A recent study commissioned by Regula concluded that digital ID is not yet ready to replace physical documents in the near future: despite a global rise in automated and biometric technologies for remote ID verification, reliance on traditional physical ID documents remains strong.
A Forrester Consulting study titled “The New Imperative: Digital Identity” highlights the methods businesses are using to verify identity. Findings show that 46% of organizations still manually verify documents even in remote environments, such as through video interviews or submitting passport scans. Some have automated this process, while others have adopted more secure authentication methods, such as biometric authentication (54%) or multi-factor authentication (49%). Additionally, 44% of businesses rely on third-party services, often using physical ID documents for comprehensive identity verification.
The survey highlights that physical identification remains essential. This reliance is especially pronounced in industries with high security requirements, such as aviation (63%) and finance (44%). Manual verification is also still highly required in countries with strict regulatory frameworks, such as the United States (50%) and Germany (49%).
Regula recently updated its platform to support ID documents from every country and region around the world.
There are several hurdles on the road to widespread adoption of digital ID. A major obstacle is the lack of a common legal framework for digital ID certification. 74% of respondents highlighted the need for global digital ID standards and laws to ensure interoperability across borders.
Despite these barriers, there is widespread optimism about the future of digital identity, with 72% of stakeholders surveyed believing that unifying digital identity will help develop a strong global digital economy.
Ihar Kliashchou, Chief Technology Officer at Regula, highlights the transformative potential of digital identity: “Digital identity represents a major shift in how we approach identity verification, bringing an entirely new dimension to existing frameworks.
“However, the current rollout of digital IDs will not disrupt the IDV market. The transition to digital IDs needs to happen everywhere but is currently hindered by political, economic and technical challenges. Until a full ICAO standard for digital IDs is developed and adopted worldwide, physical documents will remain essential, especially during the initial issuance phase.”
Article Topics
Biometrics | Digital ID | Forrester Research | Identification | Market Reports | Regulation
