What do BLT and digital identity have in common?

When we think of BLT, our mind goes immediately to bacon, lettuce and tomato.

Digital identity should be palatable and accessible for all businesses

But when it comes to the digital identity space, BLT means something different: business, legislation and technology – because these are the necessary ingredients for the successful adoption of digital identities.

Given the pace of change in the identity check process for disclosure and barring service (DBS) applications and new employee right to work check legislation, it’s important to understand what the most vital components are for the successful adoption of digital identities.

We’ll start by discussing the legislation first, given that it is a foundational element in this recipe.

Legislation

The UK government has made substantial progress on a Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF) that lays the foundations for the regulations around digital identity. While still in alpha form, the DIATF sets out benchmark standards for identity assurance across multiple industries and use cases. The DIATF has also created a certification regime whereby companies providing identity verification services (IDVTs) must be accredited.

The impressive DCMS progress towards legislative cover to drive the permitted use of digital identity now has unstoppable momentum. Both in the UK and abroad, a reusable digital identity model is the future, and point solutions to verify identity will no longer be compliant. It’s great to see that several industry sectors are well ahead with plans to work with this legislative change like the background screening industry.

On top of this, the UK government is enacting new legislation on the right to work that comes into effect on 30 September, which prescribes the same standards for digital identity checking as part of right to work checks.

Such legislations are critical to ensuring industry standards and lay a strong base for digital identity implementation.

Business

However, the BLT recipe won’t be successful unless businesses have an appetite (no pun intended!) to adopt and implement digital identity processes.

The DIATF (and ensuing industry identity schemes) are a step change in how businesses can check and consume customer identity, but a few questions remain unanswered: are businesses ready to embrace digital identity and are they aware of the new requirements?

A sure way to help businesses better understand the need for digital identity checks is by educating them on the benefits. For starters, it is much quicker. A digital identity check process can be triggered at point of job offer or DBS application and users can glide through in less than a minute, compared to a manual process that takes hours if not days.

It is also much more robust, as a digital identity check process brings bank-grade tech to HR departments and DBS officers. In addition, digital identity checks provide more security – IDVT’s design their processes with privacy, data protection and security in mind so that security pitfalls of emailing or photocopying ID documents are consigned to the past.

Technology

Now that legislation and business are covered, the obvious final element in the recipe is technology. In recent years, identity verification technology has undergone several evolutions. The initial KYC 1.0 that offered a simple identity database check proposition made way for KYC 2.0 where online document validation helped companies to check the person claiming that identity could provide evidence that they owned that identity.

KYC 3.0 moved into the orchestration of multiple KYC services bringing geolocation, negative data checks, facial biometrics, liveness detection and identity confidence scoring. KYC 4.0 brought a refined UI and UX that helped the user to glide through their customised KYC journey.

All of the advances in how user identity is verified are now being formalised and incorporated into a manual for regulated sectors – and these are great developments to complement the progressive legislation and the growing need from businesses for digital identity.

BLT, anybody?

So, the next time anyone wants to make digital identity a reality, ask them if they have a good BLT in place. My vision for the future is one where digital identity can be palatable and accessible for all businesses. Only then will we contribute to a more digitalised life that is hassle-free, secure and tailor-made for the economy of today.