Digital ID systems, a prerequisite for developing functional e-governance platforms, have been on the agendas of many emerging economies for quite some time.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic has reemphasized the importance of eIDs in providing social, medical and financial support to households and businesses.
Electronic identification allows citizens and businesses to prove their identity and access the governmental services online. It enables fully digital processes and eliminates the need for expensive and time-consuming manual operations. Such functionality has been crucial during the pandemic, especially for developing countries.
Around the world, governments and businesses are implementing digital identification programs with mixed results and adoption levels. Yet when carefully designed, “good” use of digital ID programs can help people participate more fully in their economy and society. That can create enormous economic value and inclusive growth. According to a new McKinsey Global Institute report, high adoption of digital ID with the right principles can help unlock 3% economic value equivalent of GDP in advanced economies and as much as 6% in emerging economies on average.
While the UAE’s national ID process is a precursor and far nearer completion compared to systems in South East Asia, both the Indian and the Bangladesh systems of issuing IDs provide insight into how to manage the process for extremely large populations.
According to the organisation, the goal of the new OASIS Electronic Identity Credential Trust Elevation Methods (Trust Elevation) Technical Committee is to extend interoperability among online service providers (such as banks and health care providers) and make eTransactions easier for end users.
National identity cards are a fact of life for citizens of some countries but elsewhere the credentials are the focus of ire.
Citizens of countries that don’t have national IDs fear it will lead to a police state and a loss of personal freedoms. But the countries that have had them in place don’t necessarily have those problems. More and more countries are deploying national IDs and are using smart cards and other advanced technologies. In some instances the cards are also being used to drive multiple applications.