Research on the economic costs of identity exclusion
In this blog Professor Edgar Whitley, an academic at the London School of Economics introduces a research study for Women in Identity. He describes the need to better understand the business and economic costs of identity exclusion and outlines the approach the research will be following. He also describes how you can participate in the research.
Research on the economic costs of identity exclusion
Women in Identity are committed to diversity and inclusion because they believe that the best identity products are created by all for all. Building on research about the human impact of identity exclusion, Women in Identity have commissioned me to undertake further research to better understand the business impact of identity exclusion. In particular, the research aims to better understand the resulting economic costs incurred by identity organisations (typically identity providers and relying parties).
There is general agreement around the need to ensure that identity systems prioritise the needs and address the concerns of those who are in most need of the protections and benefits identification can provide. This means having systems which enable everyone to verify their identity or attributes in the way which works for them, whatever their background, level of skills and experience.
However, for organisations to ensure their products and processes are inclusive they need detailed evidence as to the costs they are incurring from identity exclusion. These are the costs associated with supporting customers who are not on the happy path for identity related transactions, including lost customers and transactions. This could be because they don’t have suitable ID, can’t get suitable ID, can’t use their ID or need support for using the ID they have, etc.
Whilst there is evidence (and associated guidance) about how interoperability arising from following agreed standards can reduce business costs and avoid vendor lock–in, there is no equivalent data around the business costs of identity exclusion. This lack of evidence makes it difficult for boards to make investment decisions around new systems and processes in support of identity inclusion.
Research approach
This research will contribute to an evidence base by interviewing programme managers, budget holders, directors of operations and others who have responsibility and oversight of areas affected by identity exclusion.
Some organisations are expected to measure and monitor the costs of identity exclusion. Understanding what is currently measured and monitored will provide useful insights for the industry as a whole.
In other organisations, the work an organisation does to deal with identity exclusion can best be considered a form of invisible or hidden digi–work. This work is often not directly related to core business concerns and is invisible to the leadership of the organisation. As a result, it is frequently unrecognised or undervalued. Nevertheless, it is work that must be done as it gets the service “back on track”. It is also work that ‘costs’ the organisation, even if these costs are not regularly measured or monitored.
One example of hidden work is all the troubleshooting that is needed when an identity transaction doesn’t proceed as expected. This may involve both diagnostic activities and assistance with technological issues, e.g. around using multi–factor authentication. This troubleshooting may involve call centres, be in person or use online support agents. If troubleshooting is handled via a call centre, the proportion of support tickets raised around identity exclusion issues can help quantify the call centre costs that the company is incurring. In other situations, attributing the costs of troubleshooting is much more difficult to do.
Research outputs
Taken together, these various findings from the research will be used to produce a range of research outputs including a detailed report that includes academically rigorous data that highlights the various categories of business costs associated with identity exclusion. This data can be used to in organisations to make the business case to support identity inclusion initiatives and as well as providing useful benchmarking. It will also include a methodology that can be reused by identity organisations to help them identify and quantify the hidden costs of identity exclusion internally, as well as the measured costs.
The findings will be presented at industry and academic events and will be shared with members of the Women in Identity community.
Would you like to participate in the research?
If you are a programme manager, budget holder, directors of operations or otherwise who have responsibility and oversight of areas affected by identity exclusion and would like to be interviewed as part of the study, please contact me to arrange a suitable time for the interview. We are looking for participants from around the world in all industry sectors.
The research project has LSE Ethics Approval and the consent process allows you to specify whether you want your responses to be anonymous or not. Additionally, we will double check the use of any information from the interviews before publication. The interviews themselves will take no more than one hour and will normally be conducted online.
About me
I am a Professor at the London School of Economics with considerable academic and policy expertise in issues around digital identity and data governance.
As well as working closely with the identity industry I have advised governments in Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, India, Jamaica, Japan and Mexico about the political, technological and social challenges of effective identity policies. I have contributed to reports for the World Bank, Omidyar Network and Centre for Global Development. I am a frequent media commentator on digital issues.
Some of my recent publications include
Whitley, E. A., and Schoemaker, E. (2022). On the socio–political configurations of digital identity principles, Data & Policy 4(e38).
Medaglia, R., Eaton, B., Hedman, J., and Whitley, E. A. (2022). Mechanisms of power inscription into IT governance: Lessons from two national digital identity systems, Information Systems Journal 32(2), 242–277.
Whitley, E. A. (2022). Digital identity verification: a problem of trust, Ada Lovelace Institute.
Contact details: e.a.whitley@lse.ac.uk
Personal webpage: https://personal.lse.ac.uk/whitley/
About Women in Identity’s ID Code of Conduct:
This research forms the third phase of a six phase piece of research, the ID Code of Conduct, which aims to arrive at a realistic set of guiding principles and practical guide to apply them for ID Teams internationally.
A team of experts and sponsors have gathered around this phase of the ID Code of Conduct research, which includes RBC, Mastercard, Omidyar, KPMG, GBG Group, and OIX. Dr Louise Maynard-Atem and Dr Sarah Walton oversee the ID Code of Conduct research.
You can reach out to them if your organisation would like to sponsor or get more information here: info@womeninidentity.org