Introducing Digital Identity Standards Development Service for Executives

Offer a new service for digital identity standards development, and suddenly, everyone has questions! (This makes me so happy! I love questions!) So, let’s look at why I think offering a service to inform executives about what’s happening in the digital identity standards space is a good idea.

I’m making a few assumptions as to why this service is valuable:

1. Executives aren’t opposed to conforming to standards, but they need a more structured way to understand when and how to assign resources to make the standards work for their products.
2. The standards process needs more input to ensure that the standards in question serve the critical use cases worldwide.
3. Engineers and standards architects are brilliant, but they can either engage in or facilitate the process, and they (usually) can’t do both.

Basically, whether it’s due to resource constraints, a lack of specific expertise, or simply the rapid pace at which changes occur, many organizations are unsure of how to engage effectively without overcommitting valuable resources. I want to help with that.

Let’s Talk Inspiration

Throughout my nearly 15 years working closely with Internet standards development efforts, I’ve seen brilliant engineers and busy executives struggle to juggle (heh, rhymes!) their day-to-day responsibilities with the necessity of staying aware of and (when necessary) influencing Internet standards. As much as the people who live and breathe standards development would prefer it otherwise, not every organization is ready, willing, or able to engage in standards development fully. Yet, staying on the sidelines isn’t a viable option either if you want to ensure that emerging standards will work for, and not against, your business interests.

If I were the queen of the universe, resources would magically appear; enough people with the right skills would be engaged in developing standards. I am not, however, queen of the universe (give me time). So, is there any part of this problem that I can solve? What if I could summarize what’s going on for people who need information that will let them decide when they need to engage? At the same time, can I act as a neutral party to help facilitate the process so that it runs as smoothly as possible while still including outreach to encourage participation and consensus?

Let’s find out.

Why A Digital Identity Standards Development Service Helps

My area of interest is in the digital identity space. I am actively engaged in the APIs under development in the W3C’s Federated Identity Community and Working Groups. I’m also kicking off as co-chair of the IETF’s Secure Patterns for Internet Credentials (spice) working group. Those are the areas I can immediately help an executive learn more about. If your organization has services that use federated authentication via a web browser or if they are interested in potential work on credentials to be used by both human and non-human identities, then these topics should be of interest.

And let’s be clear: I’m not here to push any specific solutions or architectures. Instead, I focus on providing the information your team needs to make decisions that align with your business goals.

There are undoubtedly other digital identity-related standards out there that may also be of interest. Adding more to my plate would involve a conversation.

Making the Case

If you need language to make the case internally for the services I’m building, this might help.

My Digital Identity Standards Development Service will help you:

• Stay Informed by keeping track of critical developments without needing to sift through every detail of the standards discussion.
• Save Resources by concentrating your efforts and resources on areas that impact your business the most without spreading your team too thin.
• Make Strategic Decisions by applying insights and expert analysis. This will enable you to decide when and how to engage effectively, ensuring you’re always a step ahead.

Wrap Up

If you’ve read this far and haven’t clicked on the direct link to the page describing this new service in detail, now’s a good time for that! If you and your organization feel overwhelmed by the prospect of keeping up with Internet standards, or if you’ve struggled to figure out how to engage without overcommitting resources, this service is designed for you. It’s about strategic engagement and ensuring that you do so with the maximum impact and minimum fuss when you choose to engage.