Canada’s Digital Economy Relies on a Foundation of Digital Identity
The Digital ID & Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) publishes white paper that underscores the economic impacts of digital identity on Canadian citizens and Canadian economy
Read the Paper: English | French
TORONTO May 16, 2018 – The Digital ID & Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) released a new white paper about the economic impacts digital identity has on Canadian businesses and the national GDP. The paper highlights the critical foundation that digital identity establishes for every industry in protecting consumers and making Canada competitive on a global scale.
Almost every Canadian has some kind of digital identity, with the average person having 92 accounts registered to one email. The white paper, released today, outlines how digital ID is critical to the Canadian digital economy and greatly impacts everyone, notably citizens, small businesses, financial services, healthcare and government. Given this, reliable digital identity is key to increasing efficiencies for Canadian citizens and business, and making digital services safe, secure, and accessible.
Digital ID isn’t being used to its full potential, given a general lack of trust in the validity of digital identification when used for transactions or services. The white paper, called “The Economic Impact of digital identity in Canada: understanding the potential economic benefits and the cost of inaction,” explains methods to build the trust that will allow Canadians to fully adopt digital identity, which create new opportunities for both individuals and businesses, with significant benefits to the economy.
“All of us increasingly manage our daily lives on mobile devices and online,” said CJ Ritchie, Associate Deputy Minister and BC Government Chief Information Officer. “We want to choose when, where and how we access services and don’t care if the service is provided by the public or the private sector. Trusted digital identities are absolutely required to make that possible.”
Currently, many processes that require identity authentication and validation used in government, health care, financial services remain manual, which lead to increased costs and slow access to services that directly impact taxpayers. An estimated $482 million CAD is lost each year from manual government processes at both provincial and federal levels.
“Canada has an incredible opportunity to lead in digital identity, setting the groundwork that is required for an integrated, interoperable, and reliable digital economy,” said Franklin Garrigues, Vice President of Digital Channels at TD Bank. “We were happy to contribute as a DIACC member and help demonstrate the scale and impact of digital identity across industries.”
Countries like Estonia have already experienced the benefits of implementing digital identity tools, including electronic ID cards for all residents over the age of 15, which are used in healthcare, electronic banking, online shopping, signing digital contracts, encrypting email, tram tickets, and more. This has created efficiencies for citizens, while adding 2% to the country’s GDP and saving an additional 2% through the use of electronic signatures.
As stated in the whitepaper, “there is no better time for consumers, businesses and government entities work together to achieve the common goal of enabling a safe, secure and trusted ecosystem for Canadian digital identity.”
Read the full whitepaper to find out more about how digital identity will set the foundation for Canada’s digital economy.
About DIACC
The DIACC is a non-profit coalition of public and private sector leaders committed to developing a Canadian digital identification and authentication framework to enable Canada’s full and secure participation in the global digital economy. The DIACC was created as a result of the federal government’s Task Force for the Payments System Review and members include representatives from both the federal and provincial levels of government as well as private sector leaders.
DIACC members work together by sharing resources and perspectives to address the needs of digital transformation through the development of the Pan-Canadian Trust Framework (PCTF). The PCTF is a set of Canadian standards that support open government principles and enable Canada’s full and secure participation in the global digital economy. DIACC members collaboratively develop market educating innovation white papers, proof of concepts, and applied research to secure Canada’s full and beneficial participation in the digital economy.
To learn more about the DIACC visit www.DIACC.ca
About Consult Hyperion
Consult Hyperion is an independent strategic and technical consultancy, based in the US and UK, specialising in secure electronic transactions. With over 30 years of experience, we help organisations around the world exploit new technologies to secure electronic payments and identity transaction services. From mobile payments and chip & PIN, to contactless ticketing and smart identity cards, we deliver value to our clients by supporting them in delivering their strategy. We use a practical approach and expert knowledge of relevant technologies. Hyperlab, our in-house software development team, further support our globally recognised expertise at every step in the electronic transaction value chain, from authentication, access and networks, to transactional systems and applications. We define, develop, design and deliver.
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