Like many, during lockdown I’ve been catching up on a number of Webinars. It’s given me the opportunity to do some catch up in the Identity Management field.
During the EEMA annual conference, a distinguished speaker observed “We are in danger of re-inventing the wheel, without learning from the past”, which caused me to reflect on the identity lessons from my identity management past. (Apologies to the speaker, I forgot exactly who made the comment).
My first reflection is:
- Identity Management technology is easy
- Scalable Identity Management technology is hard
- Securely deploying Identity Management technology is hard
Which is where the conundrum lies – the “next generation” see the current solutions as hard to deploy, and think there must be an easier way, and sure enough come up with an idea for “easier technology” – get momentum, then stall because scaling and deploying it is hard!
My second reflection is there are three domains of identity:
- Citizen identity
- Consumer identity
- Business identity
These are fundamentally different things, with different requirements and challenges. Don’t let your “solution” confuse them – you will fail. Yes, there are common technologies that will play a part, but the scalability and deployment challenges are fundamentally different.
My third reflection, I’ve probably been in the game too long to offer new solutions, it is time for the next generation – but please do study history, the challenges are not new.
Once Upon a Camayoc 