To better leverage its sales and administrative functions, MorphoTrust USA has reorganized the company into three business units with common sales teams and resource functions, the company’s new chief tells TR2.
The new business groups are Identity Solutions, Enterprise Solutions and Services, which will have booking and revenue goals as well as maintaining a focus on operations. To help these groups get the most out of their opportunities, MorphoTrust has established separate sales teams, one for federal and the other for states and localities.
MorphoTrust USA, which is part of Safran Group’s Morpho division, is the former identity solutions business of L-1 Identity Solutions that Safran acquired last year. At the time of the sale L-1 was organized into three business units: Biometrics; Credentialing; and Enrollment.
The previous structure was more “siloed” whereas the reorganization has been done with the idea of enabling the separate divisions to still be able to collaborate on customer solutions, says Bob Eckel, president of MorphoTrust. “For instance, prior to this acquisition, we weren’t really thinking of putting driver testing solutions in our Enrollment centers, he says. “Now we’re looking at why aren’t we putting driver testing solutions in our enrollment centers? Can we do that? Sure we can. They are already manned and the testing is automatic and the biometrics, depending on which states, are allowed to ensure that the person taking the test is who they say they are.”
Eckel joined L-1 in 2008 when it acquired the identity systems business of Digimarc [DMRC]. He eventually became president of L-1’s credentialing business.
Biometric-based solutions are part of the Enterprise Solutions business but Eckel says that biometrics will also be an identity solutions enabler that will be leveraged across MorphoTrust’s businesses.
For example, says Eckel, biometrics are a component of modernizing and managing drivers’ license processes for states. MorphoTrust’s Identity Solutions business primarily consists of managing driver’s license processes for states and going forward the company is “looking at modernizing all of the driver’s record environment, including the front end, the back end and anything associated with a driver; one person, one identity, which includes biometrics. So we’re using biometrics as an enabler in a lot of cases for our growth expansion, not just for a means to an end.”
In addition to driver’s license systems, the Identity Solutions also includes citizen identity systems.
The Services business provides services on behalf of its customers, including hosting more than 1,300 enrollment centers around the country. In addition to enrollment, the business does things like vetting of professional healthcare individuals, hazardous materials workers and transportation workers as well as manage related testing for these individuals through its enrollment centers.
Turning its enrollment centers into more complete turnkey service operations by offering more services such as testing is one of the growth opportunities Eckel sees for MorphoTrust.
The Enterprise Solutions business includes all of the near-term solutions and systems work, meaning that which can be delivered in three to 12 months. This includes biometric products, such as the handheld HIIDE multi-biometric capture, storage and matching device the company has sold to the U.S. military, as well as self-service products such as a driver’s license enrollment kiosk.
Eckel believes that the self-service solutions, which could be for states that want to expand opportunities for individuals to obtain a driver’s license through a kiosk rather than from the counter, is another important growth area for the company. The company has already installed 33 self-service kiosks in about 26 locations in Mississippi to enable the state’s citizens to renew their driver’s licenses in less than two minutes, he says.
If there are any issues with a person’s record or their photo isn’t on record, the kiosk “kicks you out and you have to go see someone,” he says.
MorphoTrust also has a contract to install self-service kiosks in Delaware and another in Tennessee as part of an overhaul of that state’s entire driver’s license system, Eckel says.
The company is also investing in driver’s record systems to better meet customer demands and continues to invest in biometrics, including fusing multiple biometrics.
The vast majority of the company’s business is domestic. MorphoTrust will rely on Morpho’s global footprint to provide solutions to international customers, Eckel says.