After high-profile data breaches, regulations like GDPR and CCPA have raised the bar for personal user information. Businesses need tools that deploy MFA options, execute granular control of access, and provide reporting and audit capabilities.
Without a centralized identity provider, employees spend time and energy managing passwords across multiple systems, and the organization risks a breach.
Enhanced Security
It’s no secret that unauthorized access to personal information can cause trouble. But unauthorized access to your business’s data can be equally dangerous, leading to productivity loss and reputation damage.
Identity management tools help to protect your company by ensuring that only authorized personnel have access to your critical data. These systems allow businesses to control which employees have access, specifying the types of information that each can view and transmit. Some also allow businesses to get even more granular with these permissions, using role-based access control (RBAC) to limit which specific users can log into certain apps.
IAM solutions also help to prevent hacking attacks by ensuring that users follow the principle of least privilege. This means users only have the minimum permissions necessary to perform their duties. This helps to reduce the risk of compromised passwords, which are the root cause of 81% of data breaches. This is also possible because many IAM systems feature multi-factor authentication options and can detect unusual behavior.
Reduced Costs
With third party identity management software, you can reduce the number of systems and applications your employees need to access. This can significantly lower the security risks associated with unauthorized access and cut costs by eliminating unnecessary data entry and maintenance.
Additionally, identity and access management tools can reduce your IT teams’ time and resources to reset passwords and provision and de-provision apps for employees and third-party users. This means that your business can save money on expensive IT support services.
In addition, you can implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) for increased security, which requires additional identifying information like verification codes sent to a user’s phone or email or biometrics such as fingerprint scanning and eye recognition. This can prevent attacks that involve stealing login credentials or guessing passwords and ensure that only authorized people can access your sensitive information.
Lastly, you can also improve your cyber-security by implementing an identity and access management tool that logs failed login attempts and identify hackers’ physical locations so that you can spot accounts that have been compromised before they cause significant damage.
Automated Processes
The modern identity management system offers a range of automated processes to make your business more efficient. For example, it helps employees connect to the dozens of programs they use throughout the day without logging in manually every time. This reduces employee frustration, saves IT resources, and minimizes security risks.
The system also automates user provisioning, password management, and other critical functions. This frees up IT and human resources departments to focus on higher-value projects. It also reduces the risk of errors and data breaches caused by manual handling of these intensive user management operations.
This is especially important because a single mistake can have serious consequences. For instance, hackers can steal information from employee accounts or misuse login information to access the business network. A good identity management solution will be able to identify the issue and alert you. It will also help you to take corrective measures. This ensures your company has the best security and productivity for the long term. This is why a third-party IdP is an essential investment for any business.
Scalability
Scalability is the ability of a system to manage change in demand without bottlenecks sustainably and ideally with economies of scale. It can be applied to business systems, software, and technology in general.
A scalable architecture can add or remove resources quickly to meet changes in workloads and user demands. The best way to accomplish this is through identity management, where the speed of access verification and authentication can increase productivity, collaboration, and efficiency.
Companies need to proactively address issues related to manual identity management processes to avoid diseconomies of scale and expensive security problems. The best way to avoid these risks is through a scalable IAM solution that combines the latest technology, hardware, and software with best practices.
Whether adding more employees or adjusting access privileges for terminated employees, a scalable IAM solution can accommodate the needs of your business and its future growth. It’s a key factor in avoiding costly mistakes and ensuring long-term success. Using a third-party provider to manage your IAM gives you a robust and dependable system to keep up with your business.
Flexibility
With so many programs to connect with, it’s easy for users to become frustrated when logins don’t work. A third-party IdP stays up-to-date on industry threats and trends to ensure you have the latest tools for a smoother, more consistent experience.
This includes self-service options for password resets and other common problems. It allows you to implement new features and updates without waiting on internal IT staff.
Flexible IAM solutions allow IT professionals to define proper access privileges based on a central directory that automatically matches employee job titles and locations with relevant privilege levels, thereby avoiding privilege creep. They also make it easy to establish device restriction rules to balance security with usability.
