Great men have mused on the true nature of identity for millennia. Is it what you look like? What you do? What you say? All of the above?

If there are few clear-cut answers to those questions then small wonder that employers and employees struggle with the concept too. Our identities enable access to goods and services, they identify who we are both on- and offline and they are closely associated with the roles we must perform. Samresh Ramjith, GM of security solutions and services at Dimension Data, says there are positive and negative aspects to identity.