I’ve been asked this question many times recently, so it felt like a good time to lay out a few of the reasons this area of security continues to grow in importance for businesses. While there are many reasons that can be included, I want to focus on four that are relevant across so many of our customers:
1. Efficiency (through Automation): Business models practically changed overnight for many and Security had to respond. While being able to support the remote worker took center stage, it created a lot of work for identity and access teams to manage in a short period of time. Being able to make these changes based on employee roles in bulk was a big win for teams that had automation of access in place. The pace of change continues with businesses continuously needing to adapt to keep revenue flowing in the positive direction so this will continue to be an important part of the security team’s role in supporting the business.
2. Budget: Do more with less. We’ve all experienced it but it’s critically important to ensure the investments made are the right ones and have the right payoff to support the mission of the company. Look to combine the efficiencies gained through the features and functions of the IGA tool to support the spend. Removing the manual efforts that a good software solution brings not only increases productivity but can also allow your team to focus on other areas of need.
3. Compliance/Regulation: GDPR, SOX, HIPAA…just to name a few, all require various degrees of access management and periodic review and attestation of access to sensitive data. While you can certainly achieve this by manual efforts and spreadsheets, you’ll spend ample time in the prep side of getting this done along with still having the need to produce reporting and proof to auditors of the activities conducted. It can be a huge time saver to have your audit proof consolidated in the IGA solution making it easy to maintain accountability and always have on demand proof to meet compliance and regulatory requirements.
4. Risk Management: There are many ways an IGA system will help lower your overall risk. Segregation of Duties (SoD), least privilege and automation are all very popular requirements for many. Limiting access to the minimum needed for the employee to do their job isn’t a new concept, but one many have yet to master. Ensure your solution is fully capable of managing the access and routinely conduct the access entitlement reviews as a good practice. As much as automating the onboarding process will keep business flowing, automating the offboarding process is just as important to be sure terminated or unneeded access isn’t lingering, thereby decreasing your organizational risk. SoD should also be considered and is part of your overall risk management efforts, ensuring no single employee can complete a critical task. For example, consider financial transactions, the employee that creates the payee should not also be able to authorize the payment.
As you can see, we are only scratching the surface on some of the many reasons that identity governance is making its way to the top of the priority list. If you are starting to plan your journey to continue maturing your organization’s security program, ensure that identity is at the top of your list to streamline security and operations. If you are looking for help and guidance as you plan out your roadmap, Alchemy identity professionals are here to assist.
