Microsoft Entra Verified ID enables businesses to issue and verify digital credentials — employment verifications, professional certificates, and access passes — without centralised credential databases.
Key takeaways
- 1Employment verification — organisations can issue verifiable employment credentials to staff. When applying for a loan or background check, the employee presents the credential wit
- 2Professional certification — training providers, membership organisations, and regulatory bodies can issue digital credentials that are cryptographically verifiable
- 3Age and identity verification — for access to age-restricted services, without sharing full identity documents
- 4Access passes — issued credentials can gate access to physical or digital resources
Microsoft Entra Verified ID is a decentralised identity service that lets organisations issue and verify digital credentials based on the W3C Verifiable Credentials standard. While still emerging in mainstream business adoption, it represents an important direction for digital identity management.
What Verified ID enables
- Employment verification — organisations can issue verifiable employment credentials to staff. When applying for a loan or background check, the employee presents the credential without the verifier needing to call the employer's HR department.
- Professional certification — training providers, membership organisations, and regulatory bodies can issue digital credentials that are cryptographically verifiable
- Age and identity verification — for access to age-restricted services, without sharing full identity documents
- Access passes — issued credentials can gate access to physical or digital resources
The privacy model
Credentials are stored in the user's digital wallet (Microsoft Authenticator) and shared directly with the verifier — the issuing organisation never sees when the credential is used. The user controls their own credentials and can present them without the issuing organisation being involved in the transaction.
Current relevance for NZ businesses
For most NZ SMBs, Verified ID is not yet a pressing requirement — the use cases are more compelling for larger organisations, government agencies, and credentialing bodies. However, for membership organisations (like NZIA), professional services firms issuing qualifications, and businesses with complex partner access requirements, Verified ID is worth watching as it matures.
