Workday acquires Trusted Key, plans to move work credentials onto blockchain

A new acquisition by software firm Workday is intended to build an advanced network for verified and trusted credentials powered by blockchain technology.

Workday has acquired digital identity solutions provider Trusted Key. According to GeekWire, the acquisition is part of a larger effort to move work credentials, such as licenses, certifications, and degrees, on to a blockchain-based system.

In a blog post earlier this month, Workday discusses how the new credential platform that it acquired can help make its services more secure and portable. The post also discusses how this will benefit its consumers most in terms of authentication.

“While the world of work has been transformed by technology, credentials haven’t changed much—today, they’re still largely offline and paper-based, and verifying a credential often requires a lot of manual effort and time. With our new platform, Workday wants to change that by bringing credentials into the digital age,” the post reads.

The post later addressed the matter of how privacy and security are the biggest challenges to making authentication of credentials more streamlined. This is where Trusted Key comes in. Using cryptography and blockchain technology, the startup basically converts identification issued by the government into cryptographic credentials and tokens, FinTech Futures reports.

This then allows users to use those credentials to process transactions without having to go through the manual effort of inputting every single detail on their own. In the case of Workday’s intent with the platform, it can do things like allow HR departments to verify applicant skills and qualifications more easily.

This would then result in a more adaptive jobs industry where being able to cope with the fast-paced changes in the digital age is crucial in filling essential positions. The aforementioned blog post by Workday also points out how this could also impact the matter of trust.

“As credentials are issued by organizations and educational institutions, held by individuals, and shared with employers or prospective employers that need to verify them, blockchain provides a common trust layer, allowing each of these parties to independently verify their authenticity,” the post reads. “As the common source of verification, blockchain enables data to move between parties, and its distributed ledger can prove that the data has not been modified and the credentials are still valid.”