In the vast digital ecosystem, where countless messages are exchanged every second, establishing trust and authenticity is more crucial than ever. Addressing this need, MEF hosted an insightful fireside chat that heated things up during the MEF CONNECTS Omnichannel event. This session, titled “Identity, Verification & Risk Analysis Unpacked – The REAL Story,” brought together industry experts to delve into the daunting yet achievable goal of verifying the authenticity of every entity within the messaging ecosystem.
With the global landscape hosting hundreds of millions of businesses and government agencies, the creation of a universally trusted architectural framework for messaging presents a significant challenge. However, the session demonstrated that this goal is not only essential but also within reach.
John Bruner, CEO of Aegis Mobile, and James Williams, Director of Programmes at MEF, provided valuable insights into the methods and technologies driving this objective forward. The fireside chat offered a glimpse into the future of secure and trusted digital communications, underscoring the industry’s continuous efforts to evolve and address these challenges.
The Changing Landscape of Business Communications
With the backdrop of the fast-evolving digital ecosystem, Bruner shared his company’s journey from its roots, dating back to 2006, in the premium SMS industry to its expansion into various other channels, including direct carrier billing, shortcodes, SMS, 10DLC, RCS, Location Services, IoT, and Mobile Operator Identity platforms. This expansion highlighted the need for businesses to continually evolve and adapt to the changing landscape of digital communication.
Aegis’ approach to compliance involves a comprehensive lifecycle of compliance services that includes understanding a business’s identity and behavioral history, ensuring program compliance before launch, ongoing monitoring, business performance, and customer complaint analysis. This approach is key to maintaining and growing integrity and trust in digital business communications.”
The session emphasized the critical role of identity verification and behavioral risk analysis in establishing trust in business communications. Aegis’ automated platform Aegis Identity and Integrity Investigation Management System (AI3MS) was discussed as a prime example of a system offering diverse vetting depths based on associated risks. Processing companies more than 180 countries, AI3MS addresses the global demand for reliable identity verification.
Lifecycle Approach to Compliance and Monitoring
Aegis’ approach to compliance involves a comprehensive lifecycle of compliance services that includes understanding a business’s identity and behavioural history, ensuring program compliance before launch, ongoing monitoring, business performance, and customer complaint analysis. This approach is key to maintaining and growing integrity and trust in digital business communications.
Bruner said the company’s previous work in the premium SMS sector played a significant role in developing processes, tools, and technologies used today by Aegis to prevent fraud.
This includes collecting and analyzing vast amounts of data to not only identify and shut down fraudulent actors but to keep them from returning as new entities. Aegis’ success in this area demonstrated the effectiveness of its lifecycle approach, which has since been adapted to other communication channels and industries.
The conversation between Bruner and Williams also covered the complexities of operating globally, including compliance with various regulations like GDPR in Europe and the Poppy Act in South Africa. Aegis’ ability to navigate these complexities shows the importance of having a nuanced understanding of global regulations.
Looking Ahead: The Future of Business Messaging
Ending the chat, Bruner touched on the growing complexities of the digital communication space, acknowledging the challenges posed by the increasing number of entities and the need for robust verification processes. He underscored the importance of agility and flexibility in identity verification and risk analysis services, which are crucial for maintaining trust and integrity in business communications.
Lastly, he demonstrated the need for varying levels of identity and behavioral analysis to cover relevant risk identification for different business channels. The purpose is to do what is needed to stop fraud and not more or less. This ensures an environment that supports high volume, low cost, and low friction onboarding of businesses, ultimately enabling an entire market, country, or region to register businesses within a trusted identity and vetting platform.
Bruner maintained an optimistic outlook on the capabilities of the industry to innovate and meet these emerging challenges. He said his vision for the future includes a more interconnected and secure digital ecosystem where businesses can communicate with assurance and consumers can engage with confidence
MEF CONNECTS Omnichannel 2023
Taking place at the prestigious event facilities of The Honourable Society Of The Inner Temple in London MEF CONNECTS Omnichannel brought together stakeholders from across the Messaging ecosystem globally for the perfect stage to review mobile engagement strategies, build new partnerships, identify new target audiences, integrate innovative ideas and expand knowledge of this constantly evolving area.
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