While we may not have flying cars just yet, we do have a collection of impressive new tech to dig our teeth into, all needing accurate, verified address data:
1. A cashless society
The ideology of a ‘cashless society’ dates back to 1954, when business technology researchers and consultants talked about the possibility of a “checkless society,” USA Today reports.
With the pandemic temporarily halting the usage of paper money, we have been propelled towards a paperless day-to-day perhaps sooner than we thought. While electronic wallets and digital transactions are at an all-time high, we’re still a long way from being genuinely cashless - which will mean that all paper money is out of circulation, making every transaction recorded and taxed.
70% of global central banks have looked into issuing their own digital currencies, a report by BIS states. A positive for this movement would be that taxation would be more straightforward and more efficient. Still, it removes any anonymity from purchases and refunds you may otherwise get from paper cash transactions.
Using technologies like address verification would help immeasurably in the fight against identity fraud and money laundering that can happen with paper bills. And in light of the loan scam scandal of 2020, verifying someone’s identity will only be made higher on the list of must-dos by authorities and organizations alike.
2. Driverless cars
VOX wrote in February of 2020: It’s 2020. Where are our self-driving cars? The year was said to be the deadline for being a ‘permanent backseat driver,’ the Guardian reported. But a glance outside will confirm that we are still a while away from driverless cars.
Although research and development have been going on for years, driverless cars’ AI training has proved difficult. Teaching the intricacies of road accidents or avoiding debris on the road are all instances that are hard to replicate in training, leaving gaps in the cars’ knowledge.
Gallup conducted a poll on who would feel comfortable getting into a driverless car. A staggering 50% said they’d never use one, while only 9% of Americans felt ready to get into a driverless car right now.
So, what’s missing? For driverless cars to navigate the roads and meet their destinations, aside from AI training, they need to be fed with the right location data. There’s no leaning over the shoulder of a cab driver to say ‘it’s this left here’ if the satellite navigation says something different.
3. Drones
In recent years, we’ve seen the power of the drone - in delivering emergency vaccines and medicine to hard-to-reach locations or simply transporting items between hospital sites far quicker than a land vehicle could.
Much like driverless cars, drones will rely on location data verified by global databases to operate effectively. While humans are required to oversee the flight, they don’t have complete control over the flight direction, so they need to be programmed beforehand with proper location and geospatial information.
In the same way that customers want their parcel delivered to their front door and not at a similarly named property across the street, drones need to reach their destination correctly, first time, every time. This is where a global database of verified, accurate addresses and geocoordinates comes into play.
4. Identity checks
Address verification is a critical component in detecting and preventing fraud - especially when it comes to identities.
Let’s look at the recent small business administration loan scam. It’s easy to see how simple address verification could have aided the effort and helped prevent what turned into a catastrophic abuse of the system by individuals who added themselves multiple times to the database - using the same address each time - to earn endless $10,000 grants.
Powering up your onboarding with address verification technology will soon become the norm for companies wanting to banish fraudulent uses of identity at the point of data entry—all by simply checking if applicant’s locations match up with what they input.
The benefits of partnering with Loqate
Your business is only as strong as the data it uses - which is why you need to fuel operations with verified, accurate address data from a global repository.
Loqate’s address verification software will parse, standardize, verify, cleanse and format address data for all countries and territories via a single, easily integrated API.
Using best-in-class global datasets, we enable our customers and partners to significantly enhance the functionality and capability of their own product offerings, working with you to understand your requirements and create tailored solutions to fit your needs.
Want data quality you can rely on? To find out more about how you can become a Loqate partner, click here.
