Blog.

Taktikal is happy to announce its partnership with Veriff, a global identity verification provider, to provide enhanced identity verification capabilities for our customers on a global scale.

A risk assessment is a written analysis which aims to identify all possible risk factors for whatever is being assessed, measure the inherent risks, identify action to mitigate the risk, measure the residual risks and determine the risk treatment. Let’s go through the steps of risk assessment and use my favorite example and say you’re thinking about getting a cat (because who wouldn’t want a cat?). You’ve thought about this for a while and your kids have been begging for one for months now. So you’ve already identified why you want the cat:

What do insurance companies, real estate agents, car dealerships, accountants, auction houses and banks have in common? Well probably a lot, but for the purpose of this blog we’ll just highlight that they are all well known channels for criminals to launder money.

In our increasingly technical world, we have access to so many options for keeping track of our lives. From how many steps we take, to the real-time location of our family members and friends, to all of our spending habits. Why should it be any different for documents? Businesses often deal with seemingly endless paperwork - whether it’s involving internal processes such as employee contract signing and onboarding, or external processes, such as customer onboarding and partner agreements.

Onboarding. For companies, a never-ending quest to figure out the best balance between meeting customer expectations and providing a great experience while ensuring that all necessary details are gathered, managed, and stored accurately and securely. Not to mention doing so in a way that can help save employee time and cost. There are many resources available online today all promising to give companies the best possible onboarding template. The issue is that customer onboarding is unique - companies dealing with cryptocurrency will have different anti-money laundering (AML) / know your customer (KYC) needs than will a bank or an insurance company. But it can often go even beyond industry differences to even distinctly different company needs and requirements.

There’s been a lot of discussion about Artificial Intelligence (AI). From sci-fi movies of robots that are too smart for their own (or humankind’s) good, the reality of advancements in AI technology has had some clear impacts on our lives and is expected to continue to change the way we live and work. Many worry and argue that AI is taking jobs away from people. This is certainly true. But it is far from a new phenomenon. Advancements in technology and automation have long affected humans. Whenever a new solution is introduced, it causes a certain amount of displacement on workers who previously filled the role.

Routine can seem mundane, but in a workplace it can also be a great backbone of productivity. However, with routine can also come some negatives - an over-reliance on how things are done, an attitude that the established ways are the best ways…basically, a resistance to change. It’s more obvious in some industries than others. We’ve taken a look at the insurance and legal industries in previous blog posts a little more in depth, identifying the obstacles that these fields face in the digital transformation journey.

While the legal industry is highly traditional, in previous blog posts we have touched on the fact that there is one area that is experiencing bigger, faster changes when it comes to digital transformation in daily work: legal departments within companies. The driving force behind this is also clear - keeping costs down. But ultimately, that is the result of another main reason behind digitalization of legal work processes - the client. Today, when junior lawyers are making 6-figure salaries, clients are seeing bills add up quickly. To keep lawyers and clients happy, companies are looking to other ways to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

In our previous blog article, we took a closer look at why some industries still seem to be lagging behind when it comes to digital transformation. Even following the events of the last few years, which forced most businesses to change the way they operated, some are still clinging to traditional practices and operations. One such industry is: legal. With reputations based on confidentiality and security of information (as well as, of course, skills in negotiation and the courts), established law offices around the world have not been so ready to adopt fully digital options the same way that newcomers to the field and Alternative Legal Services Providers (ALSPs) have done.

It would be difficult to argue that digitalization has not had a far-reaching effect on every aspect of our lives as individuals. For businesses, it’s no different. With the rapid changes required when it became clear that the pandemic was not going to be a short-term blip, digital transformation became more than just a future goal but a necessity for surviving a time unlike any we’ve experienced in our lifetimes. While newer businesses often had digitalization at the forefront of their operating model, larger, more traditional businesses and industries faced serious challenges when it came to moving their day-to-day work to an online environment.

What’s most important in interacting with companies in an online environment? From payment transactions to signing up for a service to accessing an onboarding form, it’s impossible to deny that today, one of the primary concerns for customers and businesses alike is: trust. In this case, digital trust. More than one of the more recent buzzwords being used in the tech and corporate world, digital trust is already proving its longevity through its inherent importance in how we navigate online space.

If you’re running a business, you’re likely handling sales of one form or another. It could be you personally nurturing leads and bringing in new customers, or it might be an entire department of staff working hard to follow up and secure the sale, moving the customer to the onboarding process. Whether your target market is individual consumers, other businesses, or even regulatory or governmental offices, managing the sales is a major consideration for the success of a company.

