Businesses’ requirement to establish trust among the increasing number of online customers, coupled with the growing awareness about secure web access, is one of the major factors driving the adoption of digital certificates across the globe. In addition to this, the rising smartphone penetration, growing usage of advanced technologies, such as the internet of things (IoT), expanding online shopping sector, customers’ shifting inclination toward digital transactions, and increasing cybersecurity concerns are also driving the adoption of digital certificates.
Owing to such factors, the global certificate authority market is projected to generate revenue of $285.7 million by 2030, advancing at a CAGR of 12.3% during the forecast period (2020–2030).
The imposition of lockdowns, due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, has neutrally impacted the growth of the certificate authority market. This is majorly due to the growth in the usage of digital services, such as e-commerce and digital payments. According to Adobe Inc.’s May 2020 Digital Economy Index, a large number of customers in the U.S. have shifted to e-commerce, due to the pandemic. As per the analysis, customers spent more than $153 billion online in April–May 2020 (around $70.2 billion in April and nearly $82.5 billion in May), which was about 7% more than the $142.5 billion spent online during November–December 2019.
Healthcare Domain To Attain Fastest Adoption of Digital Certificates in Coming Years
On the basis of end user, the certificate authority market has been categorized into retail and consumer goods, banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), government, IT and telecommunications, healthcare, education, travel and hospitality, and others. Of these, the healthcare vertical is projected to witness the fastest growth in digital certificate adoption. Healthcare facilities are the custodians to a vast amount of private data. Having a digital certificate for a healthcare website is important because it determines the number of clients that find a website through organic search. Unsecured websites show a low turnaround rate of patients for booking appointments, due to the threat of data exposure.
Based on component, the certificate authority market has been categorized into certificate type and service. Between the two, the certificate type category dominated the market during the historical period (2014–2019). By encoding all communications, such as online banking transactions, emails, and logins, these certificates protect users’ private data and prevent the information from being accessed by unwanted users. Additionally, digital certificate systems usually work automatically and do not require much involvement from either recipients or senders, thus are user-friendly.
Geographically, Asia-Pacific (APAC) is projected to witness the fastest growth in the global certificate authority market during the forecast period. The increasing penetration of the IoT and growing online customer base are the key factors behind the expansion of the market in the region. IoT usage continues to grow significantly in the region, as enterprises, governments, and municipalities are building smart city infrastructure, capitalizing on new technologies (deep learning, next-generation industrial automation, and software-defined networking), and embracing digital transformation.
Product Launch Is Strongest Strategic Measure Taken by Key Players
Players in the certificate authority market are launching new products and services to enhance their market presence. For instance, in August 2020, DigiCert Inc. announced its new DigiCert Automation Gateway. This new automation approach is designed to accelerate the adoption of automated certificate issuance, renewal, reissuance, and revocation, by tackling some of the common concerns with existing offerings. Automation Gateway will allow organizations to widely deploy automation protocols within their company networks, to provide greater agility.
Similarly, in February 2020, Sectigo Ltd. announced the launch of its Sectigo web security platform. It is a cloud-based solution, bundled with SSL certificates in order to enable customers to easily recognize threats and quickly cover vulnerabilities to their content management system from a comprehensive management portal. Using the platform, users can systematize everyday scanning for vulnerabilities, receive active notifications, and immediately eliminate the malware found within the database, code, or files on the web server.
Some of the major players operating in the global certificate authority market are DigiCert Inc., Sectigo Ltd., GMO GlobalSign Ltd., GoDaddy Inc., CERTUM PCC, IdenTrust Inc., Entrust Datacard Corporation, ACTALIS S.p.A., Trustwave Holdings Inc., WISeKey International Holding AG, SSL Corp., NETLOCK Ltd., NortonLifeLock Inc., SwissSign AG, and certSIGN S.A.