COVID has Accelerated Public Demand for Digital ID
Digital ID and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) research finds that three-quarters of Canadians feel that it’s important to have a secure, trusted, and privacy-enhancing digital ID to safely and securely make transactions online using blockchain, distributed ledger, and other existing and emerging technologies. As federal governments focus on post-pandemic recovery, investing in digital ID makes strong economic sense, especially for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). For SMEs, the impact of digital identity could be used to improve processes that are difficult today. This is especially true in situations where businesses need to provide proof of identity to another business. Considering SMEs account for approximately 30 percent of Canada’s overall GDP ($450 billion), if we assume that the average SME could be just one percent more efficient with access to trusted digital identity, this results in a potential $4.5 billion of added value to SMEs and reinvestments in the Canadian economy. This presentation will provide a detailed overview of research performed over the course of 2 years to quantify public perception and demand for secure, interoperable, digital identity that works across the whole of the economy.