Strategic Analysis for Emirates Identity Authority (Emirates ID)
Current Business and Operations
The Emirates ID is a federal agency launched in 2004 to conduct a formal registration of all Emirati citizens and legal immigrants and compilation of a national population register. It issues eligible citizens (over 15 years) with ID cards certifying their identity as UAE nationals.
Other services of the agency include the creation and implementation of a cutting-edge identification system for citizen enrollment, issuance of distinctive identification numbers, and provision of smart cards to UAE citizens (Emirates IDentity Authority 2011).
The authority also develops a comprehensive and reliable citizen register containing the demographic details of UAE citizens for federal planning and budgetary allocation. Therefore, the agency, through its programs, serves the UAE government, citizens, and agencies with an interest in national biographical data for strategic reasons.
The Emirates ID runs several centers situated in different locations across the UAE. It has service centers strategically located in Dubai, Al Quoz, Karama, Al Barsha, Abu Dhabi, and Ajman, among others (Al-Khouri 2013). The centers serve as a one-stop shop for citizens seeking federal services.
Emirates ID, in 2007, launched a strategic plan aimed at modernizing its identity management infrastructure, systems, and organizational structure. The central goals of this strategy included addressing potential technological and structural challenges and aligning its mission and vision with the federal strategic direction.
The strategic plan was implemented across the agency’s key departments in the form of “strategic objectives, key success factors, initiatives, and activities” (Emirates IDentity Authority 2011, para. 7). The strategic framework provided a blueprint for the delivery of federal services (citizen identification) as per the organization’s mandate.
The development of Emirates ID’s strategy entailed three steps, namely, diagnostics, development, and implementation planning (Emirates IDentity Authority 2011). The first stage, diagnostics, involved a review of the existing framework and goals guiding the organization’s strategic direction.
The development stage relied on the results of the diagnostic step. It incorporated the federal strategic goals to formulate the agency’s strategy complete with statements of its mission, vision, and strategic objectives (Emirates IDentity Authority 2011). Each strategic goal was tied to a key success factor (KSF) to measure the agency’s progress in achieving the set goal. The final stage was implementation planning, which involved the formulation of activities, work plans, and budgets and role description for each step of strategy execution.
External Analysis
SWOT analysis is a critical analytic tool for identifying opportunities for a firm in the market and potential threats or challenges that may affect profitability. The external environment includes economic, technological, socio-cultural, and political/legal factors (Kotler & Keller 2011). These elements might present opportunities or threats to the Emirates ID’s growth or operations.
Opportunities
E-government services present an opportunity that Emirates ID can capitalize on to expand its operations. The UAE federal government strategy aims to expand digital services through the e-government portal launched in 2005.
The portal serves as a one-stop shop for citizens to receive federal government services remotely (Emirates IDentity Authority 2011). It contains features for e-participation, e-services, and m-services. Emirates ID, as a federal body that provides integrated ID cards can use this platform to enhance the accessibility of its services to users.
The UAE government is also committed to economic diversification initiatives. Information communication technology (ICT) is an important non-oil sector in its transformation agenda.
The provision of integrated ID cards resonates with the federal strategy of developing a knowledge-based and competitive economy. The growth in the ICT sector is an opportunity for Emirates ID to expand its infrastructure to meet organizational needs. The organization can offer its services through the existing government infrastructure to reach more registrants.
The UAE’s population has been growing at an annual rate of more than 5% since the 1990s, which calls for an accurate system to capture the huge demographic data. There is a need to maintain a complete and up-to-date database of the UAE population. The Emirates ID comes in as an agency with the infrastructure and capacity to conduct a comprehensive registration of persons, archive biographical data, and supply identification cards.
With the rise in cybercrime, there is a need to protect individual identification. The Emirates ID can provide smart cards with additional security features to prevent theft of personal identification information.
Currently, authentication is done through an encrypted system called the National Validation Gateway (Mayhew 2014). Secure personal identification will encourage people to utilize their ID cards to transact business or seek federal services. Therefore, Emirates ID has a role of providing integrated ID cards with enhanced security features.
Although Emirates ID failed to register the targeted number of citizens (managing only 1.2 million), the organization has a chance to enroll more registrants because of favorable legislations (Emirates IDentity Authority 2011). Clear channels of communication exist between the agency and government institutions. The aim is to expand the registration process to net more registrants that are eligible. Thus, seamless information sharing between Emirates ID and government agencies will raise the number of ID card applicants.
