My November column for Connect is about the business context of identity.

I recently had the opportunity to sit with a group of CIOs and others involved in managing information technology and discuss digital identity.Ê What struck me was how much of the conversation was about security and liability rather than identity and opportunity.

In his book, "The Age of Access," Jeremy Rifkin argues that economic shifts over the last several decades have given rise to a regime where anonymous transactions are nearly impossible.Ê In a service-based economy, digital identity matters; I have to know who you are in order to sell you access to my service.Ê Since these services are increasingly delivered over digital networks, businesses need reliable, secure, and private means for creating, storing, transferring and using digital identities.Ê Understanding how your organization will manage and use digital identity is a crucial part of your business strategy.Ê

From Connect :: Resource/Article :: November Columnist - Phil Windley
Referenced Thu Dec 04 2003 17:21:51 GMT-0700

I'm somewhere in the middle of writing a book on digital identity management (Title: Digital Identity; ISBN: 1-881378-26-8). The book is aimed at CIOs, IT managers, product managers, and others who want to understand the concepts of digital identity and how businesses can benefit from creating and following an identity management strategy. I'll be writing more about this in the coming weeks and soliciting feedback on how best to approach this subject.