In a recent article, we looked at how eIDAS can help SMEs grow and prosper. SMEs are undoubtedly the lifeblood of any economy which means that EU initiatives must cater to their specific needs. The previous article looked at how eIDAS can address the security needs of SMEs while reducing their regulatory burden and allowing them to focus on their core competencies.

However, SMEs have a unique set of challenges as well. Today, we look at some of the challenges unique to SMEs and how those challenges may be overcome to ensure that SMEs can benefit from eIDAS enabled tools to the maximum extent possible.

What You See Is What You Sign (WYSIWYS) refers to the part of any signature process, where you read a document you intend to sign, and ensure that you only sign it once you know it is the right document and agree with its terms. When you read something in your web browser, how can you be sure that the text you read is genuine, from the right source, and agree on the content it displays?

In Part 1 of our series, we covered some simple case studies from the financial services sector and the logistics and trade sector. We looked at possible implementations of some eIDAS enabled tools and how companies can get the most mileage out of their investments into those tools. Today, we look at eCommerce – a sector that is no stranger to digital tools – and the professional services sector.

The eIDAS Regulation has been designed with an aim to optimize digital business practices while simultaneously enhancing security for all users. It allows for better cross border operational compatibility and improves the flow of information which makes the modern economy tick. We have discussed many such aspects of eIDAS in previous articles, but in this two-part series we explore some real-world applications through a few case studies. Here we look at how businesses in the finance and logistics sectors can benefit from the various tools that eIDAS provides.

The financial services sector has always been an early adopter of technology. This is not surprising considering the nature of the industry with high volumes, the need to complete transactions as quickly as possible, mountains of data, minimum tolerance for errors and multiple points of failure. A zero-tolerance compliance/regulatory environment, coupled with considerable inertia in the banking system further necessitates the need to use tech tools to their full potential. This reliance on technology by the financial services sector is perhaps why the FinTech start-ups are in so much demand.

Trade is the lifeblood of the global economy. And Trade Finance is what greases the cogs of international trade. The last few decades of globalization have meant that supply chains have become global.

Small and Medium Enterprises form the backbone of any economy. In the European Union, SMEs represent 99% of all businesses and account for an astounding 85% of job growth. Providing the best environment for these SMEs to thrive and prosper thus becomes pivotal for any country. The EU has a tradition of promoting entrepreneurship and leads the pack when it comes to ease of doing business, access to finance, having a strong legal framework, a robust regulatory environment and a variety of other support structures. 

In Part 2 of our series on the success of electronic IDs in the Nordic countries, we looked at what has made these schemes so successful with near universal adoption rates. We continue along the same vein in this final piece on collaboration. Collaboration comes across as the key theme when analyzing what made the Scandinavian eID initiatives click. It was such a key factor leading to the success of eID schemes in the Nordics, that it deserves a brief case study in its own right.

National digital signature schemes that utilize remote signing technology can achieve very high usage rates, whereas Trust Service Providers and Banks (who might use the schemes) also tend to reach millions if not tens of millions of signatures per year - with peaks exceeding hundreds per minute. In this article we discuss the key elements for designing a scalable architecture to deliver a digital signing service under a high Service Level Agreement (SLA) with high throughput and low latency.