Global trends indicate the growth of information sharing. The demand for reliable population statistics for strategic planning is high. Emirates ID benchmarked its project against similar IDs, such as e-wallet, e-health, and electronic banking, among others, in other countries. Thus, the organization has an opportunity to develop state-of-the-art ID cards that reflect the best practices globally. Such integrated smart cards will support information sharing among entities.
Threats
The Emirates ID launched the “ID Card Reader Software Tool Box” in 2010 to enable agencies to develop card reader compatible with this system (Emirates IDentity Authority 2015, para. 11). While this software will allow cardholders to conduct transactions, especially related to health insurance, poor flow of personal records or files to the institutions’ internal systems can affect service delivery. Furthermore, incompatible smart card readers cannot run on Emirates ID’s infrastructure, hampering a smooth interchange of personal data. Thus, system incompatibility is a threat to the adoption of card IDs in other sectors.
In addition, Emirates ID lacks technical experts to enhance the security of ID cards. The capacity to secure personal data and prevent forgery is central to the adoption of the smart cards in other sectors, such as health insurance. Therefore, Cybercrime is a threat to the adoption of the smart cards. Emirates ID needs experts in fingerprinting to tame forgery and secure personal data.
The organization’s strategy plan hinges on the provision of excellent customer service at its centers. The authority relied on international ID’s to model how customers would interact with its services. Thus, its understanding of local needs is limited, hence, a threat to the adoption and use of smart ID cards by the UAE citizens. A needs assessment would give a clear picture of the local consumer needs and expectations.
The current legal landscape is also a threat to the organization’s operations. The existing legislations delineate the powers and mandates of local and federal agencies, which hamper information exchange. Emirates ID’s initiatives depend on the smooth information flow between federal and local agencies and ministries. Without proper legislations to foster e-linkages between entities, the institution’s efforts to provide e-government services might be in jeopardy.
Emirates ID must maintain an up-to-date infrastructure and technology to support the access of personal data by various entities and provide value added IDs to UAE citizens. However, maintaining a modern infrastructure requires heavy investments. Although it has an independent budget, Emirates ID might find it increasingly costly to install and maintain modern technology to support its initiatives (Emirates IDentity Authority 2011). Thus, high software maintenance costs present a challenge to the institution’s strategic plan.
Porter’s Five Forces Analysis
Organizations use the Porter’s framework to determine the attractiveness of a market based on five forces, which include “the threat of new entrants and substitutes, the power of buyers and suppliers, and the rivalry in the industry” (Kotler & Keller 2011, p. 49). An attractive industry is characterized by a lower threat of new entrants and substitutes, high switching costs, minimal supplier power, and less rivalry.
The Threat of New Entrants
The level of barriers to entry into a market determines the level of competition in an industry (Kotler & Keller 2011). Thus, high entry barriers would discourage new entrants, making the industry attractive.
Emirates ID has an exclusive mandate to obtain biometric data of UAE citizens and legal migrants aged over 15 years (Emirates IDentity Authority 2011). The registration of the population, which includes expatriates, is mandatory in the UAE. In this regard, no other organization has the authority to register citizens, which means that the threat of new entrants is low.
The Emirates ID was created in 2004 through a federal decree. It is the only agency mandated to develop and maintain a “national identification infrastructure” and biometrics program (Emirates IDentity Authority 2015, para. 17). It develops its budget and legislations to achieve this mandate. In the UAE, no other agency has the authority to collect and keep the biometric and biographical data of its citizens. Therefore, the stringent legislative requirements, including government sanctions, act as barriers to new entrants.
The Threat of Substitutes
Substitutes are items that serve the same purpose as the products or services that a firm offers (Kotler & Keller 2011). Thus, substitutes affect demand, which influences product prices in an industry. The Emirates ID maintains a database of biometric data, including fingerprints and pictures.
It issues an integrated Smart Card (ID) that facilitates biometric authentication when needed. Private firms (banks and insurance companies) also maintain biometric data of their customers. However, their databases are less comprehensive compared to that of Emirates ID that contains more than 105 million records (Emirates IDentity Authority 2015). Its infrastructure facilitates data transmission across several government entities. Thus, the threat posed by substitutes is relatively low.
