Investing in Biometrics-as-a-Service in Border Control

This ABI Insight will delve into some top-level findings regarding Biometrics-as-a-Service (BaaS) from ABI Research’s latest Biometrics in Border Control (AN-5243) report exploring various applications, opportunities, and challenges in border control. As a critical, high-value market it comes as no surprise that border control is continuously adopting more biometrics technologies, spanning everything from traveler authentication, processing, and boarding to law enforcement and surveillance operations.

In total, biometric device revenue in border control stands at approximately US$1.2 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach US$1.45 billion by 2024, when surveillance camera device revenues operating in land borders, seaports, and airports will hit US$1.8 billion. This influx of biometric devices (especially the IP-connected ones) creates the perfect ecosystem that is ripe for new monetization options. There are still quite a few profitable monetization options in the border control market landscape for biometric applications, and ABI Research recommends two key suggestions to implementers aiming to get a better foothold in this key market:

If You Are a New Market Entrant, Start by Expanding Your Influence on User Biometrics. To create a more user-friendly and convenient approach to biometric registration, ID management, and the creation of boarding passes, users can make use of their e-passports and the camera of their mobile handsets to create their own biometric profiles. This can be done by enabling the Near-Field Communication (NFC) controller to allow the personal device to become a High Frequency (HF) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader and read the data stored in the e-passport chip which is then paired with the user photo and used to create a biometric token for their upcoming journey.

From that point on, that biometric token can be used in lieu of traditional government documents or Electronic Machine-Readable Travel Documents (e-MRTD), thus controlling the very first ID registration at the start of the biometric value chain in border control. This can work for every market vendor, but is especially useful for new entrants that lack the capital or portfolio for this market and may further build upon it with additional partnerships from border and travel authorities, as well as initial pilots with airlines or governmental agencies in various other land borders or sea ports.

If You Are an Intermediate or Established Vendor, then Expand Your Ccustomers’ ROI by Following the Stakeholders’ KPI. Established vendors are instead advised to see to the unique needs of the border authorities and stakeholders. In border control, stakeholders include port operators (e.g,. airport, seaport), governmental or private enterprises overseeing land crossings, government agencies, consular and immigration entities, law enforcement and border control authorities, civil/transport/aviation organizations, and industry bodies and travel-specific organizations that are expected to be among the first implementers (e.g., airlines).

Coordination among said stakeholders is not an easy task, especially when a new biometric project arises (e.g,. automated biometric e-gates or kiosks) or new monetization strategies have to be formulated and tested in order to justify any potential new infrastructure upgrades that might be required. In order to show your customers the Return on Investment (ROI) results they expect, try to follow (and ideally expand) their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as well as the key objectives of the border authorities. These may include more standard and straightforward KPIs, like increasing customer convenience, security, and employee management, increasing passenger flow, decreasing overall traveler processing, and streamlining biometric e-gate and kiosk processing time while still keeping an eye on False Accept/False Reject (FAR/FRR) thresholds. Further, it can also include emerging KPIs such as cross-database biometric data sharing, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), cryptography, and data protection, cybersecurity orchestration, law enforcement and agency collaboration, surveillance, behavioral biometrics and advanced video analytics, device and asset management, and others.

Investing in the development of BaaS in border control should be carefully planned. The key objective is to create a sustainable revenue flow that can set the foundation for further monetization options over time in an organic, yet strategic, manner and move away from standard biometric hardware one-time sales. The goal is not to simply expand one’s biometric solutions and overall identity management portfolio by adding a few platform or software services as additional options. Rather, it should be seen as a vital monetization strategy that (much like the burgeoning urbanization, citizen mobility, and border control demands) can greatly scale over time, increase customer base retention and lucrative governmental projects, and further fuel existing platform services in an organic manner, which may prove even more profitable in the near future through additional governmental agency partnerships.