From Paper to Fingerprint: Digital Onboarding for 80 Million Customers
A digital onboarding solution for Telcel, Mexico’s largest mobile operator with over 80 million customers, replacing paper-based, in-store processes with a fingerprint-based, paperless enrollment. The system streamlined customer authentication for payments, plan changes, and account management—reducing friction, improving security, and accelerating service delivery at massive scale.
The Challenge.
Telcel’s traditional onboarding and authentication processes relied heavily on manual paperwork, physical ID verification, and in-store transactions. This approach resulted in long wait times, operational inefficiencies, and increased risk of human error—issues amplified by the company’s 80+ million customers.
Fraud was a significant concern, as paper-based verification made it easier for identity theft and unauthorized transactions to occur. With the scale of Telcel’s operations, even a small percentage of fraudulent activity had substantial financial and reputational impact. The company needed a fully digital, biometric-driven process capable of eliminating these vulnerabilities, integrating with existing systems, and scaling nationwide to serve millions securely and efficiently.
We began with in-depth user research, combining in-store observation, customer interviews, and benchmarking of leading biometric solutions in telecommunications and financial services.
To ensure the solution addressed the needs of Telcel’s diverse customer base, we focused on the most representative user segments:
Long-term postpaid customers needing faster plan changes and account updates.
Prepaid users seeking quick top-ups and service activations with minimal documentation.
New subscribers onboarding for the first time, often in high-volume retail environments.
Rural customers with limited access to physical branches and slower connectivity.
Through Design Thinking workshops with Telcel executives, operations teams, and compliance stakeholders, we mapped pain points, defined success criteria, and aligned on a vision for a secure, scalable, and user-friendly onboarding process capable of serving all these segments consistently.
Designing for Every Customer, at Every Touchpoint
Designing a Multiplatform, Secure Experience
The design process prioritized consistency and adaptability across devices, ensuring the experience felt intuitive whether on a tablet in a retail store, a mobile device in the field, or future self-service channels. Visual and interaction patterns were unified to reduce training needs for staff and make the onboarding process seamless for customers.
In parallel, the design team collaborated closely with architects to define the experience flow around identity verification, ensuring smooth integration with Telcel’s existing systems and biometric databases. Each step of the journey—from fingerprint capture to confirmation—was mapped for clarity, speed, and trust, while maintaining compliance with security and regulatory requirements.
The result was a human-centered design system that balanced usability, security, and scalability, ready to evolve as new authentication technologies emerged.
A Nationwide Shift to Secure, Digital Onboarding
We delivered a fully digital, biometric onboarding platform that replaced paper forms with fingerprint authentication, instant ID verification, and secure digital signatures—all in a single, streamlined experience.
The system operated across tablets and mobile devices, allowing both in-store representatives and roaming sales teams to process enrollments in under five minutes. Its real-time integration with Telcel’s identity verification systems and national biometric databases ensured transactions were secure, compliant, and fraud-resistant.
Designed for nationwide scalability, the platform was built on a modular, API-driven architecture that allows future expansion into new channels such as voice assistants, facial recognition, mobile apps, and self-service kiosks. This future-ready approach positioned Telcel to continuously enhance the customer experience while staying ahead in security and operational efficiency.
Impact & Results
The biometric onboarding platform transformed Telcel’s customer authentication process, delivering measurable operational, security, and customer experience gains at scale:
Onboarding time reduced by 75%, from an average of 20 minutes to under 5 minutes per customer.
Paper forms eliminated, cutting administrative costs and removing thousands of kilograms of paper waste annually.
Fraud risk significantly reduced through secure, real-time biometric verification and instant ID checks.
Customer satisfaction improved as faster, simpler transactions replaced long wait times and repetitive ID requests.
Nationwide scalability achieved, with the platform designed to serve 80+ million Telcel customers consistently across all retail and field channels.
This initiative not only streamlined operations but also positioned Telcel as an industry leader in digital transformation and biometric innovation within the telecommunications sector.
As cross-functional Product leader, I drove the end-to-end design strategy and execution of Telcel’s biometric onboarding platform—responsible for delivering a transformative solution to benefit over 80 million customers while driving measurable business impact. From discovery to deployment, I facilitated Design Thinking workshops with executives, operations teams, and compliance leaders to define the vision, success metrics, and key user journeys.
Working in an agile framework, I led and coordinated a multidisciplinary team of dozens of designers, developers, architects, and compliance experts, ensuring continuous alignment, rapid iteration, and on-time delivery. I oversaw the multiplatform UX design, delivering a consistent, intuitive experience across tablets and mobile devices, while partnering with system architects to integrate seamlessly with Telcel’s real-time identity verification systems.
My role required aligning diverse stakeholders across business, technical, and legal areas, ensuring the platform met stringent security, regulatory, and scalability requirements. By merging user insights, business objectives, and technical feasibility, I ensured the solution not only improved operational efficiency but also strengthened customer trust—positioning Telcel for long-term competitive advantage.