iiDENTIFii has attained Microsoft co-sell Partner status with its biometric digital authentication and automated onboarding solution hosted in Microsoft Azure.
The global status is a significant achievement for a South African-based digital identity verification platform, as it effectively positions iiDENTIFii and its end-to-end triangular digital authentication, an official Microsoft commercial marketplace value-add and part of the Microsoft Global Partner Network.
“Being honoured with Microsoft Co-sell status is a key milestone for us. It provides recognition for iiDENTIFii as a proven innovative digital service and gives us significant credibility as we offer our solution throughout the global Microsoft Partner Network,” says Lance Fanaroff, chief strategy officer of iiDENTIFii.
Built on Microsoft Azure Cloud, the iiDENTIFii platform, which authenticates in under 30 seconds, has the highest standards of security and data protection. This new status underpins iiDENTIFii’s role not only as a key customer, but also a significant partner to Microsoft worldwide as it encourages innovation and industry winning solutions like this one.
“As part of Microsoft’s ecosystem through the co-sell partnership, our cloud technology solution will be available to more customers in the region and beyond, which is an incredible opportunity and value-add for a proven company such as iiDENTIFii, as well as for Microsoft and their respective clients globally,” says Fanaroff.
He says that, by being a preferred solution of Microsoft it endorses the company’s quality, performance, and ability to address customer needs in the financial services industry as well as other key vertical sectors including telco, healthcare, government, transport, retail and insurance, which holds much promise. “Importantly, it means that Microsoft and its partners are actively incentivised to sell and promote our solution to customers, which is significant and also very exciting for us.”
Other benefits for iiDENTIFii includes increased time to market, broader reach and the possibility of additional collaborative partnerships across the Microsoft ecosystem. “Customers will also benefit from our access to Microsoft’s local and global network of data centres, and can be assured of zero data sovereignty concerns or privacy compliance issues. The partnership means that there will be increased flexibility and control, while also ensuring access to best-of-breed solutions that integrate with Microsoft,” says Fanaroff.
He says that iiDENTIFii is looking to actively extend its integration with Microsoft apps and develop and grow the partnership to further build on the Microsoft platform.
“Microsoft is looking to play a significant role in digital transformation, and as a result, are looking at gaining market share through investment and collaboration with a select group of vital digitally-based technologies. We are glad to be working with Microsoft again and look forward to developing a successful digital biometric authentication platform within its ecosystem and assist in growing and developing at this exciting and opportune time.”
Locally, Fanaroff says that the South African uptake of digital authentication and onboarding solution is in its infancy, but it is on a rapid growth curve, which was spurred on by Covid-19. The company has made significant inroads over the past few years, most notably a recent announcement by Standard Bank to include iiDENTIFii in its OneHub platform. This will see corporate customers given the ability to biometrically identify and verify the individuals they are doing business with via OneHub.
iiDENTIFii was also a finalist in the noteworthy KPMG Private Enterprise Tech Innovator Africa Awards and has previously won Digital Innovation Award at Sunday Times Top 100 Company Awards.
“The more we transact online, the more we will have to digitally authenticate. While the country is quite new to digital authentication and onboarding solutions, Covid-19 has expedited it and soon it will not only be a move into digital banking, but rather digital-everything.”