Shikhar Aggarwal, JMD, BLS International, the largest service providers for outsourcing of visa, passport, consular, attestation and citizen services to Governments and diplomatic missions globally since 2005 talks about how the operational uplift in the visa industry has been triggered manifold on account of AI algorithms, cloud computing and machine learning.
Importance of data security in visa industry and how things have been changed post GDPR
The significance of privacy and data security has expanded tremendously with the emerging trends in technology. For a global visa, outsourced player such as BLS International Services abiding by the directives of data security and embassy protocol becomes integral. The organisation values and ensures the privacy of all its stakeholders. Its data protection policy is in compliance with all the applicable provisions of European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), along with amendments, if any. The privacy policy of the organisation encompasses all the details regards to processing of personal data along with legitimate grounds of data collection, retention and protection.
Emergence of Artificial Intelligence and how applying latest technology is creating new opportunity and stringent administration
The visa industry is using AI in advantageous forms like online appointment booking, mobile biometric services, e-Visa and allied contact centre. Taking ongoing rise of global e-passport and e-visa market into account, the said industry is expectant to reach a new feat of service excellence through AI.
There’s no denying that adoption of AI is picking up pace in various sectors, including visa and consular services. According to industry experts, nearly 80% of businesses are investing in AI, and by 2020, more than 50% of the operations and enterprise data will be managed autonomously. Many software professionals and experts believe that practising AI across several industries will give AI software potential revenues a phenomenal ascent up to $90 billion by 2025.
Can you tell us about the emergence of E-visa: trends and opportunities
Decades back internet was just a wide spread reaction to the cyber world but is paramount to any industry today. Concepts like digitisation, electronic passport and e-Visas are driving industry veterans towards a new milestone; on that note, BLS e-Visa solution also walks no poles apart. Issuance of e-Visa was brought into practice to incite the travel and tourism sector in India, connecting the border control systems to the central visa database. Besides, Indian Missions have introduced range of visas last year including film visas, e-medical visas, e-tourist visas and e-medical visas simplifying the visa issuance process. Today, the growing trend of e-Visa is at embryonic phase for Indian outbound voyagers inviting a huge scope for authorised travel agencies appointed by the respective Missions.
How outsourcing of visa issuance and administrative task has expedited and smoother the visa processing for governments and applicants
There’s no denying that digitisation has made global travel easy and comfortable. Obtaining e-Visas is a seamless process compared to the intricate processing of conventional visas. Thus, it has become imperative for all such outsourcing service providers to comply with a rigid verification system to safeguard the personal information of their visa applicants.
Moreover, citizens are demanding better services and governments are looking to reduce costs and increasing bandwidth. So, outsourcing of services comes as an obvious solution. It gives specialised service to the customer with latest technological advancement and reduced paperwork for the embassy.
Significant driving factors of consular outsourcing –
- Growth in the number of embassies and consulates worldwide
- Government budget cuts
- Heavy administrative nature of visa processing
- Growth of visa applications with increasing number of travellers
- Policy problems (i.e. migration)
- Overcoming the negative image associated with visa application processing (i.e., long waiting time and queues in visa application)
- Future of visa outsourcing industry domestically and globally
How concepts like chatbots, language translation, and visual perception are leading the future of the visa outsourcing industry, both domestic and globally.
BLS International is poised to raise the spectrum of G-to-C services to a new level all together. With 31 million applications processed till date, the organisation has been consistent in delivering its service across 62 countries. Considering the integrated citizen service model into account, BLS International aims to add more value to bring agility and transformation in the visa industry.
Contact Centers and Artificial Intelligence (AI) has changed traditional operational practices very swiftly. Concepts like chatbots, language translation and visual perception are leading the future of the visa outsourcing industry, both domestic and globally. Many industry veterans opine that applying AI in the visa outsourcing industries will raise revenues up to $90 billion by 2025. In past, few years, the operational uplift in the visa industry has been triggered manifold on account of AI algorithms, cloud computing and machine learning.
Thus, it can be said that be it any form of data capturing, citizen services or customer interface, the need is to prioritise accountability and prevent applicant’s data from any contravene. In order to render a delightful customer experience in visa services, the government should also join hand in executing focussed result-driven policies, legal processing and seamless technologies, which will not only uphold the future of visa industry, but help organisations to enhance customer reliability.