Electronic Products & Technology

Global use of facial recognition biometrics is growing

Stephen Law   

Automation / Robotics Medical biometrics

The global facial recognition biometrics in consumer electronics market is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 102% during the forecast period, according to an analysts forecast from global technology research firm Technavio.

To calculate the size of the market for 2016-2020, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of consumer electronics integrated with facial recognition technology. The revenue generated from after-sales services is not considered.

Factors that are contributing to the growth

Technavio ICT analysts highlight the following four factors that are contributing to the growth of the global facial recognition biometrics in consumer electronics market:

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* High adoption of mobile devices for financial transactions

* Instances of identity and data theft

* Implementation of BYOD policy in enterprises

* High demand of facial recognition in healthcare sector

High adoption of mobile devices for financial transactions

The acceptance of consumer electronics is increasing among individual consumers as their use for carrying out financial transactions has also increased. A number of financial institutions are encouraging mobile banking and online financial transactions. So instances of identity and data thefts are on the rise. Before 1999, only non-biometrics technologies were being used for authentication purposes.

Amrita Choudhury, a lead analyst at Technavio, specializing in research on automatic identification system, says, “Facial recognition and authentication technologies have emerged to address the need for end-users to remember passwords or carry hardware tokens for authenticating themselves to execute any transaction.”

Instances of identity and data theft

Growing usage of the Internet, websites and applications by end-users has led to an increase in the number of identity and data theft cases. With the growing popularity of social network websites, instances of identity theft cases have increased. With the increasing complexity of such attacks, awareness among end-users is increasing, which is forcing OEMs of consumer electronics to implement facial recognition solutions in laptops, smartphones, and tablets.

Implementation of BYOD policy in enterprises

BYOD policies enable employees to use their personal devices for work purposes, enabling them to work without any location or time constraints. This increases their productivity and reduces travel time. SMEs worldwide are increasingly adopting BYOD policies to reduce their operational costs. An increase in the mobile workforce has enabled companies to have their employees across a given region, which in turn has boosted their productivity and sales. Technavio expects the mobile workforce to increase further during the forecast period because of the high penetration of mobile devices. The increased use of mobile devices will enable employees to access confidential data from remote locations.

“Since employees use mobile devices for accessing personal and confidential professional data, the need for integration of facial recognition systems in mobile devices has increased,” says Amrita.

High demand of facial recognition in healthcare sector

Due to growing instances of data thefts in the healthcare sector, the need for facial recognition has increased for the purposes of authenticating and verifying individuals. Furthermore, with the growing usage of consumer electronics for the remote monitoring of patients, it has become necessary for OEMs to integrate facial recognition systems in these consumer electronics to ensure authorized access to confidential data such as electronic health record. Organizations in the healthcare sector need to comply with the government regulations such as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to avoid being penalized. Facial recognition systems are making it possible for healthcare professionals to provide secure medical information to their patients via personal devices.

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