Digital Identity in Germany is a very ambivalent topic. On the one hand, the Corona crisis shows how helpful a uniform, mass available digital identity would be, but on the other hand, the topic is developing in the same way as the developments in mobile payment almost ten years ago. With one important difference: mobile payment initially always tried to solve a problem that did not exist in this form. Even back then, customers were already able to make cashless payments online and at the point of sale. But the situation is different with digital identities, where many things are not possible and the market is fissured. Although solutions have been available for quite some time that are dedicated to the topic of digital identity in the broadest sense, the customer and Users so far not very well received.

Digital Identity – an overview

(Update September 2020) Time to shed some light on the situation. The overview “Digital Identity Landscape Germany” is a start. The first version of the graphic from May 2020 only shows a simple overview. For the current version all providers were contacted and only the feedback is shown in the current overview (as of September 2020). The following questions had to be answered:

• In which customer segment are you active? B2B, B2C, etc.
• In which field are you active? Identification, authentication
• What legal requirements does your solution meet? AMLA-compliant, etc.
• Is the solution available on the market?
• Since when do you offer the solution
• Which three market companions do you consider most relevant? (optional)

The form can be seen here and added. Interesting is the optional answer to the question which market companions are considered most relevant. IDnow is in first place, followed by Bundesdruckerei. Google, Facebook or Apple (i.e. the usual suspects) could not be selected, but were significantly often named as the most important protagonists in the comments.

Insights from the Digital Identity Overview Germany Survey

• 40% of the companies are in B2B, another 40% are active in B2B2C
• 76 percent of solutions have been available on the market for at least one year
• Most solutions are AMLA (64%), TKG (40%) and / or eIDAS compliant (44%)

This overview is still only a beginning and still lives from your feedback. Feel free to add your comments or by mail to us.

This is the version of the Digital Identity Overview Germany from May 2020.