Other countries in Europe are showing Germany how it’s done. Prove your identity and sign – completely digitally. This works in people’s everyday lives. People can access their identity data digitally at any time, and they don’t have to identify themselves each time. This is highly efficient for business processes and unbeatably convenient for the user experience. And as we know: Convenience wins. Over 90% of the population in Denmark, Sweden or Norway, for example, use digital identity platforms. More than 15 uses per month per user is like a given.
Have we slept through the disruption?
What are we doing in Germany? Customers have to identify themselves completely from scratch every time, and each sector has developed its own processes and specifications for how this is to be done. This is neither convenient for the customer, nor is it efficient for companies. On the contrary, barriers to entry are high and dropout rates are enormous. No matter how one-time ID processes develop, they do not offer a real solution. Be it Video-Ident, Photo-Ident, eID- they are transitional technologies to transfer physical ID documents into the digital world. Germany is inviting disruption. And disruption is racing toward us right now. Because companies are desperately seeking efficient solutions with maximum conversion. And because customers use convenient offers immediately. Convenience wins – even when it comes to identity.
Digital identity as a model for the future
The future belongs to digital identity. The smartphone is the medium of the future. That is a broad consensus. The smartphone will be the identity card – and the user confirms his identity with a click. Digital transactions with authorities, banks, and contracts will soon be this simple in Germany, too. No more conversion killers, no more repeated one-time IDs, no more photo TAN apps, SMS TANs or PIN letters. None of this fits into the digital world.
Solutions are coming from three directions
- Global hardware and software providers for smartphones: the verified digital identity fully integrated into the UX of the smartphone. Whether it’s an ID card, passport or driver’s license – in passport wallets at the highest level of trust. European eIDAS regulation makes market entry attractive for global players. Assets are access to the end customer, optimal integration into the user experience and market power in the mobile world. The challenge is the initial verification of identities. One barrier to entry would be a nationally established solution for digital IDs. Germany does not have this solution and is running into a high dependency on global players. As is already the case in payment, online advertising and online search.
- National providers who have digital identities: Banks and insurance companies have already digitally captured relevant identity data from many customers. A cooperative approach can lay the foundation for a national ID solution. Other countries in Europe are proving this. The data is stored decentrally in a heterogeneous structure. The challenge is to make it available in a relevant way for a customer-centric and cross-industry offering. In doing so, the solution must be thought of by the customer, not out of the database. It’s not a matter of simply transferring your own cumbersome log-ins to other industries. Time is short here to establish the necessary infrastructure for product, technical basis, user relevance and acceptance network in the market. A cooperative initiative for digital identities has not yet come together promisingly in Germany.
- Open ID platforms: Customers use a button to digitally identify themselves in all their use cases. Whether on a smartphone, on the web, or locally, the customer has all of his relevant data conveniently and securely at his fingertips in a self-determined, cloud-based manner. Sounds banal, but in view of the heterogeneous regulation in Germany, it is a complex task. Platforms are open for any identity source and broad in their application. Users themselves determine which data they deposit digitally. The challenge is building the user base – since open platforms have neither exclusive customer access in the smartphone, nor a large database to start with. Verimi is the only open platform for verified digital identities in Germany, initiated by shareholders such as Deutsche Bank, Allianz, Deutsche Telekom, Volkswagen, Daimler, Lufthansa, Axel Springer, Deutsche Bahn and Bundesdruckerei.
- Platform based on strong certification Verimi offers the entire spectrum of digital identities. This ranges from identities compliant with the Money Laundering Act (Geldwäschegesetz) within the scope of the ZAG license of BaFin to eIDAS substantial and high within the scope of the approval by the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI). Identification and authentication, plus integrated value-added services such as signing and payment. Bundled in one interface to the customer – one Verimi button, and the customer gets where he wants to go. Convenience wins – even when it comes to identity. Verimi brings a relevant national alternative for digital identities to the German market and works consistently to ensure that the next key segment in the digital market is not lost to global players.
