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To What Extent Is National Identity Digital?
Sia Partners recently conducted a study on the Digital Maturity of passport and ID application processes across 14 countries.
Digital Maturity in Identity Services : Assessing Progress, Challenges, and the Future with e-Identity Systems
Our research aimed to assess the extent of digitalization in these critical identity-related services and explore the connection between physical identity documents and digital identity solutions.
The study reveals significant disparities in digital maturity among the surveyed countries. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Singapore have emerged as leaders, offering nearly end-to-end digital processes for passport and ID applications. These countries have successfully integrated their physical identity documents with comprehensive digital identity systems, providing citizens with seamless access to a wide range of online services.
In contrast, countries like Japan, Canada, and Belgium are behind in the digitalization of their passport and ID application processes. In most countries, the digitalization efforts are not end-to-end and cover only some of the processes (mostly forms, and payment). In-person appointments are still a required step in most countries (especially for submitting documents or identity verification).
Furthermore, the study underscores the potential for action in several areas. Governments should aim to maintain seamless online procedures, identifying and removing any "breaks" in the digital process that force users to resort to physical actions. Enhancing user experience is crucial, both for citizens and public officers, and should be a key focus in the design of digital services.
The evolving landscape of digital government services offers vast opportunities for innovation by adopting cutting-edge technologies—such as mobile-first design, AI-powered chatbots and automated document processing—the government can significantly improve user experience and efficiency.
In addition, investing in e-identity presents a strategic opportunity for governments to modernize identity management systems and better serve the evolving needs of their citizens. We were particularly interested in Singapore and the UAE’s prevailing e-identity systems granting access to a wide range of services. Both countries demonstrate specific e-identity solutions where the actual ID documents serve as the gateway for citizens to access various online services. This seamless integration contrasts with the disconnection observed in other countries. The ease of obtaining an ID document and using it to access online services seems a coherent system which could explain the well-developed digitalization of public and private services in these 2 countries. Our study illustrated how other countries appear to search for continuity between e-identity and actual ID documents. We asked ourselves if the next decades would see the disappearance of physical ID cards.
In conclusion, while digital identity offers significant benefits, governments must address key challenges to ensure widespread adoption. Building trust is crucial, as concerns around cyber-attacks, data privacy, and misuse of personal information persist, particularly in countries like the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Governments must prioritize security measures, foster social inclusion, and create accessible systems while maintaining physical backup solutions. Adhering to OECD principles of responsiveness, reliability, integrity, openness, and fairness is essential. Additionally, investing in secure infrastructure, such as sovereign cloud solutions, is vital to safeguard citizen data and build a trustworthy digital identity framework.
