The identity modernisation market is booming. The question is who’s buying — and whether they know what they’re getting.
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 8 hours ago
Every major technology conference now features an identity pavilion. Every consultancy has an identity practice. Every vendor has a platform, a biometric solution, a personalisation system, and a slide deck showing exponential market growth.
The supply side has never been louder. The demand side has never been more confused.
Governments — particularly in developing and transitional countries — are being approached with solutions looking for problems. Passport issuance systems marketed as turnkey. Biometric enrolment platforms presented as plug-and-play. Digital identity wallets positioned as inevitable, regardless of whether the institutional infrastructure exists to support them. National ID programmes sold on timelines that no comparable project has ever achieved.
The risk is not that these technologies don’t work. Many of them do — in the right context, with the right preparation, against the right requirements. The risk is that they are deployed without the institutional readiness, the legal frameworks, the standards alignment, or the foundational document infrastructure to make them sustainable.
A modern passport issuance system built on a civil registry that cannot verify a birth record is not modernisation. It is automation of an existing vulnerability.
SECOIA exists to sit on the government’s side of the table — not the vendor’s. To evaluate claims against international standards. To assess institutional readiness before recommending technology. To ensure that the investment serves the country’s interests for a decade, not the vendor’s pipeline for a quarter.
Who is sitting on your side of the table?
SECOIA Executive Consultants Ltd is a Swiss boutique consultancy specialising in identity management, border security, biometrics, secure documents, and ePassports. The firm holds active memberships in ICAO ICBWG, ISO/IEC, and CEN standardisation bodies.
We welcome dialogue with professionals navigating these questions. Reach out through our website , arrange for a meeting or connect with us on LinkedIn.
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