VerifiEdge, Volume 1 Back to Newsletter
By P Ravishankar, Chief Executive Officer, Matrix
In the digital age, patience has waned as services like Amazon Prime promise next-day deliveries, Swiggy ensures hot meals at your doorstep in under an hour, and Blinkit offers groceries in minutes. This instant gratification has escalated expectations, pressuring companies to shrink turnaround times. Consequently, services with longer TAT face challenges as consumers opt for faster alternatives, reshaping the landscape of customer service and satisfaction.
This trend has also put pressure on Employee Background Verification providers. This has resulted in several competitors promising verification of various checks in a few minutes. Now, immediate checks are possible in a few areas for sure – for example, the use of DigiLocker for academic checks only where available, using service providers who in turn tie with large corporates for providing employment checks, and use of government databases like UAN, PF records, court records, criminal records etc.
Matrix is no exception to this trend. Our in-house digital platform upgrade through Matex 2.0 (a separate article describing this is written by our Head of Operations – Sasirekha) will significantly better our digital integration from where we are presently. This requires significant investments to be made. In parallel, we anticipate the new Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, to bring in its own set of controls over the use of personal data. Lastly, as these developments find their way into the business, cybersecurity measures will need to be strengthened in parallel, which is a big focus area for Matrix. Digital platforms also bring in the need to have appropriate processes and backups, all of which are again a strength for us as we audit our processes under the ISO frameworks to retain our certification every year. All of these stretch the profitability and cashflows of existing service providers, and some of our competitors may find it difficult to survive as clients do not compensate for these costs through any increase in rates. Our strong operation quality and focus on efficient business processes have ensured that we have remained profitable, albeit at lower margins than in the past. Of course, our parentage as a 100% subsidiary of Updater Services, a listed company, ensures that we remain healthy financially.
However, this digital ecosystem is still evolving. Employment records, academic records - particularly for remote colleges and universities, and records older than the last few years - are yet to enter the ecosystem. This requires an extensive network of manpower and relationships which Matrix provides thanks to over two decades of its existence and consequent expertise. This strength is almost unparalleled in the industry. To cut short the turnaround time(TAT), we do hear of the weakening of background checks in some corporates - which in turn will have longer-term repercussions as these candidates migrate jobs. We also hear the pressure on TAT making some of the other players complete verifications through unscrupulous agencies who provide ‘paper verifications’ without the appropriate reachouts to employers or universities.
Given these multiple trends impacting background verification services, we believe the impending shakeout will only strengthen Matrix. We also believe that some of our competition is likely to find it difficult to navigate these evolving situations. It is imperative for clients to make sure they work with strong, credible, ethical players like us and not just give in to players who don’t have the financial strength or ethics to navigate this situation.
By Sasirekha Prasad, General Manager – EBGC, Chennai
Workflows are essential in managing transaction processes, providing a structured approach to handling tasks. Matrix was possibly the first Employee Background Verification Firm to use a platform designed in-house in 2011 called Matex – built around Matrix’s Expertise in the domain.
It was deemed a pioneer in introducing a workflow system completely from creating a case to dispatch of report. It had a three-dimensional approach 🡪 internal flow, candidate flow, and data flow for clients. Version 1.0 was built with MS-SQL (Backend) and .NET framework (Frontend). Though introduced in 2011, the portal was continuously enhanced and crucial modules such as RPP, Client Login, Candidate Data Entry modules, Address Verification APK, Automatic Delivery of reports, introduced data scraping technologies, etc.
Of course, like any other workflow, newer technologies have caught up, and in parallel, the client asks around customisation have only been increasing, which resulted in the need for a more updated platform - Matex 2.0 - which is now in the final stages of going live. This version will accelerate –
- Integrated approach to digital checks like UAN/Bank Statement/Social Media verifications as a main check/tag along of a main check such as employment/online database
- Automation of all possible online verifications
- Seamless/real-time update of check closures/insufficiency in customers’ portals
- Remove Excel/mail-driven communication across the teams and generate all possible dashboards on screen whenever required.
- Integrate Vendor Management Dashboard/Billing in MatEx 2.0
- Create a self-defined API which can accept Customer data from their API with marginal efforts for customisation.
- Ability to create/tweak templates and change transaction screens at any point in time according to the changing client requirements
- Eliminate offline approvals
- Compare Provided and Verified Information for identifying errors early, to ensure and maintain the required quality, and generate error-free reports
- Implement RPA/ AI/ML technology to read data, automate data inflows, and integrate documents given by universities/employers primarily verified in large numbers, thereby automating data capture.
We are in the final stages of testing Phase I of this rollout and expect to go live next month. Over the next few months, we will transition clients into this upgraded platform, and we expect this to make our process more robust and improve our service quality to our customers
As a fun activity, we asked Co-Pilot to create an acronym for the features we expect to have in Matex 2.0 – and here is a fun name:
ASCETIC VAIN
- Automation
- Scalability
- Consistency
- Efficiency
- Transparency (synonym for Visibility)
- Integration
- Compliance
- Verifiability (synonym for Accountability)
- Adaptability
- Innovation (related to Analytics)
- Navigability (related to Analytics)
This acronym not only uses the first letters of the key workflow benefits but also forms a word that suggests discipline and rigour, which are qualities that effective workflows can bring to an organisation's processes.