Taktikal is pleased to announce a new board of directors, consisting of: Íris Arna Jóhannsdóttir, Sigurður Orri Guðmundsson (Chairman of the Board) and Soffía Theódora Tryggvadóttir. The board members have been selected based on their extensive knowledge in global expansions for SaaS solutions, as Taktikal expands beyond the borders of Iceland into new international markets. This is following a seed funding round wherein Taktikal received $2 million from Brunnur Ventures earlier this year to focus on growth abroad.

Building software solutions is not too dissimilar from physical building work…if you don’t take the physical part into account. Otherwise, the right solution - like the right construction project - identifies a need, determines who and what is required to get the job done, and eventually creates a space that meets the needs of those using it - virtually, that is. Much like a building, software can be used to meet a variety of needs. We’ve had eye-opening conversations with businesses looking to use digital workflows and/or electronic signatures in ways that solve problems we hadn’t previously known about in ways we couldn’t have planned for - but that provide exactly what is necessary.

For many businesses, before the events of 2020, electronic signature options were rarely necessary. Some companies had already started to adopt e-signing options as part of a general digital transformation plan, while new companies were looking to implement them as part of a process from the start in order to appeal to an increasingly digital target audience. It all depended very much on the industry, the demographics of the customers, and even the ambitions of the founders. But the pandemic turned that all on its head when almost every company was forced to reconsider how they managed traditional processes such as collecting signatures.

An electronic seal serves the same purpose as a physical seal: it ensures the integrity of a document. A seal shows that the document is fully finalized and that the contents of that document have not been altered since the time the seal was applied. Electronic seals work in the same way, just in digital form. A seal is often used in conjunction with signatures. The identity of the signee(s) should also be verified, and there are a variety of methods to go about this depending on the type of document at hand.

Making it easy to sign. It’s a simple answer, right? And yet how many times have businesses taken the time to create, edit, approve, and send out important documentation and then waited for seemingly ages to receive the signed version back from the signee? Even in a world where companies are working towards digital transformation to stay competitive and improve efficiency, there are still time lags where many might prefer they not exist. After all, we live in a world with immediate delivery and responses through solutions like email, SMS, and even social media platforms. So why is it sometimes different for some documents?

It’s the digital equivalent of reading the instructions…when learning how to use new software, how many of us take the time to watch or read tutorials while taking notes and then applying what we’ve learned by diligently following step-by-step? In a world where our attention spans are rapidly decreasing, our guess is: not many. However, learning the functions of a new technology or online tool is one thing. Another important element that has recently gained attention is how we interact with others when using these solutions, in other words: the etiquette.

In a world increasingly connected, even across long distances, there are situations where we find ourselves far from the ability to appear in person to handle requests or deal with formal documentation. While this might be common in business, it also occurs in our personal lives and comes without the resources often easily at hand when it’s only organizations involved. With relatives and friends living around the world, the need does sometimes arise to get in touch with authorities and get official documents or other important details dealt with quickly.

From the onset, Taktikal’s outlook has been that in order to be in the trust service industry, we have to be trustworthy. With that in mind, information security has always played a big part here at Taktikal and our products are designed with a security- and privacy-first mentality. In the beginning of 2022, Taktikal received funding from the venture capital fund Brunnur, to help us expand to international markets. With this funding, the Taktikal team was able to grow to double its previous size and hire a Security and Quality Assurance Manager to help us formalize our Information Security Management System (ISMS). One of our top goals for 2022 was to get our ISMS certified to the ISO 27001 information security standard to help show our customers that we are highly dedicated to ensuring the security of their data.

There are plenty of discussions around the digitalization of workflows - typically on the customer facing side as well as data-driven processes. Everything from new customer forms to insurance claims to bank account applications and more…today there are simple, digital solutions to nearly any document workflow, both internal and external. The move to take employee onboarding online is more than just sitting a new hire in front of a company computer on their first day to read through specifications for their role, company policies, data security measures, step-by-step of setting up their email, calendar, internal communication channels…the list goes on.

Here at Taktikal, we believe in celebrating your wins. In a competitive business environment such as SaaS, this is especially important. With that in mind, we are happy to share that Taktikal was recently acknowledged as a “Fyrirmyndarfyrirtæki í rekstri” - for those still working on their Icelandic, this translates roughly to “Model company in operations”.

Now that Taktikal is embarking on a journey to reach new markets and expand our product offerings we decided it was a good idea to obtain an ISO 27001 Information Security Standard certification, so that we can show our customers that we take the security of their data seriously. In order for the company to be able to secure customers' data it’s important that we promote a company-wide culture of security, since every single employee is a potential target for individuals with malicious intent. This involves continually training our employees, so that they are confident in making the right decisions about security.

We’re proud to share that Taktikal has been awarded the Equality Scale - a recognition of our commitment to reaching gender equality in the workplace given by the Association of Businesswomen in Iceland (FKA - Félag kvenna í atvinnulífinu) to companies exemplifying gender equality by reaching a 40/60 ratio in top management.

