In the world of fraud-fighting, there’s no such thing as ever truly being “done.” Just because you’ve landed on an anti-fraud strategy that works for your business now doesn’t mean it will always work — or that there aren’t potential areas for improvement.
Ensuring you have incorporated the right technologies and solutions into your anti-fraud stack is an essential part of optimizing your strategy. But with so many solutions — and solution providers — out there, it can be difficult to know how to begin narrowing down your options and selecting the right partner for your needs.
Below, we’ve compiled five key considerations that you should bear in mind as you begin evaluating different anti-fraud tools.
Ready to take the next step toward building a more robust anti-fraud strategy for your organization? Download our Fraud Fighter’s Guide to Optimizing Your Team and Technology for even more considerations and actionable advice.
Does the solution provider have relevant experience?
While fraud is often talked about like it’s some sort of monolith, the fact of the matter is that it’s highly nuanced. The types and volumes of fraud that your business can expect to see — and the fraud-related regulations your business must comply with — will vary depending on the industry you operate within, the regions you serve, and even the maturity of your company.
Ideally, the fraud solutions provider you choose will have experience servicing businesses like yours so they don’t need as much direction from you and can deploy more efficiently — potentially even anticipating your needs and goals based on what they’ve experienced in the past. Depending on the depth of their expertise, they may even be able to provide you with insights they’ve gleaned by working with others in your industry.
To help gauge the relevance of their experience, you might consider asking for:
- Examples of businesses in your industry that they’ve worked with
- Recommendations or testimonials from clients similar to you
- Case studies that show how they’ve helped similar organizations
How much automation do you require from the solution?
In the last few years, it’s become increasingly common for fraud teams to have to make do with tighter and tighter budgets, and automation has played a big role in making this possible. But just because it’s possible to automate a given task or process doesn’t mean doing so is the best course of action — or that it would align with your company’s strategy, goals, or guiding principles.
How much automation your business requires should be determined by internal stakeholders — not a provider pushing a cookie-cutter fraud solution onto your business. The right fraud solution for you will be the one that gives you the freedom to balance automation with the manual processes your business requires.
Some questions you can ask to get a better sense of a solution provider’s approach to automation include:
- Where is automation possible?
- Where have you seen other businesses like ours implement automation most successfully?
- Will your solution work for us if we choose to complete certain processes manually?
What types and level of support does the provider offer?
Regardless of the fraud solution you choose, it’s very likely that you will eventually encounter some sort of technical problem — whether it arises from user error, a miscommunication, broken integration, or something else. That’s just a natural part of deploying any new technology within your organization.
It’s also why it’s so critical to ensure the provider you partner with is capable of providing adequate support if and when an issue does arise.
To gauge a solution provider’s customer support capabilities, consider asking them questions like:
- What training is provided prior to and after deployment?
- What resources are available for our developers and other team members to consult if issues arise?
- Will we get a dedicated account manager?
- What communication channels — phone, email, Slack, Jira, etc. — are available?
- What is the average turnaround time for closing support tickets?
How does the provider handle issues of data privacy and security?
Failure to properly secure your customers’ sensitive data can have major repercussions for your business, especially if that data is improperly accessed. In a best-case scenario, a data mishap can damage the customer trust and brand reputation you’ve worked so hard to build; in a worst-case scenario, it can lead to regulatory or legal action, fines, and even potentially jail time.
When evaluating potential solution providers, it’s critical to have an understanding of how they approach data privacy and security. Because it’s so essential, knowing which providers do and don’t meet your standards gives you an easy way of quickly narrowing down your list. It can also help you gain buy-in from the cross-functional leaders within your organization who have the final say over the technologies and solutions that you deploy.
To help you evaluate a provider’s security and privacy policies, ask questions like:
- Is data encrypted? If so, how?
- Are you familiar with the data privacy laws affecting my industry or region? (Examples include CCPA/CPRA, GDPR, HIPAA, FERPA)
- What data and privacy certifications do you hold? (Examples include SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI)
- What internal controls do you have in place to ensure our customers’ data will not be inappropriately accessed on your end?
What does the provider’s product roadmap look like?
Fraudsters are always evolving — incorporating new technologies, tools, and techniques into their repertoire to identify and take advantage of weak spots in your defenses. To stay ahead, you want to choose a solutions provider who can anticipate where fraud trends are heading — and regularly develop new functions and features to address them.
With this in mind, it’s always a good idea to ask every solutions provider on your short list about their product roadmap. A clear and detailed roadmap speaks to a provider that has a clear vision about where their product needs to head in order to stay relevant; a vague roadmap may point to a product that is stagnating.
Questions you can ask to get a better sense of a provider’s product roadmap include:
- What features or functions have you recently shipped?
- What future projects or initiatives are you particularly excited about?
- Do you accept suggestions about future features from customers?
- Do customers have the opportunity to enroll in relevant betas as features are being developed?
Fighting fraud with Persona
Here at Persona, we understand that choosing an anti-fraud solution is no small decision. You’re not just looking for a feature or a function; you’re looking for a partner you can trust to put your business and customers first every step of the way.
We also understand the challenges of building an effective anti-fraud strategy, especially when management keeps upping your targets without increasing your budget.
Have you been struggling to reconcile your fraud goals with the reality of your budget? Download our Fraud Fighter's Guide to Optimizing Your Team and Technology for a detailed discussion about how you can best put your budget to use — whether it’s growing, shrinking, or staying flat year over year.
Or, connect with a member of our team to learn more about our industry experience, flexible automation, support offerings, data and privacy policies, and product roadmap. We’d love to chat about how Persona can help you reach your fraud goals.
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