Digital Identity

Conclusion

I believe that over the next decade we will see brand new mechanisms spring up by which customers can telegraph their desires to businesses, and businesses will find new ways to meet those demands. As an example, not too long ago, I was at a conference and got an email from Doc Searls asking if anyone had a spare power adapter for a Powerbook. He'd forgotten his at home. This simple act was Doc signaling a need to the group he knew was at the conference and used Macs. Later that day, we discussed how it would be nice for Doc to be able to let local businesses know of his need as well, so that they could offer to solve his problem—for a fee, of course. At present, the only way to do this would be for Doc to actually look up local businesses and contact them one at a time. That needn't be the case in a world with good networks and better identity infrastructures. Doc calls this "demand informing supply." I like to think of it as the spontaneous fulfillment of desire.

Regardless of what you call it, business is more than just transactions. Business is about relationships—relationships with customers, employees, suppliers, and partners. These relationships—especially those with customers—have tended to be one-way and very impersonal. Digital identity changes that, and just in time, because customers are demanding better and more customized service wherever they happen to be and exactly when they want it.