Analyzing the Future of Biometrics

Category: Technology

After the Great Recession of 2007-08, many sectors including biometrics experienced significant drop in financial & technological growth. However, the cliched uniqueness and overwhelming need of upgrading security led to the swift reemergence of biometrics industry; various market reports have indicated that this industry is likely to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14-15 % to be a more than $20 billion industry by 2020. All these numbers corroborate the fact that in the coming years biometrics is going to be a potent technology that will overshadow the traditional access control solutions.

There are many factors that have fostered the rapid rise of biometric solutions such as the need for tighter IT security, increase in the nationwide government projects (national enrollment data, public distribution systems, border security, driver license, passports, visas, medical insurance, etc.), need for efficient employee management solutions (access control & time/attendance management), public security, etc. As this industry keeps on innovating the technologies & methods used for identification and access, the acceptability and adoption rates would keep on bettering themselves.

The annual spending on biometric solutions by various governments across the globe increased in the last year and constituted around 14 % of the total global biometric spending. Other than governments & corporates, residential sector is also taking a keen interest in these security solutions which will augment the growth even further. Of many biometric identifiers used today, fingerprint recognition still has the highest penetration which could be attributed to its cost-effectiveness and high acceptability.

Like any other sector, biometric sector also has certain entry barriers; the two most important of them being substantial up-front investment and high ongoing R&D cost. These entry barriers virtually make small players non-existent and only few big players are able to offer superior quality products that comply with the international standards in place. For example, when it comes to the fingerprint recognition, FBI PIV certification and STQC, are the two commonly used standards that ensure the optimal performance and reliability of the certified products.

United States happens to be the forerunner when it comes to biometric spending followed by Europe. However, due to the continuously increasing integration of biometrics with the public systems in the Asia-Pacific region, it is expected that in the coming years this region will be the most dominant user of the biometric systems. In the Asia-pacific region, the principal players are India, China, Japan & South Korea. Sri Lanka also uses these systems for immigration programs and in other areas too. Philippines has increasingly integrated these systems in its social welfare & development programs.

The primary reason for the expeditious growth of biometrics is that they are unique identifiers that could not be replicated. They are progressively making PIN and passwords obsolete as these identifiers are highly susceptible to hacking and theft. Biometric products are therefore used extensively in areas such as banking & finance, healthcare, egovernment projects, consumer electronics, human resource management, public safety, and many more. It seems like the transition from traditional access control and management methods to biometric driven solutions is quite inevitable which will provide benefits to governments as well as the general public.