From the OneSpan Product Lab: We take on the risk of innovation, so you can adopt proven differentiators

The innovative idea is often portrayed as a flash of inspiration (as in Newton’s theory of gravity), a happy accident (penicillin), or even desperation (crepes Suzette).  

In reality, it’s typically the product of hard work, day in and day out. Of course, inspiration is critical, but OneSpan’s Product Lab works to create the winning conditions for inspiration every day — and therefore, innovation.  

The outcome: new ideas and technical solutions that address the needs of our clients in a range of industries, including banking, financial services, insurance, HR, government, healthcare, and more.  

We know that many of our clients are seeking innovation as a competitive differentiator. This is especially true in a context where their clients are seeking secure and yet ever-easier options to access and manage their information, or to conduct transactions. Other companies are looking to update well-weathered business-critical processes to face the digital realities of today’s world — as well as tomorrow’s.

For all companies, regardless of where they are on the digital transformation journey, it is becoming increasingly evident that security needs to be the foundation of every step in every digital transaction lifecycle. At the same time, client expectations are that the full lifecycle must be seamless and easy.  

This principle is what guides us as we develop innovative features and solutions that help our customers close more contracts. In a recent instance, for example, we validated a new solution that sends them notifications as soon as signers have issues with a contract signing process. 

How the Product Lab does it 

OneSpan’s Product Lab is a small team composed of all the skills needed to discover opportunities, evaluate their potential and validate solutions. It's led by a trio with three specific areas of focus: user research, technical expertise, and business analysis. This team functions like a startup, with short cycles to stay focused on customers’ needs and solution fit.  

This innovation team continuously engages with our customers and users to discover opportunities. We quickly evaluate the business potential, technical feasibility, and novelty of these opportunities to decide whether to pursue them.  

Of course, anyone who’s engaged in innovation, whether as a career or in the context of business process transformation, understands that it can be a high-risk/high-reward endeavor. This is true even if you have already conducted extensive market research and gathered customer feedback, as we do.   

This means our development process must also incorporate robust decision criteria around feasibility, desirability, and viability. This allows us to carefully prioritize the innovations we bring to market, and to ensure that they serve you robustly, reliably ... and better. 

The innovation team's scope impacts the entire OneSpan portfolio, from security to signature. The product manager regularly meets with other product managers, sales leaders, and customer-facing teams to discuss and gather ideas. Developers also share technology perspectives, and meetings are held to frame the discovered opportunities. Then, the solution/problem fit is tested in fast iteration while collaborating with customers.  

These short cycles allow us to rapidly prototype and bring to market new, and more relevant experiences for our customers. The key word here is “rapidly”: the world of innovations that are 15 years away is vast – and largely impractical for our clients. That’s why we focus on rapid time frames and quick time to launch. 

Building future differentiators together 

Although our team is a proactive group with all the skills necessary to discover customer needs, we do work hand-in-hand with clients to ensure that we bring innovations to market quickly and efficiently. If you’re interested in joining the OneSpan Customer Council to participate in this process, contact us now. 

Here’s a sample of some of the innovations we’re currently evaluating. 

• Challenging the document: The digital revolution was about transforming manual document processes into secure digital document processes. Now, we are challenging the very notion of the document itself, to explore other forms digital agreements may take, including audio or visual. 
• Using artificial intelligence to improve the user experience: Security and usability remain at the core of any transaction, be it physical or digital. AI can be leveraged for better user identification and analysis of potential deepfake risks, or to improve document readability. 
• Smart contracts with a blockchain backbone: Many customers are beginning to explore the potential of smart contracts stored on a blockchain. These smart contracts are enforced by software code stored on a blockchain, which automatically executes the terms of the contract as specified, with no manual intervention required. 
• Low-code authentication capabilities for mobile apps: Integrating code to add authentication to a banking app takes time and skills. We are investigating a novel way of adding authentication to existing apps without the requirement for months-long development inside the app.
• Security in the metaverse: Physical or digital interactions must be backed by security to ensure safe agreements. Metaverse and other Web3 interactions must also have at least the same level of security. We are investigating ways to secure the digital agreement lifecycle for customers who want to do business in the Metaverse.
• Sustainability: Going digital has an environmental impact. We are exploring tools that our clients can use to measure the sustainability benefit of their digital transformations. 

Stay tuned for more information about these and other upcoming innovations, as I continue this blog series. 

Ultimately, our goal is to help our clients create new, more relevant experiences for their own clients, in full certainty that the innovation they’re deploying is going to help them improve the business-critical processes that impact the bottom line.