FAQ: 5 questions before you change your trust service provider

Which factors decide whether the transition stays invisible to your customers?

In a previous article, we examined the cost of discontinuity in digital trust services and what happens to businesses when the trust chain underpinning their identification and signature processes breaks down. The question that follows is the one product owners and integration teams ask first: what does such a migration actually involve?

First, approach it as a new rollout. Keys, certificates, and configurations will not move from the old provider to the new one because, in a qualified environment, they cannot be moved. That might sound like more work than it usually turns out to be, as long as you plan the project accordingly.

Second, explore the five most common questions customers ask us when they migrate to Swisscom Trust Services.

Plan the change before it becomes urgent

Provider changes that go unnoticed by end users are those planned as projects. Each one is unique, with several interconnected elements: identification methods, frontend ownership, SLA dependencies. Include the parallel-operation window in that planning too, and set it before an external deadline forces the decision.

The right target setup can also make the transition significantly easier. Swisscom Trust Services supports different migration scenarios without forcing customers into one fixed architecture. Depending on your existing setup, you can combine:

• One-Shot Signing for streamlined signature journeys without complex long-term certificate handling
• On-demand certificates, issued when they are needed
• Modular integration options that allow individual components to be introduced step by step
• A broad choice of identity providers and identification methods
• Different combinations of identification and approval methods, depending on the required level of assurance and user journey

This flexibility can help organizations retain parts of their existing processes while replacing only the components that need to change — reducing integration effort and making parallel operation easier to manage.

As a qualified trust service provider certified under both eIDAS and ZertES, Swisscom Trust Services supports organizations through this transition across EU and Swiss legal frameworks.

If you are evaluating a new trust service provider, Swisscom can help you understand your options. In a free initial consultation, our experts review your current setup, discuss migration scenarios, and outline next steps for a secure, efficient transition.