Digital identity is easy to ignore when it works. But when it doesn’t, it breaks trust, blocks access and slows everything down. Whether someone is booking a GP appointment or logging into a loyalty scheme, identity is the first test. If that moment is slow, confusing or fails altogether, it undermines trust and interrupts the service before it can begin.

Over the past few years, we’ve worked on identity challenges in both public and private sector settings. While the contexts were different, the core challenge was the same making identity work at scale without creating unnecessary friction. In this piece, we share lessons from two programmes that highlight what it really takes to get identity right.

Identity is infrastructure, not just access

It’s tempting to think of identity as a technical detail, a backend function that lets people in. But that mindset misses the point. Done well, identity is not just a tool for access. It is the starting point for trust, consistency and control.

In one case, the NHS needed a secure, scalable login that could support over 50 million users. In another, a global consumer business with multiple customer-facing brands needed to unify sign-in across its services. The goals were different, but the underlying challenge was the same: build an identity layer that was secure, seamless and sustainable.

Resetting scale and trust in national healthcare

NHS Login began as an ambitious response to a critical challenge: giving millions of people a secure, consistent way to access digital health services across England. A previous internal phase had focused on regional services, leading to misalignment with national standards and identity policy. This version failed a key government service assessment. It needed a reset, and fast. There was a ministerial commitment to launch a national solution within five months.

We revisited discovery, worked with internal teams to clarify deliverables and introduced a scalable, agile squad model to accelerate delivery. We designed an adaptive identity standard that could meet a wide range of risk profiles while aligning with central government expectations. Alongside this, we deployed prototypes and MVPs at speed, enabling continuous testing and refinement.

The result is now one of the most widely used digital identity services in the country. It supports millions of authentications daily with 99.99 percent uptime, gives access to more than 80 digital services, and was critical to pandemic-era services like COVID certifications and test reporting. Features include tailored journeys for Deaf and non-English speakers, a 25 percent reduction in back-office check time and major cost savings through identity reuse and biometric verification.

Designing a seamless experience across a fragmented brand landscape

In the private sector case, the challenge was brand fragmentation. Customers had to re-register for each individual brand, creating friction and damaging the user experience. There was no single view of the customer, no shared consent framework and no cohesive journey.

We helped design and implement a single identity solution that brought the group’s services together under one secure, consistent platform. Our work included vendor selection, identity orchestration, low-code configuration and user journey design. The result was a frictionless login with support for biometrics and passwordless authentication, tailored to meet brand needs across the group.

Crucially, the launch landed without disruption. All customers transitioned smoothly. Consent rates held strong, with over 57 percent opting in to share their data for a better experience. Real-time analytics and monitoring now support proactive decisions, and the platform provides a shared identity service that continues to grow across new business units.

From problem solving to platform thinking

Public or private, the same themes kept showing up.

Clarity matters. Teams need a shared understanding of what identity is really there to do.

Ownership matters. Identity is never just one team’s job. Legal, design, delivery, product and engineering all need to be involved.

And trust matters most of all. When identity systems are clear, consistent and respectful of user context, people trust the services behind them.

Expectations around identity are rising. People want security without friction, clarity without confusion. Organisations are being asked to scale faster, connect more systems and stay compliant across all of it.

Getting identity right is no longer a nice-to-have. It is a critical part of designing services that work and building the trust that makes people come back.

Where identity starts to matter most

These two projects were different in scale, audience and context, but the fundamentals were the same. Identity only works when it is treated as part of the service, not a gate in front of it. The systems that succeed are those built with clarity, tested in context and grounded in user needs.

The best identity systems are the ones no one notices, because they just work. But behind every smooth sign-in is serious thinking, joined-up teams and a focus on the people using it.

Get identity right and everything else becomes easier.