Hiren Bhandari is a founder of Mantra Softech, a global hi-tech manufacturer of biometric and RFID based products and solutions. Mr. Hiren Bhandari, an engineer in electronics and telecommunications, is a techno commercial professional who turned out to become one of the few leading entrepreneurs in the field of biometric manufacturing and R&D capabilities. While working for a reputed MNC, he anticipated the future of biometrics technology and after gaining a rich corporate experience of many years, he founded Mantra Softech in the year 2006.
The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of tech-enabled solutions, making it a necessity for almost all industries. With digital processes becoming more prevalent, biometrics has become an essential tool for companies to ensure efficiency, convenience, and security. Most devices we use every day, including smartphones and laptops, use fingerprint sensors, facial identification, or voice recognition.
While biometric technology has existed for many years, today, modern advancement is democratizing its use with human heat signatures, palm-vein scanners, and of course, face recognition measurement and iris or retina scanning. It has evolved into the best-in-class innovation for identification based on physiological or behavioral characteristics. Valued at $ 27.09 billion in 2020, the global biometric market is projected to reach $ 62.52 billion by 2026.
Trailblazing growth of biometric devices
In the wake of digital innovation, more companies are taking a closer look at their existing multi-step processes and gradually shifting to quick biometric-enabled authentication. A sizable portion of the population has already adopted biometric devices, and many more are considering it. It is rapidly growing in popularity and has become one of the most trusted authentication methods for almost everything, from wearable devices, smartphone apps to high-security defense applications and facilities.
For almost every sector, privacy and security have become the primal focus. Deploying biometric systems is now listed as the top priority by the government and private organizations. Airports, for example, have included multi-modal biometric recognition devices at every point of the customer journey, from immigration verification to allotment of boarding passes. It is also used for law enforcement through surveillance and latent print identification.
Large-scale increase of touchless technology
The pandemic-induced transition in financial and healthcare has been colossal. As social distancing norms enveloped our daily lives, more industry players started investing in touchless biometric devices. Making sign-in for apps, devices and networks hassle-free, Window Hello, has also accelerated the popularity and adoption of biometric authentication. Today, it is increasingly being used for attendance tracking, online banking, and web authentication.
Another major facet of rising biometric adoption is a massive shift to contactless payments. Initially perceived as non-reliant by many, it is rapidly replacing cash transactions.
Building an efficient and inclusive digital ecosystem
With a tumultuous rise in crypto, there also exists an inhibition and speculation about its security quotient. However, this is changing gradually. Progressively, more digital currencies have been using biometrics to secure keys. Since cryptocurrencies are intrinsically designed to be secure and maintain privacy, an increasing number of digital currencies will integrate biometric-enabled solutions. Consider voice or iris-based identification solutions, for example. Instead of passwords and PINs, they use AI and algorithms to validate access by analyzing thousands and millions of elements. As we step into the future of digital currencies, biometric integration is the way forward to circumvent fraud and cyber attacks.
Biometric solutions also enable citizen enrollment, further bolstering national health and welfare. Previously, a large proportion of births in India went unregistered. However, with the implementation of one of the largest biometric ID systems, Aadhaar, the scenario has altered completely. Since its rollout, India has registered fingerprints, photos, and iris scans of more than 67 billion people. The collection of comprehensive physiological data aids in the authentication of patients in hospitals. Health-centric facial biometrics will further equip medical professionals to monitor patients.
Final Word
In tandem with tech innovations, the augmented use of biometric technology is transforming almost all sectors by instilling reliability, high-speed and precise authentication. Biometric devices backed by futuristic technologies like AI, ML, and IoT, will witness wide-scale adoption by industry segments such as eCommerce, Fintech, banking, airport security, and government-associated organizations in the coming years.