The Emirates ID benchmarked its smart card against comparable IDs in Malaysia, Belgium, Singapore, and Bahrain, which means that its services meet best practices globally. In addition, the implemented data transmission systems and protocols meet “ANSI and ISO standards” (United Nations 2015). No other local organization offers comparable services, which makes the threat of substitutes minimal.
The Power of Buyers
Buyers are the primary users of a firm’s products or services. Powerful buyers influence product prices, affecting a firm’s profitability. According to Kotler and Keller (2011), high consumer power occurs in an industry with minimal switching costs. The Emirates ID’s strategic plan outlines the organization’s intention to enroll and issue smart cards to UAE citizens and GCC nationals and provide e-government services to federal/local institutions and private companies.
The ultimate intention is to make the ID card an indispensable document in accessing federal government services. In this respect, buyers, including government entities and private firms, have low power. In addition, the switching costs are prohibitive because there is no other institution offering e-government services besides the Emirates ID.
The Power of Suppliers
Suppliers are the providers of the services or items that an organization needs to operate. Supplier power increases when switching costs for the organization are high or when one supplier dominates the supply market (Kotler & Keller 2011). Emirates ID‘s e-procurement portal is managed by a third party, Tejari.
The organization collaborates with service providers such as Morpho, Emartech, and Oliver Wyman, among others. It relies on their infrastructure and web-based tools to provide e-services to government and private entities. Thus, supplier power is relatively high in this industry, as Emirates ID relies on vendors for its technological solutions.
Competitive Rivalry
Competitors are entities that provide comparable services or products (substitutes) to the market served by a particular firm (Kotler & Keller 2011). The level of competition depends on the number of rivals operating in the industry.
As aforementioned, the Emirates ID has the sole mandate of registering the UAE population, issuing smart cards, and maintaining an innovative infrastructure that facilitates data transmission and ID authentication. It provides a universal system for the identification and verification of the citizens’ biographical and biometric details. All federal, local, and private institutions depend on Emirates ID’s services. Thus, it dominates the e-government services sector, as there are no competitors.
Competitive Position in the Industry
The Porter’s five forces analysis indicates that Emirates ID has a strong competitive position in the e-government services segment. It dominates this sector due to high entry barriers for new entrants. The UAE only mandates Emirates ID to enroll the country’s population. The threat of substitutes is also low, reinforcing Emirates ID’s competitive position in the sector.
Since no local organization provides comparable products, Emirates ID enjoys dominance in the public services sector. It serves federal and local government institutions, private companies, and UAE citizens. The organization provides indispensable services; hence, the power of buyers/users is minimal.
The Emirates ID depends on partners and service providers, such as Tejari, to provide its services. Therefore, supplier power is high, affecting the organization’s competitive position. However, since it has an independent budget, the organization can develop its software and infrastructure. The Emirates ID enjoys a monopoly in the e-government services sector. All institutions depend on its services. Therefore, the level of competitive rivalry is low in this sector.
The macro-environmental analysis shows that Emirates ID has opportunities in e-government services, personal identification, registration of more applicants, and improvement of data transmission. However, it faces the challenges of establishing linkages between institutions, improving the security of personal data, meeting customer expectations, and keeping abreast of technological developments. Changes in government policies, including liberalization of the sector, will affect the competitive position of Emirates ID.
Internal Analysis
An organization’s microenvironment includes internal forces that affect its business operations (Kotler & Keller 2011). The internal environment determines the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, and unique capabilities.
Strengths
Emirates ID’s strength lies in the development and issuance of a unique and secure Smart Card equivalent to a national ID card to citizens. The card has integrated services that allow holders to access e-government services. The card comes with a Match-On-Card Applet that enables agencies to authenticate and verify a person’s identity and biometric details in an instant.
In addition, encrypted security features on the card ensure that it can only be activated through the National Validation Gateway to protect personal details (Mayhew 2014). Furthermore, biometrics and information sharing follows the international ISO/ANSI certifications.
The Emirates ID also receives considerable support from different stakeholders to implement its initiatives. It has a committed Board of Trustees that meets regularly to assess the achievement of KPIs as set out in the strategy document (Emirates IDentity Authority 2011). The institution’s Senior Management Committee also meet twice a month to deliberate on the strategy’s successes. The federal government promotes the use of the Smart Cards to access public services at its departments.
