The global biometrics market is at a high growth stage due to the ubiquity of dominant biometric modalities such as fingerprint and facial recognition. The deployment of biometrics is increasingly pervasive in both governmental and commercial sectors because of ease of use and the high degree of convenience offered by the technology. Key applications are in identification, verification and authentication for enhanced security, but the usability of the technology is enabling its integration to support new business models and drive customer convenience in commercial segments.

The government biometrics segment dominates the overall market in terms of revenue and applicability. The rise of e-governance in less mature regions such as countries in Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Latin America is creating new demand for biometrics. In addition, the strong focus on border security and law enforcement is driving revenue streams for biometrics in mature markets. Similarly, commercial applications are burgeoning owing to the ubiquitous mobile biometrics that is enabling biometric authentication for multiple digital applications such as online payments and logical access controls.

Among regions, APAC remains a key market due to the high influence of the digital trend and greater customer acceptance of biometrics solutions. eCommerce and online retail are opening new avenues for biometric deployments across the region, with countries in other regions following suit. While stringent regulations pertaining to data privacy are causing uncertainty over biometrics, government regulations such as e-passports, digital ID, and digital licenses augur well for the technology’s deployment in public service segments among different countries.

Advanced biometric modalities such as behavioral biometrics, palm vein biometrics, 3D facial recognition and artificial intelligence based biometrics are gaining traction given the need for higher accuracy and faster response times for high-end deployments. As these deployments become more prevalent, vendors will need to focus on interoperability and deployment of the technologies for ensuring optimum usability of different modalities. Key technology vendors will need to focus on cloud and edge based authentication solutions and multimodal biometrics to enable high return on investments (RoI) for end users. Market partnerships and synergic network channels should be established to understand key end-user requirements for biometric deployments.