Implementing A Successful Identity Management Strategy

Are you looking to implement a solution for Identity Governance Administration (IGA), Identity and Access Management (IAM), or just plain old Identity Management (IDM)? 

There are many stories of outstandingly successful implementations; but it seems as though there are equally many stories of catastrophic failure.  Perhaps you have heard of some of these stories yourself.  Why would an organization invest so much time and money into a project, only to turn around and throw out the vendor selected initially and choose another or abandon the implementation altogether?  Let’s cover several key factors that can help your organization achieve a successful identity project on the first go.

The Four Steps For Successful Identity Management Implementation

1.     Knowing Your Organization’s Needs

Many buzzwords are floating around this internet of things:  Identity and Access Management, Data Governance Administration, Privileged User/Account/Object/Identity Management…  The list seems to grow larger every month.  The critical thing to know is what each of these solutions offers at a high-level so that you can identify where to start to achieve the best results for your company.  None of the above buzzwords is a one-size-fits-all solution.  Even though some overlap may exist between them, each one has a primary focus it seeks to achieve, and knowing how to balance these in harmony will ensure that you maximize the efficiency of each tool.  You should never need to force a square peg into a triangle hole.

2.     Identifying Your Organization’s Champion(s)

Champions come from all walks of life.  Sometimes, they’re forward-thinking application owners who understand the benefits of integration with an IGA solution for automation.  Other times, they’re the IT Director with an understanding of the big picture.  Regardless of who they are, the key is that they know the needs of your business and have a good idea about what these technologies are capable of achieving.

3.    Finding the Right Implementer

Your next step should be finding an implementation partner who can best help achieve your goals for an Identity-related project.  At GCA Technology Services, we specialize in managing digital identities.  All of our engineers are certified by their respective vendors and are cross-trained against multiple technologies.  Our engineers will be able to guide your teams using best-practices and will ensure that you use the Identity Management solution in the manner it was intended for.

4.    Selecting the Best Vendor for Your Requirements

If you look at Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, you can find multiple vendors for any technology you might be seeking.  Even within the ‘Leaders’ quadrant, how can you be sure that the product is the best fit for your organizational needs?  A Request for Proposal is often used to demonstrate the capabilities of a solution functionally, but how can you tell what an out-of-the-box configuration change versus tailored business logic is?  Each vendor will have its strengths and weaknesses, and having a vendor-agnostic partner, like GCA Technology Services, can help identify the best fit for you.