The smart company ID card that acts as a secure and convenient digital identity
The concept of centrally managed data is commonplace in our private lives: email providers and social media platforms offer an easy way to log in to other service providers, such as online stores, through your existing account. It’s fast – but comes at the cost of data sovereignty. This means that it is not possible to have complete sovereignty over one’s own data. Decentralized identity, on the other hand, offers a convenient and at the same time secure solution, as our expert Dr. Christina Kratsch reveals in this article. How can such concepts be realized in a corporate context? Take the onboarding of new colleagues, for example: traditionally, physical or digital copies of important documents such as IDs, driver’s licenses and references are created. Once submitted to the company, employees usually no longer have any control over what happens to their data or whether it is completely deleted once their employment ends. Conversely, how do companies ensure that all the documents are genuine?
When the company ID card thinks for itself
With a smart company ID card, digital evidence is available in the form of automatically checkable statements, known as verifiable credentials. These provide evidence of, for example, a university degree, professional development, vaccination status or a driver’s license, and can be automatically verified by a digital seal from the issuing office. At the same time, employees can use it to gain access to their personnel records, to the company premises or to maintain a system at a customer’s premises. The principle of selective disclosure means that instead of the entire data set, only the data that is required at any given time is disclosed. This also provides data-saving access to the employee discount at the restaurant next door or anonymous mental health counseling as part of the employee program. When employees leave the company, their access is automatically blocked. This makes offboarding easier for the HR department and ensures that no access is forgotten in the process.
Innovations in identity management ensure authentic data sovereignty
The basis for applications like this smart corporate ID card is an end-to-end strategy for handling digital identities within a company. The technological solutions behind this are constantly evolving. A new way of thinking about identities with verifiable credentials and decentralized identity management is currently emerging. The data of a personal digital identity would then no longer be fragmented and under the sovereignty of large service providers or a company. Instead, users will have control over all documents in their own digital wallet. They can then use it to manage their personal data, certificates, credentials, vaccination records or even company ID cards. This will create new, convenient solutions for handling identity data in the future – in both private and business contexts. Above all, however, the decision as to who gets access to which information, when and how, will shift from the service provider to the users and owners of the data. That is true data sovereignty. In the corporate environment, this also offers great potential for cost reductions and security in conjunction with consistent digitization of important corporate processes.
Identity management with Comma Soft:
- Trusted advisor in IT/cyber security & innovation projects
- Pioneers in the field of decentralized identifiers
- Proven co-creation formats for transformation processes
- Many years of expertise in identity & access management, cloud & authentication
- Long-standing customers in the medium-sized business & corporate environments
- Cross-industry know-how from more than 4,000 projects & 30 years of experience in the industry
- Advice, development & implementation from a single source
From consultation to go-live with Comma Soft at your side:
Would you like to find out more about how you can protect your employees’ data securely and conveniently? Please feel free to contact us:
