Customer expectations are changing, with users demanding services whenever they want them, wherever they are, and on whatever device they are using at that moment. Simply put, consumers want flexibility, personalization, and privacy instantaneously. At the same time, there is a shift in the way businesses deliver services, from in-person to seamless and secure digital delivery. All this time, organizations must find ways to remain compelling, competitive, and unique. 

With the ongoing ambitious innovation programs companies undertake today, executives need tools that will accelerate time to market while giving the flexibility to experiment continuously. Among the critical layers in a modern security stack is the identity layer, concerned with onboarding, identification, authentication, and overall user management. 

Without a doubt, identity drives the modern enterprise by connecting employees, customers, and partners to applications and information, whether in the cloud, mobile, or on-premises. Identity programs essentially prevent security breaches, protects sensitive data, and improves user engagement and productivity by allowing the right people to access the right IT assets at any time and location. 

Does your organization fully understand the strategic importance of identity to security, compliance, and digital transformation? Do you prioritize your identity and access management (IAM) efforts fittingly? C-suite and boards need to prioritize IAM programs for the following key reasons:

1. IAM is a Fundamental Part of Security

Unquestionably, it is inadequate to rely on the legacy perimeter-based approach in an enterprise. With the frequent and sophisticated attacks happening today, organizations are starting to recognize that perimeter-based security that focuses on securing endpoints, firewalls, and networks, does not protect the identity and credential-based threats. According to a Gartner Report, the old security model of “inside means trusted” and “outside means untrusted” has been broken for a long time. It adds that most digital assets and devices are outside the enterprise, as are most identities. 

Currently, 81 percent of confirmed data breaches are due to weak, stolen, and default user passwords. Multiple experts also reveal that many security breaches may occur because someone can steal the passwords of a registered user. With heightened security becoming a differentiator for modern businesses, C-suite needs apt IAM solutions. Additionally, IAM components like multifactor authentication reinforce Zero Trust principles that prevent various attacks such as malware. Ultimately, implementing identity-centric security measures prevents account compromise attacks that provide the perfect camouflage for hackers and malicious insiders. 

2. IAM Solutions Cover All Parties 

Unlike many perimeter security controls that focus on insiders, IAM provides more than workforce identities. Modern IAM programs also control customers’ and business partners’ access to IT resources. With stringent data protection like GDPR and Canada’s Privacy Act restricting how enterprises collect and use customer information, having apposite employee, customer, and partner IAM solutions is critical to compete in a global market while complying with regulations. For a digital business model to succeed, customers’ and employees’ privacy preferences need to be secure, and that begins by treating IAM as the new security perimeter. Supporting user access to confidential personal and business information while also protecting that confidential information from unauthorized users is a prime result of migrating to IAM.

3. IAM Shortens Time to Market 

Done right, an IAM-driven approach makes it easier for enterprises to launch new customer-facing applications faster and enables cohesive and delightful user experiences across channels. Subsequently, the approach drives return on investment through a better understanding of users, which supports targeting and personalization. 

With fitting IAM solutions, C-suite members, such as the chief marketing officer or digital officer, can leverage a 360-degree view of the customer. IAM solutions provide a unified customer profile from disparate interactions, applications and devices, enabling easy access and user personalization. 

4. Ease of Use 

Unquestionably, remembering so many usernames and passwords to access IT assets is a challenge to many people. So it comes as no surprise that a Forrester Survey from August 2020 found that 53 percent of information workers store their passwords insecurely. Thanks to IAM systems, organizations can provide secure identities that provide user access to different systems. In addition, IAM components like Single Sign-On (SSO) allows customers, workers, and partners to access different on-premise and cloud applications with the same access method. TechAdvisory.org writes in an article, “employees will no longer have to remember multiple passwords. Instead, they’ll be able to prove their identity using evidence-based authorization.”

IAM simplifies signup, sign-in and entity management processes for application owners, end-users and system administrators. With proper IAM solutions, an organization can provide and manage access with greater ease, promoting user satisfaction. A March 2021 survey of consumers by Transmit Security found that more than half of users stop using a website if the login process is too complex. 

5. Improved Productivity 

The Identity and Access Management Market Report 2021 indicates that many organizations encourage employees to use smartphones. Generally, mobile devices can substantially increase the company’s efficiency while optimizing communication and improving cohesiveness in teams. 

With IAM solutions, companies can effectively verify the identity of employees, manage passwords, and control various accounts to allow secure remote work strategies. Naturally, IAM centralizes the identity and access management lifecycle, creating automated workflows for different scenarios such as a new hire, role transition, and employment termination. This IAM feature improves processing time for identity and access changes while reducing errors.

6. Reduced IT Costs 

Undeniably, modern IAM solutions can lower operating costs. For instance, an organization can leverage federated identity services, thereby eliminating local identities for external uses. In addition, this approach makes application and service administration easier. Better still, endorsing cloud-based IAM services reduces the need to purchase and maintain costly on-premise infrastructure. 

7. Achieve Regulatory Compliance 

Today, organizations must meet stringent and dynamic regulatory requirements concerning data access governance and privacy protection. IAM solutions are designed with compliance in mind. Typically, they provide control over who can access data and how it can be used and shared, which are the main requirements in many data protection regulations. According to the Identity Management Institute, IAM simplifies compliance with all major data security regulations. Typically, IAM systems control users and protect data to address the two biggest vulnerabilities in business networks. 

Get Started with Stratejm 

C-suite with a strong sense of urgency to improve IAM today to assure the right people access the right resources at the right times and for the right reasons can partner with Stratejm to solve the security challenge while bending the cost curve. Stratejm, a leader and innovator in the field of cybersecurity, is very aware of the hostile environments where organizations are constantly under threat from insider and external threats. As such, we leverage our in-depth expertise and state-of-the-art technology and processes to address security threats in real-time, efficiently and cost-effectively. 

Stratejm provides IAM solutions with components like Single Sign-On (SSO), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIA), Privileged Access Management (PAM), Advanced Authentication, and Multifactor Authentication (MFA) to address the need to ensure appropriate, secure, cost-effective, and convenient access to resources across an organization’s entire attack surface while meeting compliance requirements.  

Contact Stratejm today for a demo.