Phygital IDs and PPPs: IN Groupe CEO Agnès Diallo on realizing identity’s promise

IN Groupe is one of the oldest companies in the identity space, but promoted Agnès Diallo to the CEO role only last July, as it grows in size and scope to tackle the biometrics and digital ID needs of governments around the world. Diallo told Biometric Update in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of ID4Africa 2025 that she believes building successful ID programs starts with admitting that “no one size fits all,” and that common or even universal approaches will lead to different answers and “a variety of solutions.”

IN Groupe is in the midst of some significant changes, not least of which is an exclusive negotiating window to acquire Idemia Smart Identity, which is expected to make it one of the largest players in the field.

Diallo characterizes ID4Africa’s AGM as a unique gathering of the international identity ecosystem, with lessons for government implementing ID schemes, but also for businesses playing different roles in building those schemes, or as in the case of IN Groupe, different areas within the same company.

Phygital ID

“Historically, when you were delivering a physical piece of identification, that had a use in itself, you could use it, say, for crossing a border.” But in the digital era, with services accessed online, Diallo says, the data is what matters.

“There’s a shift, making it important once you establish a scheme, you also establish the means for people to be able to actually use it.”

This is where IN Groupe sees the importance of a “phygital” approach to identity, combining physical ID documents as foundational credentials that people have an easier time relating to with the digital layer that makes it usable.

IN Groupe is in talks with “half a dozen” countries in Africa about taking this approach, Diallo says. The opportunities for cross-sectoral connections afforded by ID4Africa is particularly important for ensuring the usability of that digital layer.

She presents the place of digital identity within digital public infrastructure as a metaphorical equivalent to a road – physical infrastructure that is only as valuable as it is connective between the places where people are, and where they need to get to. That means including financial services, payment services, healthcare providers, and educational bodies in DPI conversations to “animate the ecosystem” and deliver its intended benefits.

Aligning vision for effective PPPs

Diallo’s keynote on Day 1 of ID4Africa 2025 emphasized the importance of public-private partnerships (PPPs) for meeting the challenges of the complex technical implementations needed to link digital ID to services. The EU Entry-Exit System largely developed during Diallo’s time as an executive with eu-LISA is one example of how the private sector can help build such a complex system to meet public sector needs.

But addressing the complexity of the system with help from the private sector shifts the challenge, more than replacing it, Diallo cautions. “If it’s difficult, it cannot be done in isolation,” she says. PPPs must be formed after careful deliberation, and as she noted in her keynote, “it’s important that the industry understands what’s on the other side of the table.”

“The first thing is to have clarity on the strategic goal of the government,” Diallo tells Biometric Update, and that goal must also be clearly communicated so that the strategy can be refined to meet the specific needs of the project. Of all the 40 countries where IN Groupe is engaged around the world, she says, there are no pair with identical strategies.

There are common challenges and experiences that can be learned from, however, if governments can tailor what has worked elsewhere to their unique situation and priorities.

Even then, “there is an art, if I may say, in picking your partners well,” Diallo acknowledges.

Building infrastructure for long-term use means that private sector partners must be aligned with the government’s vision on compliance and data privacy, but also sovereignty, which often means including technology based on open-source code or open standards (Diallo lauded the OSIA initiative in her keynote).

“The public authorities need to have the means to actually retain that control over time,” Diallo maintains.

The survey conducted by ID4Africa at the AGM’s outset reflects the different priorities for services to deliver through digital ID. The top use case was financial services, and Diallo recounts how IN Groupe’s role in Denmark’s digital identity system started with the financial sector. IN Groupe manages the MitID platform, and NemLog-in provides the gateway to connect it to public services.

The financial sector needed the government to establish a single source of truth, and once that was realized, Diallo explains, the broader ecosystem saw how it could benefit from digital ID.

The financial services sector is also positioned naturally to encourage economic development and socio-economic inclusion, and Diallo urges governments to consider whether they can leverage those incentives to leapfrog the first mover or chicken-and-egg problem that often accompany plans to issue digital IDs and link them with services.

But identity is strongly linked to social values, she notes, so even countries alike in starting with financial services will find different strategies necessary to encourage ID enrollment and adoption.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  ID4Africa  |  ID4Africa 2025  |  IN Groupe  |  public-private partnerships