Businesses face countless risks in the modern world, including fraudulent activity that can take place right under their noses. Some less talked about, but very serious examples of fraud can include money laundering, which can land unsuspecting business executives and employees behind bars.
Reducing fraud is important–not only because it can cost your business financially, but because it can land you in hot water and damage your reputation. The trouble is, it’s tough for businesses to stay on top of who their customers are and what they’re doing, which is why technology is stepping in to automate the process.
Is Fraud Really a Big Deal?
Fraud can range from severe cases of money laundering to smaller, more easily looked activities like synthetic identity theft. It’s a fact that, as our world becomes more digitized, we’re all at risk of schemes that grow more deceptive and devious with ease passing year–and most of them go entirely unnoticed until it’s too late.
In order to stay ahead of the latest threats, businesses are turning to technology to give them insight into the people and institutions they’re dealing with. Measures like identify and business verification will help make the digital world safer for everyone, but it’s up to your business to implement this tech and utilize it consistently.
How Business Verification Works
Governments and various organizations share an ever-evolving set of standards to help guide businesses in their pursuit of a more secure approach, but it’s up to your business to understand and implement these guidelines. Know Your Business, or KYB (Know Your Business), helps summarize the best practices in business verification.
With a KYB strategy, you’ll be able to minimize the risk of fraudulent activities occurring on your own watch, identifying potential money laundering schemes and other threats before they get out of hand. The whole KYB concept is an extension of the Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines that many companies are already following to verify company data.
Whether you’re working with people or companies, KYB practices will help you standardize processes so that you collect a set of information that is then checked against blacklists and grey lists to ensure accuracy and validity, and make sure that no one you’re working with is involved with criminal activities. It really comes down to due diligence, and the right technology is helping to automate it.
Implementing an Identity Verification Process
At the end of the day, most businesses struggle with pursuing KYB and other guidelines because of one simple problem: It’s complicated. Getting all of the stakeholders around a conference table to talk about what’s needed and the best way to move forward is time-consuming, and the issue of identify verification is often pushed off until something goes wrong.
The reality is that businesses cannot continue to ignore the importance of identity verification and similar protocols any longer. With security and privacy becoming more pressing issues by the day, and with evolving regulations that are holding businesses responsible when they unknowingly play a role in fraud, your company simply can’t afford to wait.
Fortunately, modern identity verification solutions are making it easier to implement and follow KYB practices and other guidelines. The key is taking the time to research potential solutions and figure out what’s right for your company. Once you do, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that your business is safe from expensive fraud that could hinder growth, harm your reputation, and even cost you large sums of money.
