Introduction
Hello everyone! I'm Mint, a Web5.0 Researcher at VESS Labs.
In the last VESS’s newsletter, I introduced what DID and VCs are, with the theme of "The Basics of DID". In this article, I will introduce the theme of "Case Studies of DID/VCs Usage", to show how DID and VC are useful in the world.
This article is recommended for those who know the technology to some extent but have no idea how it is actually used. Let's learn together from practical examples of experiments and operations being conducted in various countries around the world!
Case Studies of DID/VCs around the world
#1 Keio University
Japan
Educational Institute
Large university with 6 main campuses, 10 faculties, and 14 graduate schools.
Problems
They faced challenges of managing paper-based certificates for course grades and graduation and maintaining mailing lists for alumni's access to the school's system for decades.
The solution was to use DID technology to store verifiable credentials.
Students have online IDs with attributes in a specific collection, and the school can track these attributes using unique identifiers within DID, protecting the student's verifiable credentials. Students can store their verifiable credentials on their smartphones, making it easier to prove their identity when necessary.
Result
A pilot program was conducted with 1,500 students participating, and it is expected to be utilized not only in Japan but also for transferring to overseas schools or finding employment with foreign companies.
(cf. https://www.keio.ac.jp/ja/press-releases/files/2020/10/26/201026-1.pdf)
#2 RMIT: Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
Australia
Educational Institute
Australia's leading university with over 120 years of history
Problems
Students had to wait 14 days for an ID card needed to receive student discounts, library access, and other unique student benefits
Students had to take care of GDPR and data security laws in the regions where students live around the world (about 230 countries).
The solution was to use VC to digitize the process.
We developed an application that allows graduates and students to issue and validate QR codes using multi-factor authentication, an ideal solution for students who wish to avoid face-to-face paperwork as much as possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Result
Issuance of certificates, which used to take 14 days, can now be completed in seconds. The elimination of the human and paper costs associated with issuing certificates has resulted in significant cost reductions.
(cf. https://condatis.com/case-studies/rmit-verifiable-credentials/)
#3 Avanade, Inc.
United States
IT Consulting
IT consulting firm headquartered in Seattle as a subsidiary of Accenture, Inc.
Problems
in order to facilitate the progress of projects and assignment of personnel, it was necessary to visualize who had what qualifications, whether their skills were still valid, and whether training was required.
in the traditional ID-PW model, user information management depended on the strength of the company's cyber security, and employees had no control over their own privacy.
The solution was to adopt a VCs that allows employees to manage their own privacy.
VCs eliminates the need for connections (= federation) between multiple organizations' identity management systems. Instead, digitally verified credentials exist in the user's immediate environment. The system is now ready to log in to the required systems without the common credentials of username and password.
Result
The DID-based system allows Avanade employees to seamlessly access certification exams, pass/fail verification, and corporate verification without the need for an ID/PW, all on their mobile devices. The new system allows employees to access certification exams, pass/fail verification, and corporate verification seamlessly on their mobile devices without ID/PW. In addition, all data such as credentials held by individuals used to be managed by the company, but with the introduction of the DID-based system, users can now specify the scope of data sharing. A solution that brings great benefits to both operators and users has been realized.
#4 Agilus Works Solutions, Inc.
Canada
Employment agency
One of the largest recruitment and employment agencies in Canada
Problems
Agilus, which does business in 14 locations across Canada, has hundreds of clients looking to hire and thousands of active candidates constantly searching for new jobs. Hiring managers were spending an inordinate amount of money and time verifying the credentials of suitable candidates, and it could take weeks per candidate to get the information.
Job seekers wanted to be able to match their qualifications with the requirements of the companies they wanted to work for and immediately recognize the skills they lacked. There was a need for community-building, including matching people with professionals who could provide assistance with the missing skills, in order to reduce the time it takes to create new jobs industry-wide.
The solution was to adopt VCs, an information technology that provides a robust and secure verification trail.
To ensure longevity and peace of mind for our clients, our system needed to follow industry standards, and while we evaluated technologies such as ToIP and Hyperledger, they finallly chose VCs because of its secure verification trail. VCs also help to protect the privacy of the candidate seeking the job.
Result
The DID system has eliminated the need to verify each candidate's qualifications and skills by phone or email and has eliminated the need to verify the qualifications and skills of each candidate by phone or email.
As a result, candidate documentation time has been reduced by approximately 4 hours per month.
#5 Department for Education of the UK
United Kingdom
Government
One of the British administrative agencies responsible for child welfare and education
Problems
students were taking up to four weeks to verify their earned credentials
students were often unable to apply for financial assistance programs offered by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) at the time they wanted to take advantage of them, which was problematic.
The solution was to adopt VCs with data under user control.
While it is convenient for schools to manage students by student ID number, it also means that the school has access to student information. For the Ministry of Education, which places a high priority on protecting user privacy, this system was contrary to policy. The process can also be digitized to speed up the process.
Result
Students' eligibility information is now easier to verify, and applications for financial aid programs that used to take weeks can now be completed in a matter of minutes. In addition to funding programs, the system also streamlines the process of enrolling students in lectures and verifying exam results, significantly reducing the verification time for the 2 million new students who enroll each year. It is estimated that if all universities in the United Kingdom were to adopt this system, it would save 300 million pounds.
Conclusion
In this issue, we have introduced some examples of DID/VCs applications from around the world. We hope you will become more interested in DID/VCs as you learn more about it through these examples!
In summarizing the case studies, we found that DID/VCs is mainly useful for speeding up processes and reducing costs in many cases. In essence, however, all cases are based on the idea that users' data should be under their own control, and we can see that improving the user experience leads to a reduction in the burden on related operations.
Reference
VESS Website : https://vess.id
VESS Twitter: @vess_id
VESS Discord: https://discord.gg/dAhxxmfc4p
Email : info@vess.id