Government Technology

Identity has climbed to the top of the political agenda not least because of the recent high profile debate over ID cards. Opponents of the National Identity Scheme and ID cards have voiced concerns about the cost of the programme and scope of information collected. But this debate has overshadowed the more practical topic of the role of identity management and the value it brings to modern society.
    
We live in a digital age where identity and information are of paramount importance to our economic, personal and civic wellbeing. The way in which our information is used and our identity established is essential to the delivery of services, both in the public and private sectors. There are a wealth of examples of how effective identity systems benefit the citizen, but in order to understand this it would be best to come to grips with what we mean by identity and what identity management actually is.

Identity interactions
In its simplest terms, identity can be defined as a description of a person or thing, for instance a name. When it is combined with other descriptions or attributes, such as a date or place of birth, identity becomes a unique description.
    
Identity management is a broad church and covers a variety of areas; from ID cards, chip and pin, application of biometrics, the debate over terrorism and immigration to the need for systems that facilitate the transformational government agenda. Essentially identity management is the process of monitoring or controlling a sequence of identity interactions.
    
So, why all the fuss over identity management and why is it important in today’s society? According to Sir James Crosby: “It follows that those countries with the most effective identity assurance systems and infrastructure will enjoy economic and social advantage, and those without will miss an opportunity. There is a clear virtuous circle.”
    
Clearly identity management plays a primary role in maximising this potential.

In the private sector
Central and local governments are increasingly using technology to ease and improve interaction with citizens, as well as improve the delivery of public services. Naturally with more sensitive citizen-government transactions taking place digitally, the need for robust and secure identity management systems has increased.
    
These systems ensure we are getting the right benefits and services, as well as protecting the user against fraud and other criminal activity. Identity management has become a vital aspect in the way we interact with the state and has become widely recognised as a critical enabler of the public service transformation agenda.
    
There are now numerous government systems that require effective identity management in order to enable citizens to access services and information. The much publicised and highly praised car tax renewal system provided by DVLA requires, for example, an identity system that not only can verify personal identities but also the identities of cars (e.g. number plate) and cross-reference the two.
    
‘Tell Us Once’, the cross government initiative set up by the DWP enables people to advise all government departments and agencies of births and death just once, instead of informing them separately. If the pilots prove successful, gone will be the days when people have to traipse round from office to office with their certificates. This demonstrates the sort of transformation in services the public are demanding, which in tandem require robust identity management systems.
    
It’s clear that these two examples offer concrete direct benefits to citizens, but there are other systems operating in the ‘background’ that enable joined-up government. Case work necessitates the need for effective identity management systems. Various professions, from social services to the legal profession, rely on such systems on a daily basis because without certainty that the same person is being dealt with there simply is no case.

In the private sector
Where would we be if there were no effective identity systems in banking systems? We wouldn’t be able to use ATM machines or do online banking as this necessitates the need for an effective identity system.
    
It is not just the banking system; supermarkets have for many years understood the value of ‘knowing your customer’ and have invested in analysing their customer base, effectively employing identity systems to enhance their businesses. Loyalty cards track customers’ spending patterns in order to increase the retailers’ ability to market goods to individual shoppers. In order to do so they need to learn enough about the customer so that they target them in the way that is acceptable to them. This of course requires effective management of identities.
    
Banking and retail identity management systems have not only improved the customer’s experience and satisfaction, but have also significantly enabled business transformation across a variety of markets. Increasingly, citizens and businesses encounter situations daily that use effective identity systems which ease the user experience.
 
The future of identity systems
It has been argued that the government should have moved the identity management debate beyond ID cards and established a case for why identity systems are vital. It is clear that they have the potential to benefit citizens by enabling easier access to services and information.
    
Hopefully the debate will be able to move on and focus on the positive aspects of identity management. We live in a world of online consumerism, which makes understanding identity all the more important.
    
The next question we should be asking ourselves is where the current identity systems are heading? Digital convergence offers a greater opportunity for service delivery but at the same time greater opportunity for fraud. There is a need for a technology solution that offers on the one hand agility and utility but also enhanced security and authentication. Biometrics is one example that could provide the answer. The technology is fundamentally personal and not readily corrupted and therefore adds an extra layer of assurance that may be required for more sensitive transactions.
    
No system will ever be perfect; mistakes and fraud will occur. What is important now is to have a mature debate and establish good governance to ensure that systems are in place, which enable redress and repair – in other words, if something goes wrong then effective systems are in place to fix it.

Conclusion
Effective identity systems can be of enormous benefit to citizens, communities and the wider public and private sectors. They are becoming increasingly important to the smooth running of complex societies and effective modern governments. Correctly ascertaining the identity of people is important in order to ensure that entitlements can be claimed, information acquired and transactions processed.
    
We are at a crucial point in the creation of an identity infrastructure and it’s clear that government needs to build an effective system to ensure that sound foundations are in place for the future. Unlike many other current ‘hot topics’ identity management will not cool down in a year’s time, rather identity management is only in its infancy and will continue to play a vital part in the high-tech society we live in.

Intellect is the trade association for the UK technology industry. As part of its work Intellect focuses on promoting greater knowledge and understanding of the identity arena and has recently produced a paper examining the topic of identity management and identity assurance from the perspective of the IT industry. Non members can access the executive summary at www.intellectuk.org/identity.