Start With The End In Mind: Blog #5 – Reduce The Cost Of Managing Access Change

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(Source: SailPoint Technologies, Inc. Identity and Access Management Buyers Guide)

Managing the complex relationships between thousands of users and millions of access privileges continues to be a daunting and expensive task for most organizations. Changes to user access are initiated, approved and implemented using fragmented, disjointed processes. Coupled with the fact that in most organizations, the processes and tools used to request or change user access are highly manual, the result is an inefficient and costly execution of access requests and changes. Does your organization wrestle with the following problems when fulfilling access changes across enterprise IT systems?

  • Multiple front-end processes are used by the business to request new or change existing access privileges
  • Heavy reliance on help desk or IT admins to assess and implement access changes
  • Manual processes are required to facilitate changes to user access
  • Different provisioning/deprovisioning processes are used for different applications

If these situations sound familiar, it’s time to take a different approach. You need to centralize the delivery of access across disparate IT resources spanning both the datacenter and the cloud and reduce the costs associated with managing the initiation and fulfillment of access requests and changes. The right identity management solution automates identity lifecycle events, such as onboarding new hires and managing job transfers, by directly assigning or changing roles and entitlements to match a user’s current job function. It can also automate removal of access privileges upon termination. By automating these events, organizations can reduce the number of self-service requests initiated by business users, the number of approvals required to grant access, and the number of calls to the help desk. In addition, a centralized solution can orchestrate the automation of changes to access rights for all applications regardless of how “last mile” provisioning changes are performed — via the help desk, a manual process, or an automated provisioning solution.

Check back for blog #6, Eliminate Audit Deficiencies and Improve Audit Performance

Visit SailPoint Technologies, Inc. here.

Learn more about PathMaker Group IAM MAP here. 

How Do I Know When To Upgrade My IAM Environment?

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Pathmaker Group Executive Team

Deciding if you should upgrade your identity and access management environment can be a daunting task. Although there are many variables and decision-making points involved, the “if” decision usually falls into one of two camps:

  1. The software is nearing its’ support end-of-life.
  2. There is a need to utilize new services available in the latest release.

Let’s take a look at the first camp. The end-of-life of a particular software product is tied directly to its vendor’s support. This is a very important consideration due to the potential worst case scenario. Imagine software currently running in production where its support has been deprecated by the vendor. Then when a major issue occurs, technical staff reaches out to the vendor with an explanation of the problem, only to hear “sorry, we can’t help you”.  Unless in-house staff can diagnose and find a solution to the problem, there could be a very real long-lasting disruption of service. The old adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is not always the best mantra to follow with your identity and access management software. Although it is not critical to constantly upgrade to the latest and greatest release, it is recommended to be several steps ahead of a product’s end-of-life. This is due to not only the potential issue above, but also because vendors include critical items, such as security fixes and performance enhancements, as part of their newest releases.

How about the second camp? Let’s take a company that is utilizing a single sign-on software product or version that is a few years old. Granted, the solution is working well, however, there is now a need to integrate mobile and social technologies for their customer base. Seeing as their current software version does not support this, but the newest version does, the obvious choice would be to upgrade. Or, as a second illustration, a company may have created a custom connector, but that connector now ships out-of-the-box with the newest version. By upgrading, they would no longer have the overhead of updating and maintaining their code.

Get Information on the PathMaker Group IAM Maturity Advisory here. 

Start With The End In MInd: Blog #4 – Manage Access Across On-premises and Cloud Applications

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(Source: SailPoint Technologies, Inc. Identity and Access Management Buyers Guide)

“We’ve lost visibility and control over applications in the cloud. We’re not even sure about what’s out there.”

As enterprises accelerate their adoption of the cloud, they must cope with the challenges of managing a hybrid IT environment where some applications reside on-premises and some reside in the cloud. Adding to the complexity of this environment, business units are gaining more autonomy to buy and deploy applications — which can often house sensitive, corporate data — without consulting or involving the IT organization.

Signs that your organization is struggling to manage new cloud applications include:

  • IT is not fully aware of the mission-critical cloud applications in production across various departments and business units
  • Business units are performing their own user administration via spreadsheets and manual updates
  • Business units are requesting that IT integrate cloud applications with directories for periodic synchronization
  • Business units are purchasing their own identity and access management solutions — without consulting IT or considering what IAM infrastructure is already in place
  • IT audit processes, such as access certifications, have not been extended to cover cloud applications

A proper identity and access management solution should help enterprises embrace the cloud while at the same time allowing the IT organization to effectively apply centralized security policy, detect violations and demonstrate full regulatory compliance. Successful IAM solutions will allow you to automate compliance and provisioning processes for cloud applications in the same manner as on-premises applications. At the same time, it should provide end users with convenient access to cloud applications and empower them with single sign-on from any device — at work, home or on the go with mobile devices.

Check back for blog #5, Reduce the Cost of Managing Access Change

Visit SailPoint Technologies, Inc. here.

Learn more about PathMaker Group IAM MAP here. 

 

Start With The End In Mind: Blog #3 – Increase Business User Productivity

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(Source: SailPoint Technologies, Inc. Identity and Access Management Buyers Guide)

sailpointweblogoWhether you’re using identity management for internal users (employees and contractors) or external users (partners, agents, customers), you want to implement technologies that reduce the burden of accessing business services. Having the right identity and access management strategy can reduce internal costs and improve productivity, but it can also contribute to revenue growth and profitability, as more and more “users” are business partners, agents or customers. As IT becomes more “consumerized,” all types of users expect quick, convenient access. And that access is no longer limited to logging in from a corporate laptop or PC — today’s workers want access anytime, anywhere, via any device. Every minute that a user has to spend retrieving a lost password or having the help desk reset a password is an unproductive minute — and when you multiply the growing number of applications by the amount of time wasted, the high price of inconvenience becomes pretty clear.

