Kiwis keen to ditch passwords, says study
New research suggests the majority of Kiwis are ready to ditch passwords and pin codes and replace them with a futuristic biometricbased model instead.
The news comes from a Visa report. The study suggested 64 per cent of New Zealanders were already familiar with biometrics, with almost half (42 per cent) of us using biometrics – fingerprints or voice and facial recognition – for payments or bank services on a weekly basis.
Visa’s report also suggested New Zealanders are technologically more advanced than Australians, with a higher percentage of Kiwis already using biometrics compared to our friends across the Tasman.
I asked Visa’s New Zealand and South Pacific product head Riaz Nasrabadi to explain why he thought New Zealanders were outperforming Australians, and he said: ‘‘New Zealanders are typically fast adopters of new technology, driven by a desire for convenient and secure customer experiences. In a connected world, biometrics are key to enabling seamless and secure experiences, and are increasingly becoming part of everyday commerce.’’
The report, which canvassed 500 cardholders in New Zealand and 1000 in Australia, also showed the average New Zealander has more than 200 online accounts. With one in five (21 per cent) admitting to using the same password for every account, and over half (52 per cent) using the same password for multiple accounts.
With that in mind, it’s not surprising that the majority of us see biometrics as a safer form of authentication.
According to this research,
65 per cent of us already believe biometrics provide a faster, easier, and more secure form of authentication than traditional methods such as passwords and pin codes. Nearly one third of us admit to abandoning an online purchase because we couldn’t log in to a retailer’s website easily.
Talking about the report’s finding, Nasrabadi added: ‘‘In today’s digital world, the importance of biometrics in securing commerce is paramount. Yet biometrics also have a key role to play in helping businesses to grow sales through enabling seamless customer journeys and reducing cart abandonment.
‘‘The convenience of digital commerce, whether you’re in store paying with your mobile, in-app or online, is increasingly attractive to New Zealand consumers and businesses alike. As the trend towards digital continues, biometrics will be an increasingly powerful tool to enable innovative and secure customer solutions.’’