I often get asked, when I explain InstantCard’s business to a new acquaintance, “but aren’t ID cards going the way of the dinosaurs?”. This question is particularly common from tech-savvy entrepreneurs I meet, whose core belief is that mobile and web technologies are rapidly replacing all our older, off-line work methods.
While I acknowledge that possibility, one day, I often start off by replying that our business has been growing, and continues to grow, at double-digit rates. But that alone doesn’t address the idea that maybe next month, or maybe next year, the business of printing photo ID cards on plastic will fall off the cliff.
So I thought I would outline herein a few reasons that I am not yet worried about this happening anytime soon. I monitor new and emerging ID technologies carefully, and I continue to believe that alternatives which offer the same ease-of-use, and low-cost, are still far from being ready for prime time. I think that the need for any substitute to be equally cheap and easy will keep ID cards in the mainstream for many years to come.
In fact, there are many cheap and easy solutions out there whose demise has been predicted for many years, yet which are still very much part of our everyday lives. Two examples are:
Credit Cards
For years “experts” have predicted that the use of credit and debit cards for payments will be replaced by mobile devices or other fintech solutions. And indeed many, many alternative payment mechanisms have been developed and deployed, soaking up billions of dollars of venture capital investments. Yet today the majority of payments are still being made with plastic cards. In fact, according to the Federal Reserve’s Diary of Consumer Payment Choice report, roughly 60% of all payments are still made with plastic, and only 10% are made with mobile payment technology.
The key reason for the incredible longevity of card-based payments is that plastic cards are cheap and easy to use. All the other alternatives still, in most cases, do not present similarly cheap and easy solutions when compared to the everyday convenience of cards.
Passwords
Everyone has heard over and over about all the problems with password usage for accessing phones, computers and online services. And again, for many years, “experts” have announced that passwords are becoming extinct, to be replaced by biometrics, or digital authentication, or some other flashy new technology . . . yet passwords are still very much a part of our everyday lives. Perhaps more so than ever. Again, despite billions of dollars invested in substitutes for passwords, none of the alternatives present that combination of cheap and easy which passwords offer.
Passwords are clearly not perfect, but their combination of attributes make them attractive, and keep them attractive, even when alternatives are available. And various new “features”, like MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) using a one-time code to a cellphone, only serve to extend the useful life of passwords.
ID Cards
In the vast majority of use cases, photo ID cards are cheaper to deploy, and easier to use, than any of the alternatives developed to date. While this does not mean that they will be with us forever, it does mean that it will take a long time before all those ID cards in use all around us disappear.
While badges do have disadvantages, the characteristics of the humble ID card are such that it offers an unbeatable solution for most identification and access control requirements. And many of those disadvantages can be mitigated with relatively little effort:
- Cards can be made more fraud-resistant through with holographic overlays, micro-printing, and other methods preventing forgeries
- Card functionality can be enhanced with the addition of RFID or QR codes
- The hassles of card printing can be eliminated by outsourcing card production to an online, outsourced printing service which offers high quality and rapid turnaround
- Digital versions of cards can be created where they need to be integrated with mobile or online technologies
Above all, the easy visual verification of identity using an ID card worn around the neck is much simpler and easier than any substitute on a mobile device.
As a result, I do not believe that ID cards are going to go extinct in the next decade or so. We will certainly see some substitution, as certain use cases justify alternative technologies. But the identity security space is growing so quickly that new use cases continue to arise all the time where the traditional badge provides an excellent, low-cost method to meet the requirements.
Please don’t hesitate to email me with your comments and thoughts to this overview, as I am always open to new ideas and new perspectives.
