Just in case

From early adoption to maturity

Around 15 years ago, my mother asked what I wanted for Christmas.  My answer was a new wallet (please) and my requirement was that it had to have plenty of slots for cards.  This was in the boom years for store loyalty cards and credit card companies bribing you with gifts and incentives for singing up and using their cards.  At a guess, I’d say that my wallet contained over 20 different cards at any one time.  Fast forward to today and my wallet has 3 cards and a driving licence in it; and far less cash than I used to carry around.  Yet I have more store cards than you can imagine - a full sweep of supermarkets, varying qualities of chicken and burgers, purveyors of camping equipment (used once every ten years on average), sports centres, airport lounge passes, airlines, et al – though now they’re virtual, in my digital wallet.

As a relatively early adopter of technology, I don’t want a wallet for Christmas.  In fact, I don’t want a wallet at all.  My payment method of choice is my watch (smartphone payments are so 2016!).  So why do I still carry my wallet with me?  Well, mainly, the answer is “just in case”.  For those annoying times when shops either don’t accept new money at all or insist that under a certain amount I have to pay with metal or polymer like they did back in the day.  It seems that no matter how I explain that the percentage charge for credit card transactions is less than they’ll spend on cash handling some shops still haven’t moved with the times.  Whilst I have been known to make my evening meal choice based on payment method rather than cuisine, I haven’t quite reached the point of boycotting all providers who don’t allow me to flash my watch at them.

Yet it isn’t just the merchants who cause me to carry my wallet with me “just in case”.  You see my watch likes to behave like a child who has been dragged away from the chocolate at the counter and sometimes has a tantrum – either not working at all or asking me to try again later; of course I don’t mind coming back to re-do my shopping at a time my watch finds more convenient.  Sometimes I can flip back to 2016 and use my smartphone to pay, other times I have to fish my wallet out, put my card in to the slot and try and remember the random number; occasionally it’s good to reminisce about how my parents paid for things when they were my age.

Of course, it isn’t just payments and retail.  The other thing in my wallet is my driving licence.  Now admittedly, it’s been a few years since anyone has asked me whether I’m old enough to buy alcohol without laughing; though I have been asked to prove my identity when taking out credit agreements when having my driving licence has been really handy.  Though of course driving licences aren’t identity documents, they show my entitlement to drive.

Which brings me on to another just in case moment – the UK National Identity card.  Whilst it never got as far as full rollout, the pilot programme issued real cards to real people, and allowed them to do real things – such as use their card instead of their passport to travel within the EU.  I remember standing in Birmingham Airport, with a passport hidden in my back pocket, with the good folk at boarder control crowded round a PC screen whilst I showed them the government website and explained how it all worked.  Whilst I was prepared to hold my nerve for a while, faced with being right and not on the plane or pulling out the just in case passport and being on the plane, I would have gone for the latter option.

As you can imagine, when the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) announced that they will roll out a version of your licence on your smartphone and the UAE started allowing passengers at Dubai to use their smart-wallet passport to cross its border, I was rather excited that my wallet was moving one step further towards being consigned to history – much like my DVD collection.

The pace of innovation will always be constrained by uptake, adoption, prevalence, ubiquity and reliability.  For early adopters, the need to have a back-up – just in case – will always remain; the challenge for innovators is to reduce the time taken to move into the mainstream.  Having spent 15 years winding down on my wallet dependence I am well aware just how long things will take.  I really hope that in another 15 years I won’t have to carry my driving licence with me – or better still than what’s on my smart-wallet will be my driving licence rather than just a version of it.  And that my passport doesn’t have to come on holiday with me in my back pocket just in case.

As we move towards reliable, trusted, digital identities – our entitlements, such as payments, driving licences and passports, should be asserted digitally regardless as to whether we are using them in an online or physical channel.  The cost savings, fraud reduction and improved customer experience will be immense.

And my biggest wish, is that my DVD collection doesn’t fall through the creaking roof from the loft where I’ve stored them in preference for streaming. And why I have stored them? Well you know, just in case.     

Read my other posts

Let's get physical - how to get fit for the digital era by leveraging the offline world
I have control - Can we truly own our identity
Tipping the balance - Getting the right balance between security and user experience
You don't know what you're doing - Poor security practices are putting users at risk 
I didn't say you could touch me - Biometric authentication and identity
You don't need to tell me - Impacts of the EU General Data Protection Regulations
Coming together on being alone - The need for a clear government digital strategy
I'm not the person I used to be - Authentication for real world identities
Distributed Identity has no clothes - Will distributed ledger technology solve identity
Bring Your Own Downfall - Why we should embrace federated identity
Unblocking Digital Identity - Identity on the Blockchain as the next big thing
Tick to Agree - Doing the right thing with customer's data
The Kids Are All Right - Convenient authentication: the minimum standard for the younger generation
The ridiculous mouse - Why identity assurance must be a rewarding experience for users
Big Brother's Protection - How Big Brother can protect our privacy
I don't know who I am anymore - How to prove your identity online
Three Little Words - What it means for your business to be agile

Defining the Business Analyst - Better job descriptions for Business Analysis
Unexpected Customer Behaviour -  The role of self-service in your customer service strategy
Rip it up and start again - The successful Business Transformation
Too Big To Fail - Keeping the heart of your business alive
The upstarts at the startups - How startups are changing big business 
One Small Step - The practice of greatness
In pursuit of mediocrity - Why performance management systems drive mediocrity

About me
Bryn Robinson-Morgan is an independent Business Consultant with interests in Identity Assurance, Agile Organisational Design and Customer Centric Architecture.  Bryn near 20 years experience working with some of the United Kingdom's leading brands and largest organisations.