Federal laws accord the Emirates ID an exclusive mandate to register UAE population and issue national ID cards. The prerogatives protect the organization from competitors, and thus, a source of competitive advantage. Additionally, federal interventions have contributed to improved data sharing between federal and local government institutions. The growing number of registration centers and the strengthening internal systems are the other strengths of Emirates ID.
Weaknesses
The Emirates ID only managed to register 1.2 million people within a four-year period (Emirates IDentity Authority 2011). The number was much lower than anticipated, underscoring the organization’s limited capacity to conduct mass registration of people at its centers. In addition, the organization lacks the requisite technological and software resources to manage huge volumes of data. It relies on service providers such as Emartech and Oliver Wyman to enhance its registration capacity.
The inability to meet the targeted number of registrants shows that Emirates ID lacks a robust civic education mechanism to encourage eligible citizens to register. The organization also lacks technical security experts to curb forgery and theft of personal identification (Mayhew 2014). Linkages between the authority and private institutions are poor. Updating a user’s records is slows as it relies on a system provided by the Ministry of Interior.
Distinctive Competencies
The Emirates ID has unique organizational capabilities it can leverage on to develop a distinctive strategic advantage. The organization smart card (ID card) is unique and comes with multiple integrated e-services. The authority’s national ID registration initiative has been termed as “one of the world’s best biometric programs” (Mayhew 2014, para. 4).
The Emirates ID boasts of a large database with over 100 million biometric features (fingerprints). The card contains encrypted features and a “Match-On-Card applet” that enable entities to verify or authenticate individual details on an instant (Mayhew 2014, para. 9). Thus, the innovative features and data transmission mechanisms constitute a distinctive competency for Emirates ID.
Another of Emirates ID’s unique competency is the distinctive support from the top leadership. The Board of Trustees holds regular workshops to review the KPIs and strategic outcomes (Emirates IDentity Authority 2011). In addition, the Executive Committee and middle-level managers hold meetings to discuss the strategic initiatives that have been prioritized in all levels of the organization. This distinctive management approach ensures that the organization moves in one strategic direction as a unit.
Strategic Issues and Challenges
The major strategic issues that Emirates ID should address include linkages with external entities, information sharing, and prioritization of initiatives. Poor internal systems constitute a threat to the organization’s operations (Mayhew 2014). Despite the authority’s great strides in improving the infrastructure to support its strategy, internal and external linkages remain weak. The disconnected internal systems affect the implementation of strategic initiatives.
Data transmission needs to be secure to foster confidence in e-government services. Emirates ID should improve its capacity to detect and stop identity theft. The National Validation Gateway should only allow genuine cardholders to access e-government services.
As the organization seeks to diversify into other sectors, including financial markets, it will need to enhance the security of its systems (technical capacity) during customer transactions. In addition, the organization should enhance staff capacity at the centers to process a huge volume of registration applications. In this way, Emirates ID will be able to meet the targeted number of registrants within the specified period.
Recommended Strategic Direction
I would recommend a strategic direction that emphasizes on creating clear reporting mechanisms and linkages and prioritization of initiatives for the Emirates ID. Clear internal and external linkages will alleviate the ‘vagueness’ that exists between national and local entities to promote data sharing.
In addition, it will help tie the strategic plan to daily activities of the organization. The prioritization of initiatives will ensure that the organization meets its strategic objectives within the allocated budget. The clear reporting lines will foster information sharing, contributing to an efficient implementation of the strategy.
References
Al-Khouri, A 2013, When Strategic Focus is Needed: Strategy Development at Emirates IDentity Authority, Emirates Identity Authority, Abu Dhabi.
Emirates IDentity Authority 2011, Strategic Plan: Emirates Identity Authority 2010-2013. Web.
Emirates IDentity Authority 2015, ID card Features. Web.
Kotler, P & Keller, K 2011, Marketing Management, Prentice Hall, New York.
Mayhew, S 2014, Emirates Identity Authority among World’s best in Biometric Population Enrollment: U.N Survey. Web.
United Nations 2015, E-Government Survey 2014: E-Government for the Future We Want. Web.