Regula Survey: Digital Nomads Contribute to Almost a Quarter of New Business Revenue

The majority of the surveyed companies are now experiencing a tangible profit impact due to the influence of digital nomads. In the United States, as many as 62% of businesses report that this is the case. On average, the nomad revenue share of new revenue varies from 10% to 40%.

The trend is surfacing across various industries. The most prominent achievers are companies from the Retail industry: 68% of them attribute 21% or more of their new revenue from these particular foreign customers. The same result is being obtained by 66% of businesses in Telecom and Insurance, 64% of Financial and Banking institutions, 52% of companies in Digital services, and 48% of Healthcare providers.

On the flip side, digital nomads are also considered as a source of the increase in fraud. As a consequence of this, a third of businesses (34%) anticipate that they'll need to raise their spending on identity verification by 11-20%. Businesses in Finance, Banking, and Insurance are the most serious about increasing their investments in ID verification solutions.

With more security threats arising, companies continue to adopt new identity verification technologies and approaches to detect and prevent fraud incidents. The research shows that 57% of businesses have implemented biometric authentication during the digital onboarding process, with another 30% planning to implement it within a year. Companies are also embracing electronic document verification (with 53% having already adopted this approach and 33% planning to do so soon), digital identity wallets (49% and 35%, respectively), and device fingerprinting (44% and 36%, respectively).

"Digital nomads are shaping a brand-new segment among target audiences of both Enterprises and SMB companies across different sectors?from Banking to Travel. This is having a positive effect on economies that are still experiencing post-pandemic consequences, along with the need to address recent challenges. To get the most out of attracting digital nomads whilst preventing a rise in fraud, companies need to refine their business processes, in particular IDV-related ones. Specifically, these changes should optimize foreign document processing and validation, as well as address a potential surge in their number," says Henry Patishman, Executive Vice President of Identity Verification Solutions at Regula.

To learn more about the digital nomad's impact on corporate profits, download the report "Identity Verification in a Globalized World".

*The research was initiated by Regula and conducted by Sapio Research in September 2023 using an online survey of digital nomads and Fraud Prevention decision makers across the Software/Tech, Financial and Banking Services, Technology, Telecoms, Travel and Hospitality sectors, and others. The respondent geography included the US, UK, Germany, Spain, UAE, and Mexico.

About Regula

Regula is a global developer of forensic devices and identity verification solutions.

With our 30+ years of experience in forensic research and the largest library of document templates in the world, we create breakthrough technologies in document and biometric verification. Our hardware and software solutions allow over 1,000 organizations and 80 border control authorities globally to provide top-notch client service without compromising safety, security or speed.

Regula was repeatedly named a Representative Vendor in Gartner® Market Guide for Identity Verification.

Learn more at regulaforensics.com.