Digital onboarding is the process of admitting a new customer remotely by confirming they are who they say they are. It is the practical way to fulfill part of KYC (Know Your Customer): instead of requiring physical presence, identity is verified through document capture, liveness and facial comparison, linking the real person to the document they present.
What KYC (Know Your Customer) is
KYC is the set of procedures a company adopts to identify and get to know the customer before and during the relationship. It is a core requirement of anti-money-laundering (AML/CFT) for regulated institutions, but also a security practice for any business that needs to prevent fraud at the front door. Digital onboarding is the moment when that knowledge starts to be built.
The steps of a digital onboarding
A digital onboarding flow usually brings together, in a single journey, complementary checks:
- Reading the document (ID card, driver's license or equivalent) and extracting the data.
- Liveness: confirms a real, present person is in front of the camera.
- Facial comparison: checks that the person's face matches the document photo.
- Contact confirmation, such as a code sent by email.
- Proof of address.
- Watchlist screening (the screening).
What liveness and facial comparison confirm
Liveness verifies the presence of a real person at the moment of capture, making it harder to use photos or videos. Facial comparison measures whether that person matches the face on the document provided. Together, they establish a link between whoever is on the other side of the screen and the document, answering the question “is this person the holder of this document?”.
What identity verification does not guarantee
It is important to distinguish two different problems. Confirming that the person matches the document is not the same as confirming that the document is genuine. Verifying document authenticity, detecting tampering or validating the document with the issuing authority, is a separate step that not every onboarding flow covers. When evaluating a solution, it is worth knowing exactly which of the two guarantees it offers.
Onboarding and screening: complementary pieces
Onboarding and screening answer different questions in the same admission process. Onboarding answers “is this person who they say they are?”; screening answers “can I do business with them?”, cross-checking the data against sanctions, PEP and restriction lists. One confirms identity; the other assesses risk. Used together, they cover from the front door to the decision.
How Orvyan supports
Orvyan Onboarding confirms that the person on the other side of the screen is who they claim to be: document capture, liveness and facial comparison, plus email confirmation and proof of address, in a single flow. The link established is between the person and the photo on the document; verifying the authenticity of the document is not part of the current scope. On the same engine, Orvyan Screening cross-checks the data against watchlists and classifies the risk. Its role is supporting: the platform verifies and flags, but does not decide, the decision is always your company's.