Melissa: What maturing SaaS technology can deliver for the public sector. #techUKDigitalPS

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) has been evolving over many years, with numerous industries using this subscription fee model accessed via the internet to simplify and speed up business processes and tasks. Now, as it reaches maturity, it’s the turn of the public sector to embrace this technology to improve the way they operate.

Cost effective, efficient and easy to deploy

The main benefit of SaaS tools is that they can be accessed instantly through the internet, removing the need for expensive and complex computer infrastructure and coding when it comes to integration – all big issues when using on-premise or web based API’s. And because SaaS runs in the cloud environment it’s simple to deploy. The public sector can simply plug in and benefit immediately.

There are also no maintenance costs – performance, updates, general maintenance and disaster recovery are all handled by the provider - meaning the user no longer needs to spend precious budget and time on these software issues.

Additionally, there are little or no additional staffing costs related to maintenance or staff training to use the application effectively, as no technical knowledge is required. In fact, the reduced need for human intervention makes using SaaS a more efficient process, with reduced likelihood of human error, and staff can spend their time more focused on core functions.

The cost benefits of SaaS platforms are particularly important for the public sector to consider with their budgets under increased pressure post pandemic and eroded by high inflation at a time of significant economic uncertainty.

Flexibility

SaaS tools are very flexible. It's easy to scale up or down at short notice based on your current needs, add or remove users to access the platform and service updates are automatically driven by the supplier without interruption or impact on the users.

Accessibility

A key attraction of SaaS is that it’s easy to access from any part of the world at any time. You can access the service with just a few clicks.

SaaS and data quality

With SaaS it’s never been easier or more cost-effective for the public sector to manage data quality in real-time. This helps them to deliver a single citizen view (SCV) enabling them to personalise and improve communications to the users of their services, overall enhance the user experience and make operational efficiencies.

Today, it’s possible to access a scalable data cleansing SaaS platform that requires no code, integration or training. This technology instantly cleanses and corrects names, addresses, email addresses, and telephone numbers worldwide. It matches records in real-time, ensuring there is no duplication, and delivers data profiling to help identify issues for further action. A single, intuitive interface provides tools for data standardisation, validation, and enrichment resulting in high-quality contact information across multiple databases.

SaaS and ID verification

The digitalisation of public services, combined with the growth in online fraud, requires those in the public sector to know who they are engaging with, ideally in real-time. This is where a SaaS electronic identity verification (eIDV) tool comes in.

This scalable easily to deploy platform supports cross-checks against an individual's contact data in real-time as they complete an online application process, while ensuring the user experience isn’t compromised. It does this by matching the name, address, date of birth, email, or phone number against reputable data streams such as government agency, credit agency and utility records, along with mortality screening checks, to effectively confirm the ID of an individual. Also, such technology should be able to highlight those who have been sanctioned, politically exposed persons (PEPs) and deliver adverse media checks, for a full ID verification service. Only then is it possible to determine an applicant’s ‘right’ to access a service or support, and protect tight budgets against scammers.

With eIDV it’s important to recognise that those in the public sector can strengthen their governance processes by aiding compliance with ‘know your customer’ (KYC) or citizen, ‘know your business’ (KYB), and anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.

SaaS is set to revolutionise how the public sector operates, particularly in areas such as delivering contact data quality and ID verification. The efficiencies, cost benefits, speed, accessibility and flexibility afforded by SaaS will be game changing for this sector.

This blog was written by Barley Laing, UK Managing Director at  Melissa. Barley Laing is UK Managing Director, Melissa, and techUK Central Government Council Member. Barley Laing joined Melissa in 2014 during an exciting expansion phase of the California headquartered company. As Managing Director, with 24 years of technology and data industry experience, his role is focused on meeting the customer onboarding, data quality and ID/compliance needs for organisations in the UK and worldwide.

The team that Barley heads up provides sales, data consultancy and technical support for their wide range of software solutions, which help organisations to achieve efficient data verification and management; and meet ID, Know your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements.  Under his leadership Melissa’s UK office has experienced double digit growth over the last five years in a row, including 21% in 2021.

Over this period he has significantly grown the UK client base, which includes: the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office; GCHQ; Financial Conduct Authority (FCA); BBC; BAE Systems; GSK and Mars.  To learn more about this author, please visit his LinkedIn.

To learn more about Melissa, please visit their LinkedIN and Twitter .

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