IAM Strategy

IAM Strategy: For Effective User Identity/Access Management

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The key objective of the IAM strategy is…

…to protect the organization assets, sensitive data and the systems from any unauthorized access.

It takes care of user identity management processes such as user authentication, provisioning, de-provisioning, authorization and

Advanced security methods such as role-based access controls.

Let’s discuss everything about IAM strategy and its importance in building effective user identity/access management here in this blog.

IAM Strategy to Redefine The Business Security Posture:

While having a glance at the organizations that strive around piles of data around systems and users, we realize that significant security changes are needed.

It’s high time to stay away from the old strategy of user identity management and access management in a linear pattern.

You need to consider building flexible strategies that adapt to business changes and hold your data against organizational chaos.

An IAM strategy involves using technology to responsibly manage the users and the user-specific or business-specific data, which is an integral part of every business.

With IAM in place, you keep a set of parameters that monitor and control the extent of user access to the data within a organization.

Hence, certain users will hold the authorization to manage certain data, while others can get a deep insight into critical business information, based on the level of access they have.

Identity and Access Management technology controls various employees with different access permissions, making business operations more transparent, reliable, and secure.

Many businesses invest in IAM programs to drive transformation and beat the challenges like lack of data security, user identity/access management concerns, and security breaches.

The Cybersecurity Insiders report that organizations prioritize ease of integration (72%), end-user experience (62%), and product performance & effectiveness (61%) when evaluating IAM solutions.

Key Aspects of an Effective Identity & Access Management (IAM) Strategy:

An effective IAM strategy needs to cover the following four aspects to be successful –

#1. Evaluate the Existing Policies, Processes, and IT Environment:

Perform a formal HR system analysis, evaluate the user lifecycle processes (hire-to-retire), assess the active directory and azure environments, internal competencies, provisioning processes, etc.

This helps you to understand the strengths and struggles your organization has and gives an idea about where you are.

#2: Explore New Opportunities to Implement IAM:

The above assessment is not only to review the systems and processes but also to explore and discuss the new opportunities for IAM implementation with internal and external stakeholders.

You may identify the key metrics to give a proof-based narrative about the security an IAM solution contributes to the technological and business elements of your organization.

#3. Emphasize on Stakeholder Buy-In:

While the above two aspects deal with understanding your existing business system and the identification of new IAM opportunities, making stakeholders a part of the process is the real door to the business’s success.

Businesses should consider strategic and portfolio-wide approaches that utilize the technologies and pull the interests of required stakeholders towards the final decision, rather than only monitoring the outcomes.

#4. Focus on The Vision and Plan:

Build a roadmap to start from your current position and to reach your desired goal/end.

Great business leaders execute business decisions with an executable vision and turn them into reality.

For a successful IAM program, you need to consider the following factors –

  • What is the scope of implementing the strategy?
  • Who are the personnel involved and impacted, and what are their needs?
  • Do you have a proposed plan of priorities and objectives?
  • What are the gaps in the existing technologies and business processes?
  • Do you find any constraints to the IAM implementation?
  • How do you implement the Identity Management strategy in your organization?

Working Towards a Holistic & Long-Term IAM Implementation:

Organizations should remain aware of transforming the vision into a powerful IAM foundation through identity and access management.

Being a tool/system to implement effective security measures, the idea of IAM is not just confined to a project, it is a continuous strategic program.

IAM projects were earlier implemented in one go with all areas covered together.

However, the best approach is an iterative approach, where you can move with an organizational entity, a functional module, an application, or a user at a specific time.

You can go for a controlled yet step-wise process to finally implement the best IAM solution for your organization.

Prioritize IAM Solution Implementation:

IAM solutions have nothing to do out of a hurry; the ultimate focus of implementing an IAM solution is to deliver quality and value to the organization.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA), for example, is an IAM technique that is chosen by 91% of organizations as a means of preventing attacks and protecting against credential theft.

For many organizations, the IAM program has become hard to crack aspect, where they land in a dilemma between choosing or leaving the idea of IAM implementation.

In such cases, it is ideal to rely on an IAM service provider for the best security ecosystem that houses all necessary solutions to safeguard the identity and access management needs of the organization.

Conclusion:

IAM strategy fuels the organization’s ability to enhance risk management measures and strategic decision-making process.

It offers powerful authentication and effective management of user access to keep your business reliable, secure, and highly efficient.

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