eIDAS driving innovation!

Digitalization and the European Commission’s priority on the digital single market drives Innovation.

In July 2016, Europe took the smart initiative to unify the digital market as eIDAS was created, enabling and driving the development of one single European digital market. eIDAS is now a common standard in Europe and most organizations have at least initiated the work to meet the new regulation. At PrimeKey we’re doing our part in enabling eIDAS as we support companies to become eIDAS certified Trust Service Providers. In the short time that eIDAS has been launched, we aided several companies in their journey, companies like Zetes in Belgium, DGN Service, Bundesnotarkammer and BankVerlag in Germany and Swisscom in Switzerland.

As the eIDAS regulations mature and new requirements immerge, it is important for us as a product vendor to constantly improve our portfolio and support new regulations, whilst delivering a comprehensive user experience. And PrimeKey is not the only company trying to aid the evolution of eIDAS. Just the other week at the PrimeKey Tech Days our partner Utimaco announced that they were launching a new Cryptographic Module for Trust Services, CryptoServer CP5 (eIDAS & CC). This is one of the first PP5 certified HSMs and will help companies to more easily comply with eIDAS. PrimeKey salutes the availability of this new product in the market and we are committed to support it within our EJBCA and SignServer Enterprise products, as well as the PrimeKey Appliance product range. We're looking forward to certified HSMs from other vendors and to all jointly make eIDAS even more accessible.

Apart from unifying the digital market I believe that eIDAS will have a strong impact on innovative digitalization. Very often digitalization is linked with things like cloud computing, bandwidth, fibre wire, etc. but with eIDAS I see that it will become more about innovation and innovative business models. In short, eIDAS could be the door opener and the enabler for digitalization. Yes, we’ve had several legal requirements and regulations in the past but due to the variety of specifications in different countries, the innovation factor was very low. With eIDAS I believe that a significant step was made to enable new innovative solutions and business models cross Europe. Let me explain what I mean by giving you two examples of how eIDAS is driving innovation right now.  

eInvoicing

eInvoicing enables new business processes for enterprises and the manufacturing industry. With eIDAS in place enterprises can develop new products, benefit from cost savings during production and reach out to new groups of customers all over Europe. eIDAS has made it possible to extend eInvoicing internationally in way that hasn’t been possible before. And with this simple math example, we can see how eIDAS can boost business. Take an enterprise with 5000 monthly international paper invoices. The cost per invoice is approximately 0,79 Euro (postage, paper, envelopes print, etc.). The total cost for paper-based invoicing for this enterprise is 3.950,00 Euro per month and 47.400,00 Euro per year. After eIDAS it is now possible for the enterprises to easily convert their paper invoices to signed pdf’s and send them via email. This reduces the cost of each invoice close to zero. That’s a major cost saving! To send e-invoices internationally before eIDAS was possible but involved separate signing solutions for each country with specific settings and regulations, requiring legal expertise, time and resources. eIDAS makes it possible to use one signature for all European countries and simplifies cross boarder eInvoicing for all.  

Trust Service Providers

A harmonized need for standardized trusted security services enables possibilities for new business models for new service providers and generates new services and business areas for existing service providers. With eIDAS and PSD2 it is possible for bank service providers to offer a new portfolio of services for banks and online portals. Using a digital signature, the bank can now offer new and innovating services to customers and businesses, such as international contract handling online. With internationally authenticated users there is a new world of opportunities opening. This is a great foundation for innovation and I’m really looking forward to seeing what comes up in this field of business.  

Conclusion

Digitalization is innovation that you can’t stop! eIDAS will be a significant building block to enable and develop new business models and to expand existing solutions across Europe.  

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