Why Do You Need an IAM Solution?
The demand for Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions has increased sharply in recent years. In fact, there is no end in sight to this rapid growth. Research firm MarketsandMarkets expects the IAM market to nearly double between 2022 and 2027, reaching $ 25.6 billion. A large portion of these investments in IAM solutions will, according to recent research from Forrester, be made in cloud-based IAM solutions. More than 80 percent of IT decision-makers have already adopted cloud-based Identity and Access Management solutions, or plan to do so within the next two years. But is the cloud the primary driver of IAM industry growth, or are other catalysts at play? And why should your organization have an Identity and Access Management strategy as well? In this blog, we discuss the key reasons why an organization implements an IAM solution.
Identity & Access Management
For more than 20 years, Tools4ever has been an important player in the Identity and Access Management market. During that period, we have seen a shift in why customers implement an IAM solution. Before we address this, it is important to define what an IAM solution is and does:
Identity and Access Management encompasses processes, policies, and systems that manage users’ digital identities in a secure and streamlined manner.
It is therefore an umbrella term for a range of technologies, including user provisioning, service automation, and access management. Each comprises elements such as identity lifecycle management, workflow management, and single sign-on. In summary, Identity and Access Management covers three concepts to ensure that the right users have the right access to the right applications at the right time: identification, authentication, and authorization. When users need access to systems or data, they must first authenticate with the username associated with their account. Once their identity is established through an appropriate authentication process, such as a password or token, users are granted access to the information they need with the appropriate authorizations.
Why Choose An IAM Solution?
In the definition of IAM, we already see two key umbrella concepts: security and streamlining. Traditionally, the latter received the most attention. Streamlined includes efficiency and cost reductions. In the last few years, under pressure from increasingly strict laws and regulations, compliance and security have taken precedence. Below, we examine these drivers in greater detail and outline several common challenges.
Efficiency and Cost Reduction
Organizations use a large number of heterogeneous applications. They run both on-premises and in the cloud, and each uses its own standards and protocols. The sharp increase in cloud applications in particular makes it increasingly difficult for IT departments to integrate applications and enforce organization-wide security controls. Almost all of these applications maintain their own user databases, creating many isolated identity silos. Managing these accounts and their access rights is error-prone and manual work for IT departments. For the organization, the effect is also evident in poor user experience and reduced productivity.
Manual Change Management
When a new employee starts, they need accounts in various applications and systems. The employee also needs permissions in those systems to perform their role. It does not stop there. Over time, the employee may move to a different role that requires elevated access or a completely different set of authorizations. Which access rights should they retain and which should be added, or more importantly, which should be revoked? If the employee marries or divorces, their name changes, and this must be updated in their user profiles. A cross-departmental project starts that requires temporary access to the finance department’s folder. That access should be revoked shortly after. Finally, the employee eventually leaves voluntarily or involuntarily, and their access must be removed and their accounts cleaned up.
These are just a few of the many changes that can occur for a user. This must be done correctly and, above all, promptly. With the many steps and information flows involved, for example, the manager who hires a candidate, informs HR to create the record in the HRM system, then notifies IT to provide the right IT resources, it is very difficult to run a manual yet efficient and effective process for this.
Reduced User Experience and Productivity
For employees, manual change management quickly results in a poor user experience. Especially in a market where organizations compete for new hires, you want them to have a seamless onboarding experience and be productive from day one. When employees have to wait a long time to access the information they need to do their work, or have to remember separate credentials for dozens of applications, it leads to frustration and reduced productivity. Balancing efficient IT operations with a positive user experience for employees while maintaining a high level of security and control is challenging when a manual user and authorization process is used.
Many Helpdesk Tickets
According to research from Gartner, as much as 30 to 50 percent of IT helpdesk tickets are related to password resets and account reactivations. This means service desk staff spend an enormous amount of time on these relatively simple, repetitive actions, which cost roughly 40 euros per ticket. While an employee waits for a password or account to be restored, they are not productive. This quickly leads to high annual costs for IT and the organization as a whole. It is difficult to blame employees for this without an IAM system. Few people can remember dozens of different combinations of usernames and passwords that are at least eight characters long, consisting of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters, and must be changed regularly across multiple devices.
