GOV.UK Verify | Exploring user research for better cross-border electronic identification experience
European Commission
Understanding users' needs and expectations has become a priority for public authorities to deliver digital public services. The EU Member States have committed via the 2017 Tallinn Declaration on eGovernment to implement user-centricity principles for design and delivery of digital public services in order to improve citizens' and businesses' experience when interacting with public administrations online.
In light of the eIDAS Regulation, the European Commission is looking into improving the user experience of cross-border electronic identification (eID) in Europe and to support the uptake of eID by businesses and citizens.
The Government Digital Service (GDS), part of the Cabinet Office of the UK government, has conducted significant research into the development of a truly user-centric website for UK government services (GOV.UK). This website is designed around the specific needs and life events of citizens and businesses. Within GDS, a dedicated team of 20 people is working specifically on the issue of cross-border authentication. One of the team's objectives is to determine the best way to help European residents in the UK understand the possibility of using their own national eID scheme to access UK online services, for example to check their income tax, apply for a criminal record check, or view their driving licence information online. The team conducted several rounds of user research and testing to better understand what foreigners' needs and expectations are when accessing UK online services.
GDS invited team members from the European Commission working on eID initiatives in Europe for a one-day visit. During this visit the Commission team had the opportunity to learn more about the GDS' research, ways of working and latest thoughts on the design of web-pages to support cross-border authentication. They were also able to observe on one of the live user testing sessions held that day. During these sessions, the study team asked users to complete a specific task on the GOV.UK website (for example, requesting a criminal record check). The users' reactions and rationale were documented and recorded on video, helping the team to refine their understanding of how users interact with the service and where they experience difficulties (pain-points). These insights then allow the team to iteratively improve the service.
Picture | Collection of users behaviour during User research Lab session
Through its research, GDS has identified some interesting user experience challenges for public administrations - such as digital onboarding or developing an intuititve interface - regarding the use of nationally-issued eIDs in a cross-border context. For example, each European country has a different way of referring to electronic identification solutions (digital profile, digital identity, eID scheme, etc). It can therefore be difficult to determine how best to label services which will be accessible cross-border in a way that foreign users understand. Other users simply don't imagine that they can use their own nationally issued eID for foreign services, and so these services need to be designed in such a way as to educate the user.
Additionally, some eID schemes can be difficult to use when a citizen has not been living in that country for a while (e.g. a national phone number may be requested to complete two-factor authentication, or the renewal of credentials may be requested on a regular basis). Such findings will contribute greatly to the European Commission's recommendations towards the other EU Member States that will also need to consider these issues as they look into increasing cross-border access to online public services.
Another important aspect for the European Commission is to understand how to increase the uptake of cross-border (eIDAS-based) eIDs in the private sector. GDS, in partnership with Barclays, HSBC, Morpho, and Orange, has benefited from a CEF Grant in 2016 (2016-EU-IA-0070) to develop a pilot project aimed at opening a UK bank account with a French eID, and we were able to discuss this with the team in more detail. The findings of the project suggest that there is a business case for the banking sector to reuse eIDAS-based eIDs to verify the identity of potential new clients. However, the Member States need to clarify to which extent and under which conditions the private sector will be able to reuse the eIDAS network and public infrastructures to perform cross-border authentication.
The European Commission has recently launched a task force on electronic identification and remote Know Your-Customer processes to further explore how the banking sector could leverage the possibilities offered by eIDAS identification.