Tariffs: four steps to future-proof your business in a shifting economy

The evolving US tariffs have created a ripple effect across global markets, and many businesses are evaluating the impact on their strategies, whether that’s price increases, supply chain changes or prioritizing other regions.

For many organizations, this is a reminder that change can happen without notice and with huge knock-on impacts. While every business will handle this differently, one thing is clear: they need to be able to adapt quickly to stay ahead. So, how can businesses make sure they can pivot swiftly in the face of external impacts while still onboarding genuine customers and delivering a seamless experience?

1. Remain agile and flexible by simplifying your identity tech stack

We live in a digital age where change is the only constant. Businesses must be prepared for the inevitable impact of external factors such as policy shifts, technological advancements, and evolving consumer behavior. You only need to look back to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the resulting lockdowns, to appreciate the necessity of business agility.

While you can’t predict exactly when and where external events will impact your business, you can set your business up for success by simplifying your onboarding tech stack to ensure you can remain agile and flexible.

Why does this matter? If you have lots of fragmented tools and complicated integrations, not only are these expensive and slow to maintain, but it also makes implementing changes far more complex and drawn out. You don’t want to be spending lots of time updating each tool separately – especially when every second counts. Plus, clunky and complex tools can stall business growth and negatively impact your customer experience.

Streamline your tech stack and invest in an identity orchestration solution that enables you to access all the modules and checks you need through one platform. With an adjustable and intelligent approach to identity verification you can design efficient and compliant customer journeys that enhance satisfaction and drive secure growth in minutes. This helps you be ready for what you need now and in the future.

2. Treat identities as unique when expanding into new markets

In many cases, policy shifts and new regulation may open an opportunity for your business to prioritize activity in a currently low-level region or perhaps even speed up a launch into a new market.

When pivoting to new markets, to ensure you can maximize your pass rates for genuine identities, it’s critical your onboarding journey is tailored to the customer.

The truth is there is no-one-size-fits-all to identity. Regulations are different, businesses are different, and products and services are different – and that’s before you even get to thinking about how as people all our identities and our identity footprints are different.

As an example, in Saudi Arabia, birthdays are not widely celebrated, complicating date of birth matches, the European Union has 181 types of residence documents, and each US state sets its own standards for driver’s licenses and identity cards. This only scratches the surface of the cultural nuances that impacts identity verification.

To grow with confidence in new markets, you need to make sure you’re taking an intelligent and flexible approach to customer onboarding.

Future-proof your business by moving away from a one-size-fits all approach to identity verification and adopting intelligent identity orchestration. This will enable your business to adapt to specific customer scenarios in real-time, optimizing customer satisfaction and conversion rates and minimizing fraud and costs through real-time, intelligent identity verification.

3. Build in compliance-by-design

Navigating the complex regulatory landscape can be challenging but for ambitious, fast-growing businesses, compliance needs to be guaranteed without hindering growth or expansion into new markets.

With innovations in the identity market, tech now enables you to adapt in real-time to local regulatory requirements. Now, compliance doesn’t have to be a labor-intensive process. Make sure you build compliance-by-design tools into your identity strategy to ensure you can remain compliant while making changes and adapting to business shifts.

4. Stay on top of fraud trends

This should always be a priority as fraud continues to increase and can have a huge impact on both a business’ bottom line and reputation. However, what’s key is ensuring this doesn’t slip down your agenda when facing distraction in other areas of the business.

Afterall, exploiting current events is the first chapter in any fraudster’s handbook. Economic instability and the resulting business distraction, provides the perfect cover for fraudster to act and test your internal controls.

As well as this, a shifting economy can have other knock-on impacts on fraud levels and tactics that you need to be aware of to ensure you have the right layers of protection in place to spot and stop it. For example, in periods where rising costs get passed onto consumers, financial pressure often drives an increase in first-party fraud – otherwise known as ‘friendly fraud’ – knowingly committed for financial gain.

So, by staying on top of fraud trends, you can ensure you remain one step ahead and protect your business.