blog.gov.jeReaders of this blog series will be aware that we have recently selected Yoti as a digital ID that will enable people to prove who they are when accessing government online services in Jersey.
Recent progress
Last month I was appointed as the product owner for digital ID, and will be working closely with Yoti as we bring new services on board.
We have begun to meet organisations outside of government that might benefit from accepting digital IDs.
You will start to see more of Yoti in Jersey over the coming months. For example, the company has recently announced that you can use the Yoti app to prove your age in Jersey bars, night clubs and at music festivals.
Five year total cost of ownership
As Islanders hear more about Yoti there may be interest in how much we will pay for this service. The Yoti app is free for people to download and use. Yoti makes its money through charges to businesses and other organisations that use it to check people’s identity. As mentioned in our last blog, they use a consumption-based pricing model – so we will pay for what we use.
We have projected the total cost of ownership over a five year period. The calculation is based on the cost per use and the number of government services which will use digital ID:
- At the end of 2017 the Council of Ministers approved a budget of £860,000 to implement the chosen digital ID service and to cover costs of the service until the end of 2019. Of this we forecast spending £550,000 up to the end of 2018. Some of this was spent on due diligence – the detailed process we followed to provide the confidence we needed to select the Yoti solution. Further spend in 2018 includes project and product management, development and integration costs so we can start to roll out government services using digital ID.
- The forecast spend for 2019 is £300,000. This reflects our plan to increase the range of government services that accept Yoti, and more people using their digital ID to access them. The figure also includes:
- Product management
- Marketing
- The cost of developing and integrating further services
- A way for people who choose not to have a smart phone to be able to access online services that depend on a proven identity
- Between 2020 and 2022, subject to Council of Ministers approval, we expect to spend around £250,000 per year as we continue to create opportunities for use of your digital ID.
Specifically considering the costs of Yoti services then these are commercially sensitive and so we are not able to publish the exact pricing agreed, but prices are based an on-demand based model.
The Yoti standard published pricing structure provides a price of £0.60 per verification of a citizen.
The overall, five year cost is is dependent on population increases and the overall frequency and use of the service.
The return on this investment depends on growing the number of Islanders who have Yoti and find it useful in multiple aspects of their everyday lives, including using it to access government services. So far, over 2,500 people in Jersey have downloaded the app. We will keep you up to date on progress as the number of users grows.
Next steps
We are working on integrating Yoti with several online government services. My next blog will include a list of these and when they will be available.
We will carry on working with Yoti to introduce the app to local businesses. If you run a business or charity and are interested in exploring how digital identities could help, please get in touch.