Trust Is A Keystone Of Digital Transformation

Reputable and trustworthy authentication is a keystone of any digital transformation project. But for business to really make progress and successfully move towards remote working, passwords need to be made a thing of the past -Freepik

Even in non-Covid times, digital transformation in any organization isn’t easy. We’ve all seen how the pandemic has drastically accelerated the willingness of, and the need for, organizations to embrace new technology, but it has also added complexity.

All of a sudden huge swathes of the workforce are working remotely, and businesses have had to react quickly to support a new, more remote and more flexible workforce.

Aside from the various technical and logistical hurdles, many organizations are finding their biggest challenge is one of trust. With staff no longer physically present, how do you know your employees are who they say they are?

Creating trust in challenging times

I recently spoke to Andrew Shikiar, Executive Director and CMO, at the FIDO Alliance, who believes the answer lies in how organizations authenticate employees and end-users. And by solving this issue of trust, they will not only be able to move to a more remote model, but gain the confidence they need to push ahead with digital transformation projects.

Andrew says: “You can’t have digital transformation without security. What if you can’t trust anyone you don’t know? It undermines the whole ability to have digital transformation at scale. And to have security at scale, it needs to be easy. Fundamentally, technology needs to be easy for people to use.”

FIDO’s approach to addressing this problem revolves around a major shift in the way people authenticate themselves. In practice, this would mean users logging-in to devices, cloud-based platforms or online services using a biometric signature, like a fingerprint or their face, without the need for a password.

Farewell to the trusty password?

Phasing out passwords may sound counter-intuitive, but that is precisely what the FIDO Alliance was created to do. Its members include many of the world’s leading companies like Apple, American Express, Google, Microsoft and Samsung, who all recognize the pitfalls of the formerly trusty password.