While most countries share a similar vision for their future digital capabilities, in some fields they’ll have to take very different routes to get there. Differing constitutions, central government structures, political environments and IT legacies, for example, will require quite different approaches on the part of digital leaders. And in some fields, it is relatively straightforward to divide countries into a couple of main groups – producing parallel events that each directly meet the needs and interests of participants, bringing together people facing a very similar set of options and challenges.

Digital identity

Wednesday 18 May 2022

The most obvious example of this is digital identity, where the tasks facing governments are shaped by a single factor: whether or not the country already has a national ID system.

Where one exists, the main job is to link this national database to a system of online identity verification. Here, the task at the core of this agenda – that of finding a single source of truth providing core data on individual citizens, which can then be used to link together services across government – has already been accomplished. But these countries nonetheless face many decisions: whether to build an in-house system, for example, or to accredit private sector providers. And to realise the full potential of their digital ID systems, civil service leaders must consider issues such as how to build cross-departmental service access portals, sign up public service ‘clients’, and make the offer attractive to citizens.

For those countries without an existing national ID system, the challenge is far greater. There are various ways to develop the core capability: some nations, for example, are working with banks to build digital ID systems; others are creating online citizen accounts, whose level of authorisation depends on people linking them to existing online services or identity documents. Different countries are at various stages of development in this field, and there are enormous opportunities for digital leaders to learn from one another’s experiences.

To meet the needs of these two distinct groups, GGF ran parallel events on digital ID: one for those with an existing national ID system, and one for those without. In each case, the events set out the options facing digital leaders, and explored the experiences and perspectives of those most advanced in grappling with these thorny but crucial issues. We used the information gathered – including a survey of participants’ views, and their comments during the two 90-minute discussions – within our second Digital Leaders report.