By Nithyavathi.S, Assistant General Manager – Bangalore – EBGC
Percentiles are a valuable statistical tool for measuring turnaround time, offering several advantages over traditional measures like mean or median. Percentiles indicate the value below which a given percentage of observations fall. For instance, the 95th percentile tells us that 95% of the data points are below this value.
Advantages of Using Percentiles:
- Robustness to Outliers: Percentiles are less affected by extreme values or outliers than the mean. This is particularly useful in turnaround time analysis, where a few unusually long or short durations can skew the mean.
- Clear Performance Indicators: Percentiles provide a clear picture of the distribution of turnaround times. For example, the 50th percentile (median) gives the middle value, while higher percentiles can show how often the process exceeds a certain threshold.
- Better Service Level Agreements (SLAs): Percentiles can be used to set realistic and customer-focused SLAs. For example, an organization might guarantee that 95% of cases will be resolved within a certain time frame, which corresponds to the 95th percentile.
- More Detailed Analysis: Using multiple percentiles (e.g., 50th, 75th, 90th) allows for a more granular analysis of turnaround times, helping to identify specific areas for improvement.
Comparing Percentiles to Mean and Median:
- The mean is sensitive to outliers and may not accurately reflect the typical turnaround time if the data is skewed. It represents the average and can be misleading in distributions that are not symmetrical.
- The median (50th percentile) is a better measure of central tendency when dealing with skewed data, but it does not provide information about the variability or the extremes of the distribution.
- Percentiles, on the other hand, offer a more comprehensive view of the data's spread and can help identify the proportion of cases that meet or exceed certain turnaround times.
In today's fast-paced business environment, the need to improve turnaround time in providing employee background verification services is paramount. Quick and efficient background checks are essential for maintaining a secure and trustworthy workforce. By streamlining the verification process, companies can ensure that they are hiring qualified candidates without unnecessary delays, fostering a culture of trust and safety in the workplace. Of course It's not just about speed; it's about the accuracy and reliability of the information provided, which can significantly impact organizational integrity and reputation.
We are Matrix have been using the 95th percentile for measuring the cycle time to measure the turnaround time. SLAs prescribed by clients are contractual and different for each client as the methodologies they have prescribed for verifying backgrounds are contextual and tend to vary depending on the business needs. This approach has helped us standardize our methodologies, compare our performance on a daily/weekly/monthly basis, and continuously improve operational turnaround time.
By Usha TN, Consultant Information Security and Audit
How Matrix Business Services is implementing data security measures to protect customer data and gain trust
Data security is the process of protecting data from unauthorized access, use, modification, disclosure, or destruction. It is essential for any organization that collects, stores, processes, or transfers the personal or sensitive data of its customers, employees, partners, or suppliers. Data security is not only a legal obligation but also a competitive advantage in the digital age.
Customers are increasingly concerned about the privacy and security of their data, especially in the wake of data breaches, cyberattacks, and regulatory changes. Customers expect organizations to safeguard their data and respect their rights and preferences. Organizations that fail to meet these expectations risk losing customer trust, loyalty, and revenue. On the other hand, organizations that demonstrate a strong commitment to data security can gain a competitive edge over their rivals, as they can attract and retain more customers, enhance their reputation, and reduce the costs and risks associated with data breaches.
Matrix Business Services recognizes the importance of data security as a competitive advantage and has invested heavily in implementing data security measures across its operations. Some of the steps being implemented at Matrix Business Services include:
- Encryption of data at rest and in motion has been implemented in accordance with the latest industry requirements. Encryption ensures that data is unreadable and unusable by unauthorized parties, even if they manage to access it.
- Access to PII (personally identifiable information) data is granted according to defined roles and permissions, following the principles of least privilege and segregation of duties. Access control ensures that only authorized and authenticated users can access, modify, or delete data and perform actions necessary for their job functions.
- DPIA (data protection impact assessment) has been performed for all critical customers, and any identified risks will be suitably mitigated. DPIA is a systematic process of identifying and evaluating the potential impacts of data processing activities on the rights and freedoms of data subjects, and implementing measures to address those impacts.
- DPAs (data processing agreements) have been entered into with customers and any third-party vendors who have access to PII data.
- Log retention periods have been set and configured according to Matrix's privacy policy, and data is deleted using secure processes to prevent unauthorized access to PII data. Log retention and deletion ensure that data is not stored longer than necessary and is disposed of securely and irreversibly.
- The technical measures like DLP (data loss prevention) have been installed with alerting mechanism to notify of data loss or leakage.
- Compliance with privacy requirements is adhered to and enforced by a Data Protection Officer, and privacy security objectives have been defined.
Matrix Business Services is demonstrating its commitment to data security and customer trust by implementing these steps. Data security is not only a legal obligation but also a competitive advantage for Matrix Business Services.
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