How Detected’s Customer Portal drives new KYB industry standards

Recently I shared an article which talked about Detected being the ‘Shopify for KYB’ - there are many parallels I can draw to validate this point and in this article I am going to highlight our Customer Portal specifically.

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We have principles which guide the build and continued innovation across the different components which combined are what make Detected, for the Customer Portal they are:

• Speed and Simplicity
• Detected always invisible
• Unlimited journey variations
• Optimised for conversion

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Shopify does so well, in part, because everyone that comes into contact with the platform benefits. After all, a good deal is one where everybody involved wins! Retailers / Merchants have a single tool that is powerful and easy to manage as well as increased sales, end customers get a brilliant purchase experience and partners get increased distribution by being included in the network.

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In KYB that is very rarely the case, especially through the lens of the customers who are trying to sign up to or apply for a product or service  - they often go through a one-size-fits-all all application form that asks for lots of simple information but very little specific information and are then contacted by email to plug the gaps.

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There are 2 main causes of this:

1. Who really cares about business onboarding? Tongue in cheek comment, but - It has never been prioritised to the extent with which individual onboarding has been (many reasons, but mainly because good tech hasn't existed to power it). I’ve spoken about the lessons we can learn from the B2B eCommerce not following in the footsteps of B2C eCommerce quickly enough, meaning those who won - won big. Amazon for Business feels like shopping on Amazon but it is a procurement platform and it's part of why it has been so successful.
2. Data availability. As a result of the variety of data quality in different locations around the world and different company types / ages - compliance teams are forced to try to plug the gaps by emailing customers after their initial review. What other option do they have if the business owner is the only source of this information?

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What is the Detected Customer Portal?

It is one of three components which make up the overall Detected product and is essentially the customer-facing part of the platform. It works seamlessly with the Core Platform which includes the Management, Case Management and Configuration as well as the network of Solution Partners. Completely white labelled in Detected’s customers brand look and feel, it is the destination for both the application process but also the confirmation / updating of information at any point of the customer lifecycle. Configuration is entirely no-code and it has modules which cover everything from Declaring UBOs and having them complete Passport Scans with Liveness Checks through to signing agreements or uploading Bank Statements.

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Every end customer starts from the same welcome screen and based on information such as their location, company type or the product they are interested in go down a personalised application journey which ensures they only enter essential information for their application and nothing more. There are unlimited combinations of these journeys and the modules within them and the performance of the flows are measured to ensure that the customer journey is performing. Not just for compliance teams but for the wider business including marketing teams who have driven potential customers to begin the application process and don’t want them to churn due to poor user experience.

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The customer record is also constantly updated so that anyone involved can see the progress of the application and what is still required - all of this is reflected in the CRM such as Salesforce - sales no longer need to chase compliance to 'approve their customer application' if items are still missing from the customer, they can hold onto that direct relationship and support as necessary. Efficiency as at the heart of everything Detected builds.

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Worth noting is that the flow support all business types, including Sole Traders / Sole Proprietors - the latter of course relying more on the KYC components given the importance of the individuals in those processes.

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Here are three examples of how it is used:

‍1. Global FX Business: Streamlining Risk in Real Time

Customers select that they want to apply for a business account and when they click the link, a new window appears in exactly the same look and feel as the main site.

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Portal Flow

• Customers enter their Email Address, Company Name and City, Detected presents a short list of companies for them to select and confirm which is theirs. (This triggers the orchestration in the Detected platform to bring together relevant Solution Partners to build the most comprehensive profile available and be presented in the Case Management with an instant risk score.)

• Pre-defined high-risk countries trigger ID checks on Directors and UBOs as the next step. Those in ‘low risk’ countries do not see this step.
• All Customers enter commercial questions such as currencies needed and volumes as well as confirming who the authorised signatory is on the account.

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Key Goal

Straight through approvals which is only possible now because of customers in high risk countries supplementing their application with an ID check. In North America customers were previously required to call to apply, this process is now fully digital and all centralised in Detected & Salesforce.

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Impact on Metrics

• First-Time Automated Approval Rate: 86% increase

• Speed of Onboarding: Average reduced from 3 days to under 2 hours

• End Customer Experience: “It felt like signing up to Monzo for my personal bank account”
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2. Global Marketplace: One Portal to Rule Them All

This leading marketplace had relied on a trail of email threads to gather compliance info from sellers. Sales would pass leads to compliance when they were ‘warm’ and compliance would scramble to piece together documents. Detected changed that dynamic with a single link.

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Portal Flow

• Sales simply sends a link to the seller so they can claim their company profile by entering 3 pieces of basic information.
• All Sellers Complete a standard bank details form.
• High-risk countries complete ID checks plus more detailed country level specific requirements such as specific questions based on the location.

Existing Seller Reaccreditation: The compliance team also request that existing sellers use the customer portal to verify or provide additional information as required.

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Key Goal

Consolidating manual process into a single platform which both automated those processes and importantly had to include the onboarding and ongoing management of Chinese sellers was the key original goal.

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Impact on Metrics

• First-Time Approval Rate: 66% increase

• Coverage in single solution:190 countries, up from 8

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3. Global Enterprise: Making complex simple

Enterprise clients onboarding large customers are used to heavy manual processes. Their sales team would email a link (or worse, a PDF) and wait for compliance to chase every missing document. With Detected, they now send a single URL customised by customer type - simple, but game-changing.

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Portal Flow

• Customers enter their Email Address, Company Name and City, Detected presents a short list of companies for them to select and confirm which is theirs.
• Custom Journeys: Given the complexity of the requirements, this customer has over 100 different journeys based on the information provided by the end customer. The flow dynamically requests information such as Company Principals, Account Verification, various Document Uploads (for businesses under 12 months for example), declaration of UBOs and much more.

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Key Goal

Given the complexity of these applications it was key for customers to be able to A) revisit their application which is now possible due to the portal and B) share the portal with other team members such as authorised signatories or Directors to get their input.  Analysts now get an instant review window throughout the progress of the application.

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Impact on Metrics

• Application time (Customer): 23 days down to 3 days

• Processing time (Internal) :14 days down to 1 day

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Where Front-End Precision Meets Real-World Growth

When people think of compliance, “innovation” isn’t usually the first word that comes to mind. As you know, Detected is flipping that script in part by offering a front-end portal that makes a business onboarding feel like signing up for a neobank. Whether it’s a high-stakes global FX deal or an enterprise application process, a friction-free front end turns compliance from a burden into a business enabler and the statistics speak for themselves.

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The key here though is that this isn't just ‘providing an application form’ which is what I have seen a lot of in this space when providers say they have a 'front end'… Everything within Detected is seamlessly integrated - for example, if a Director is declared as part of an application process it must be instantly Pep, Sanction and Adverse Media screened and the subsequent results of that screen should then automatically trigger a new risk assessment and compliance teams alerted with the results.

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Consider these three examples just a preview. We’ve seen what happens when you give compliance teams, sales teams, and customers a single source of truth—it becomes more than just onboarding; it becomes an engine for growth. That’s how Detected operates: removing friction, rewriting the rules, and very simply doing this thing the way you'd do it if you had a blank canvas which is exactly what we had.

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