The traditional thin metal filing cabinets with a built-in key lock were the standard for businesses looking to keep their paperwork secure. Additional measures could be taken of course - placing those cabinets behind several locked doors, minimizing the number of people with access to keys, or even installing more heavy duty safes for highly confidential documents. Although there are arguably still reasons to hold onto paper copies of important documents, for the most part, many processes and documents can easily be moved fully online. Digitized documents currently tend to exist alongside paper ones in most companies - though sometimes duplicates, many are used for different purposes.

Which companies are making the biggest impact on climate change? The first industries that come to mind are most likely the obvious, high-profile players: those focused on clean energy, sustainable living, and waste reduction. But there is an industry that is arguably less visible that has the potential to have a major impact on how businesses and consumers deal with environmental changes moving forward: insurance.

The process of Know Your Customer (KYC) is yet another that has not escaped the pull of digital transformation. And would we want it to? The events of recent years have forced companies to quickly adopt more digital solutions faster than previously anticipated. With the increase in digital onboarding and interaction, there was a clear need to implement clear anti-money laundering (AML) and KYC measures in a digital context. And yet the reality is that for companies that have needed to hastily move their processes to a digital context, they’re facing the threat of seasoned online criminal activity. It’s therefore crucial to implement solutions that both ensure compliance with regulations as well as help prevent misconduct.

The insurance industry has been widely known as being a central focus for fraud in a digital environment. With all the improvements and the forced transition to fully digital interactions, is that still the case in 2022? Or perhaps more importantly, does the risk of online fraud need to still be a concern or are there ways to tackle it in combination with other common challenges faced by insurance companies in the customer onboarding process?

Certain terms find their way to the forefront of the business world and can quickly get to the point of feeling overused - thrown around at every opportunity to show that a business is current and up-to-date. While many of these are short-lived trends that give mundane tasks or events a short lived spark of attention, some stick around and become part of the vernacular. So what makes these terms different from the brief lifespans of the latest business hype word? Arguably, it has to do with what the term refers to, how relevant it is, and its overall impact on businesses. A great example is the term “digital transformation”. It’s likely you’ve come across the word, whether within your own business, another business, or even on an episode of whichever new business pitch competition is available now.

Digital transformation is no longer a nice-to-have, it is instead a necessity for insurance companies if they would like to stay competitive and appealing to new and existing customers. But it’s about more than simply surviving and staying relevant. It’s about making improvements to provide a better employee experience and working environment as well. Taking the steps towards digital transformation has wide-ranging effects on the daily operations of a business. It can open doors to new customers and markets and can expand the reach of the business.

In an industry known for well-established, colossal companies that dominate the market, newcomers to the insurance provider field have some distinct advantages when it comes to the implementation of digital solutions. A great example of this is Lemonade that uses AI in the form of chatbots to handle claims and provide insurance policies. Policies can be purchased and claims paid within a few minutes or less. The question then arises: can the incumbent juggernauts modernize quickly enough to provide the kind of experience that customers have come to expect in a world of digital transformation?

Today many of us rely heavily on digital solutions for running our lives, from our daily habits to our finances and our businesses. Companies have access to some truly impressive solutions that enable them to take their processes online and build better workflows, improve efficiency, cut costs, and improve security and compliance. There seems to be no limit as to what processes can be improved by transitioning to a digital form, and there are clear benefits to implementing these solutions across day-to-day operations. Everything from customer onboarding to accounting can be managed easily online with the right tools.

Growing up, many of us were instructed not to waste paper - that using too much paper kills trees and harms the environment. Delving into the true statistics behind the state of paper production and use is truly staggering. Far from just being something told to kids so they don’t use up all the printer paper, the paper production and recycling industry is massive and growing (399 million tons of paper and paperboard were used globally in 2020).

What does the term ‘time stamping’ bring to mind? For many, it’s likely a small machine that physically stamps a document or a ticket with a particular date and time, validating the paper document for a set period or indicating the finalized version. But time stamping is in fact very different today. Like many functions and processes in a business context, it has also transformed to be more efficient in the digital environment. However, it still serves a very similar purpose.

REYKJAVIK, ICELAND – 13 January 2022 – Taktikal, a developer of next generation digital trust solutions, announces that Brunnur Ventures had invested $2 million into the company to drive customer acquisition and the international build out of its business strategy. Taktikal provides enterprise-grade electronic signatures solutions to meet the growing need for companies to automate and streamline processes that require identification, authentication, and authorisation. Taktikal leverages deep expertise with the state-level authentication infrastructure of Nordic nation states such as Iceland to offer faster processing, greater efficiency in document management, reduced operational risk and a better customer experience.