Another common reason to open a ticket with the IT helpdesk is authorization issues. Someone does not have access to a particular application. Or they have access but insufficient permissions within the application. Someone will lead a project and needs a network folder. Requests like this end up at the helpdesk nine times out of ten. Employees know they are responsible for executing these tasks. But how does the helpdesk know if a request may be fulfilled? When someone calls, how do they know whether the person on the phone is actually that person? The result: the helpdesk agent must call or email the manager to check. They must wait for approval. They must record this in an ITSM solution. Only then can they finally grant the employee the correct rights. A cumbersome and time-consuming process with a high risk of errors.
High Software License Costs
On average, about one-third of the IT budget is spent on on-premises and SaaS software licenses. Specialized applications such as Microsoft Visio and Adobe Creative Suite are not cheap. It is very common to license such software packages on a per-user basis. Research shows that billions are wasted annually on unused licenses. It is straightforward to calculate the cost savings from assigning only the licenses necessary. Even when software is used only sporadically, an IAM solution can help. It can automatically revoke temporary access for users.
Regulatory Compliance Requirements
In recent years, increasingly strict laws and regulations have been introduced, holding organizations responsible for managing access to customer and employee data securely and correctly. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the most well-known privacy regulation. Today, organizations must have clear procedures for who has access to what information and how this information is secured. Auditors strictly monitor this, as does the Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP).
Accumulation of Access Rights and Conflicting Permissions
Authorizations often go wrong within organizations. Granting permissions is usually not the biggest problem. Users will speak up if they are missing something. The reverse is very different. A user will rarely indicate on their own that they have too much access and return it. As a result, rights that were once granted are rarely revoked. They temporarily needed Visio for a project, joined the works council for a year, changed roles or departments, and so on. This accumulation of access rights can take even more alarming forms. Consider the so-called conflicting permissions, also known as toxic permissions. A telling example is an employee who can both approve and pay invoices.
Over time, users can accumulate a large number of access rights that they are no longer entitled to, but that no one reviews. Nor do managers, who often consider it more important that someone can do their job than that they might have access to a folder with sensitive data. It is also highly doubtful whether a manager could be aware of all this.
Copy User Instead of Least Privilege
If, as an organization, you also follow a copy-user policy, you quickly end up in a security nightmare. Information security management standards such as ISO 27001 and 27002, Baseline Information Security for Government (BIO), and NEN 7510 emphasize the principle of least privilege. Users should have access only to the applications and information essential to their work. IT departments, in turn, must be able to demonstrate this. A manual process can hardly keep up with this. Let alone provide reporting and trace how someone obtained a right. These are all issues that Identity and Access Management addresses.
Protection Against Data Breaches
Today, you can read almost daily about large-scale hacks, ransomware attacks, and data breaches. Cybercrime is clearly thriving. Cybercriminals are becoming more professional and adept at launching large-scale attacks to steal sensitive business and personal data. A data breach carries high costs. It can completely disrupt operations, for example, the recent ransomware attack on MediaMarkt. In addition to these direct costs, the Dutch Data Protection Authority now also issues heavy fines. They penalize organizations that do not have their security in order or fail to report on time. We have not yet mentioned the potential reputational damage. It is therefore crucial for organizations to take measures to prevent data breaches.
Human Errors
Where people work, mistakes are made. Employees click on a malicious link despite annual cybersecurity training. An IT professional accidentally copies a colleague’s work council rights for a new employee in a similar role. Or they forget to disable an account for a terminated employee. An IAM solution can prevent the risks and impact of compromised accounts by enforcing strong authentication, minimizing access rights, and timely closing of (orphan) accounts. It also prevents unauthorized access to sensitive business data by both insiders and outsiders.
So, Why Do You Need an IAM Solution?
Above, we described common challenges your organization faces when it does not yet use a well-designed IAM solution. Do you recognize one or more of these challenges? Then it is time to consider an IAM strategy for your organization. In the next blog, we will dive deeper into how user provisioning technology within an Identity and Access Management solution can precisely address these problems.
Want to learn more about the capabilities of Tools4ever’s IAM solutions? Download our whitepaper Identity as a Service or contact us for a free demo!