authentication services will equally become as crucial. “CIOs are searching for solutions that provide additional security as online identity fraud, impersonations, and cyber-attacks become more sophisticated,” he notes.
“As biometric technology only recently started making its way into the mainstream, he explains, “CIOs are still unsure of what the technology entails and how it may be used – that’s where we step in to assist.”
Where business requires onboarding customers or employees remotely and securely, a robust digital identity solution must be a core consideration. iiDENTIFii is able to provide that service. Their solution provides companies with fraud protection and security enhancement, while improving customer experience and ensuring that clients remain POPIA and GDPR compliant.
What’s in it for CIOs? 4D Liveness™, perhaps. A solution that guarantees genuine presence, including proof of liveness, the ability to confirm that an individual is a real person, and present right now, in addition to facial authentication, which matches faces to trusted images using machine learning technology, identity document verification, the capability to assess the authenticity of specified ID documentation, and extract the data, and facial biometric verification, which is triangulation of information with institutions such the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) just to mention a few.
These solutions, according to Lance, are not just for show, they have the capability to assist CIOs with very real and daily challenges.
“CIOs need to act swiftly against cyber-crime, and identity verification is central to that,” he explains. “If you have an in-built solution that ensures only customers and employees who are known, verified and authenticated have access to your digital platform, you are in a much stronger position to deter fraudulent activity.”
That’s from a cybersecurity perspective, but how are CIOs adding business value today? “The role of the CIO is critical because the CIO can match business goals with transformative technologies,” he reveals.
In fact, Lance is of the view that IT leaders need to couple their pre-existing knowledge of infrastructure with a vision for the future. He says that the CIO can take the steps required to make tech infrastructure changes strategically and securely.
“The CIO is no longer implementing digital solutions, but rather leading the organisation on a path to digital maturity,” he concludes.