Follow Bryn on Twitter: @No1_BA


Connect with Bryn on Linked In: Bryn Robinson-Morgan

Coming together on being alone

In case you missed the news - the UK will exit the European Union in the coming years with the aim of gaining sovereign control of the nations future without the interference from the other 27 member states.  Whatever your views on the rights or wrongs of this decision - the outlook for the future and the UK’s role on the world stage - one global influence on the UK that is unlikely to alter will be the digital / cyber sphere.  Whilst undoubtedly governments can and do moderate the online world’s influence on their citizens, national borders on the world wide web are far harder to control than in the physical world.

A recent celebrity super injunction was challenged in the UK courts on the basis that the information it sought to protect was freely available and easily accessible on the internet for sites hosted and governed by other jurisdictions.  When it comes to cyber security, digital identity and online regulation, the larger the physical jurisdiction, the more global influence exists in how the online world operates.

At a recent digital / cyber / identity / security event that I attended, a relatively senior UK civil servant was presenting on behalf of their department’s view of upcoming EU cyber legislation; during the presentation they referenced a meeting earlier that day with the newly appointed cabinet minister for their department on what the opportunities post-Brexit were for the UK in cyber industries.  When asked for the outcomes from this topic the response was “I don’t think its appropriate for me to comment on that here”.  This was a room full of subject matter exerts from academic, industry and public sector looking for guidance and insight from the UK government - what more appropriate time could there have been to discuss this?

The UK currently plays a leading role in global cyber policy - providing thought leadership, global policy and development of international standards on a range of topics.  We simply cannot afford to lose our voice and influence if we’re to achieve the sovereign control that the decision to leave that EU was intended to deliver.  That means having strong leadership that gives a clear roadmap on the UK strategy for how we will adopt and interoperate with globally agreed objectives.  We simply cannot afford to be inward looking when it comes to the digital world.

The EU has a strategy for the Digital Single Market - so not only will we be negotiating our position in the physical Single Market, we’ll also be negotiating our relationship in the digital one too.  One of the key component of this Digital Single Market will be the electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market regulations (otherwise known as eIDAS).  The eIDAS regulations aim to enable secure and seamless electronic interactions between businesses, citizens and public authorities with electronic ID (eID) and electronic trust services (eTS).  Having a common framework for interoperability that permits cross border transactions is a key building block of the Digital Single Market.  The member states transacting in this market have standards based implementation of identity schemes, electronic signatures & seals, delivery services and website authentication.  All these electronic trust services will have legal validity within the member states. 

In eID, the UK Government have their interoperable eIDAS aligned service GOV.UK Verify - so on the face of it we’ll be able to access the Digital Single Market at least from this perspective; except that along with “the new way to prove who you are online” the GOV.UK platform is still promoting registration to the old way - Government Gateway; even for the services listed under the new way, the old way is still prevalent and often more prominent.  So our inward looking approach is already being promoted above the needs of the outward EU interoperable standard.

The answer to what are the opportunities for UK cyber industry post-Brexit are reliant on an updated Government Digital Strategy; we need to know whether we’re going to be more Estonia than North Korea as a nation when we have reclaimed our sovereignty.  We need bold leadership that outlines what our ambition is on the global stage; industry needs to know that digital UK has a return available on their investment; academia need to know the skills that future generations will need and they need to know that funding sources aren’t going to be strangled by our unwillingness to operate with a global outlook.  

If government can’t control its own departments under a single digital strategy whilst we’re faced with EU regulation being imposed, then what message does this send for our post-Brexit future?  We simply cannot afford to go it alone in the digital sphere - our opportunity to provide the thought leadership and influence of innovation, security, regulation and standardisation needs to be increased, not diminished.  

The UK Government is embarking in it’s biggest transformation programme ever - my earlier post on why transformation programmes fail, Rip it up and start again, highlights the importance of a clear strategy and vision.  In the digital sector we need to know how we plan to come together, otherwise we risk being very alone.

Read my other posts

Just in Case - From early adoption to maturity
I have control - Can we truly own our identity
Tipping the balance - Getting the right balance between security and user experience
You don't know what you're doing - Poor security practices are putting users at risk 
I didn't say you could touch me - Biometric authentication and identity
You don't need to tell me - Impacts of the EU General Data Protection Regulations
I'm not the person I used to be - Authentication for real world identities
Distributed Identity has no clothes - Will distributed ledger technology solve identity
Bring Your Own Downfall - Why we should embrace federated identity
Unblocking Digital Identity - Identity on the Blockchain as the next big thing
Tick to Agree - Doing the right thing with customer's data
The Kids Are All Right - Convenient authentication: the minimum standard for the younger generation
The ridiculous mouse - Why identity assurance must be a rewarding experience for users
Big Brother's Protection - How Big Brother can protect our privacy
I don't know who I am anymore - How to prove your identity online
Three Little Words - What it means for your business to be agile

Defining the Business Analyst - Better job descriptions for Business Analysis
Unexpected Customer Behaviour -  The role of self-service in your customer service strategy
Rip it up and start again - The successful Business Transformation
Too Big To Fail - Keeping the heart of your business alive
The upstarts at the startups - How startups are changing big business 
One Small Step - The practice of greatness
In pursuit of mediocrity - Why performance management systems drive mediocrity

About me
Bryn Robinson-Morgan is an independent Business Consultant with interests in Identity Assurance, Agile Organisational Design and Customer Centric Architecture.  Bryn has near 20 years experience working with some of the United Kingdom's leading brands and largest organisations.

Follow Bryn on Twitter: @No1_BA

Connect with Bryn on Linked In: Bryn Robinson-Morgan