“I can’t keep up with the incoming requests for managing user access across the organization. There’s got to be a better way!”

“Our business users have to remember so many passwords, they’re writing them on yellow sticky notes in plain view.”

Here are some questions you should consider as you plan your strategy to ensure your IAM solution delivers convenience and improves user adoption and productivity:

  • Do you make it as simple as possible for new users to register and begin using your business services — even if they have no prior relationship with your organization?
  • Can users request new access from a self-service tool without having to call the help desk?
  • Do you provide simple password reset capabilities for users who have forgotten their username and passwords?
  • Do you offer users a streamlined and personalized single sign-on experience for all the applications, regardless of where they are hosted or how employees access them — via a desktop, laptop or mobile device?
  • Do you use risk-based authentication to ensure that low-risk transactions are as easy as possible, but high-risk transactions require more assurance?

Check back for blog #4, Manage Access Across On-premises and Cloud Applications

Visit SailPoint Technologies, Inc. here.

Learn more about PathMaker Group IAM MAP here. 

Start With The End In Mind: Blog #2 – Speed Delivery of Access to Business Users

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Speed Delivery of Access to Business Users

(Source: SailPoint Technologies, Inc. Identity and Access Management Buyer’s Guide)

sailpointweblogoGiven the fast-paced and dynamic environment of business today, IT organizations are challenged to keep up with the demand for identity and access management services, and to do so in a compliant manner. Business users cannot wait days or weeks for access to systems required to perform their job duties. Similarly, organizations cannot tolerate huge gaps in deprovisioning access when a user changes positions or is terminated. Changes to user access must be performed in near-real time, while remaining a controlled and auditable process that is visible to the business. The current state of IAM in most organizations makes it almost impossible to provide consistent and effective service levels to the business due to the following challenges:

  • Heavy use of disparate manual access request and change processes
  • Lack of end-user participation and visibility into identity management processes
  • Ad hoc methods for dealing with external identities and their access rights
  • Growing number of cloud-based applications that are managed outside of IT
  • Help desk staff that is over-burdened with access request and password resets

What organizations need is an easier, more cost-effective way to deliver access to the business. With the right self-service tools, business users can manage their own access, from requesting new accounts or roles to recovering forgotten passwords, using intuitive, business-friendly interfaces. In addition, today’s user provisioning solutions offer easy-to-configure options for automating the entire access lifecycle of a user based on event triggers from authoritative sources — to minimize the need for manual changes. By providing an integrated approach that leverages business-friendly self-service access request tools and automated lifecycle event triggers, identity and access management can streamline the delivery of user access across your organization while continuously enforcing governance rules and compliance policies. It also empowers business users to become an active participant in the identity and access management process, enabling them to manage their own access and passwords while providing them with full visibility into active requests, thereby reducing the workload on help desk and IT operations teams.

Be sure to read blog #3, Increase User Productivity, about implementing technology that reduces the burden of accessing business services.

Visit SailPoint Technologies, Inc. here.

Learn more about PathMaker Group IAM MAP here. 

 

Start With The End In Mind: Blog #1 – Identify Priorities and Establish Clear Goals 

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Identify Priorities and Establish Clear Goals

(Source: SailPoint Technologies, Inc. Identity and Access Management Buyer’s Guide)

sailpointweblogo

Identity and access management is a strategic imperative for organizations of all sizes. Companies ranging from large, multi-national enterprises to smaller, fast-growing businesses must address requirements to protect and govern access to critical applications, systems and databases whether in the cloud or on-premises. Identity and access management plays a critical role in enabling organizations to inventory, analyze and understand the access privileges granted to their employees — and to be ready to answer the critical question: “Who has access to what?” At the same time, today’s enterprise demands faster and higher levels of service delivery across an increasingly diverse and dynamic environment:

  • There are growing populations of external users, such as partners, agents, and customers, that need access
  • New users come on board daily, requiring immediate access to enterprise resources
  • Users’ responsibilities change, or their relationships with the enterprise end, and access must quickly be modified or revoked
  • Users want fast, convenient access resources anytime, anywhere using smartphones and tablets
  • Some applications and users represent a higher level of risk to the organization than others and require more focus

For IT staff, the challenge becomes how to meet service-level demands while identifying and managing high-risk activities, enforcing policy and security, maintaining stringent controls and addressing compliance requirements. Because there are many different business drivers for identity and access management, you may wonder how and when to put the different components of a solution in place. The answer depends on your business priorities and the immediate challenges facing your organization. To get started, step back and assess your most urgent issues. Do you understand what you want your solution to help you achieve? Here are some common business goals that can help you determine your own unique priorities:

  • Speed delivery of access to business users
  • Increase business user productivity
  • Manage access across on-premises and cloud applications
  • Reduce the cost of managing access change
  • Eliminate audit deficiencies and improve audit performance
  • Lower the cost of compliance
  • Salvage or replace an existing provisioning system

Be sure to read blog #2, Speed Delivery of Access to Business Users, for more detail about the business drivers for identity management — the goals organizations most frequently hope to achieve with their implementation.

Visit SailPoint Technologies, Inc. here.

Learn more about PathMaker Group IAM MAP here.