Much has been said about user-centric, or user-controlled Identity allowing individuals to choose which subset of personal Identity attributes use in facilitating online interactions. Maybe this could be called “self personalization” because an individual is in control and actively choosing specific steps to follow.

But at the recent Digital Identity World conference, I had a minor epiphany. As a speaker addressed the subject of role management, it struck me that much of enterprise Identity management is also about personalization – granting people the specific rights and credentials to enable them to do their work. These assignments could be made automatically or with human intervention. This could well be termed “assigned personalization.”

I supposed that efforts like Amazon’s to deliver purchase recommendations based on past activities would be a form of “calculated personalization.”

In all three cases, the objective is similar – how can the online application experience be more closely aligned with who a person is and what the are doing at a particular time?

Personally (pun intended), I think this personalization stuff is fascinating.  Those are happy thoughts.

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