An identity management system or an identity access management system is a set of systems or a set of tools that can be used for cross-network or enterprise identity management. According to studies, the identity and access management market size exceeded USD 10 billion marks in 2018 and is likely to grow at over 10% CAGR between the years 2019 and 2025.
With an identity management system, IT managers get the necessary tools and technologies to restrict user access to critical information in the organization. If you are looking for a detailed guide to how identity management systems work, what their features are, and why do businesses need identity management, you are at the right place. Let us begin!
What is an Identity Management System?
An identity management system defines managing roles and access privileges of entities to a variety of on-premise and cloud-based applications. In other words, it helps with the management of individual identities, authentication, and authorization within or across the enterprise with the only goal of increasing security and productivity. This further helps decrease downtime, costs, and repetitive tasks.
Different users include customers, employees, and partners on devices such as computers, smartphones, routers, and controllers as well as servers and sensors. The core function of an identity management system is to allocate only one digital identity per person or an item over the network. Once this digital identity has been created, it must be maintained, monitored, and modified accordingly throughout each user’s lifecycle.
Identity management solutions are used under the name of identity management while identity management itself falls under the broad category of IT security and information risk and privacy.
Salient Features of Identity Management Solutions
An identity management system is a powerful and valuable tool of information security. The process is too intricate to handle manually, so it is in the best interest of enterprises to seek solutions with advanced features designed to address today’s requirements.
3 Important Features of an Identity Management System
- Equipped Well for Emerging Security Trends: Identity access management and cybersecurity trends are constantly evolving. As new devices appear on the market and users start to access systems in new and different ways, enterprises require adaptable and a more responsive identity management system.
Flexibility is the key when choosing identity management software. The IAM solutions must not only be equipped to handle the current tasks but also be adaptable according to future needs.
2. Compatibility and Integration: New identity management systems introduced in the enterprise must be tested to ensure compatibility and prevent potential problems that may arise due to inefficient identity management. Relevance is another important factor to be noted as identity management must do more than just support a specific type of login.
3. Perform Numerous Identification Operations: Multi-factor authorization is the most important and common approach and may combine important features such as:
- Passwords
- Biometrics
- Email Links
- One Time Password
- Improved user experience
In networks that handle sensitive information, additional verification must be introduced for high-risk access requests.
In addition to the above-mentioned features, an identity management system should also have comprehensive analytics, fact incident alerts and response systems, and also mobile-ready access control.
6 Reasons Businesses Need Identity Management Solutions
An identity management system is beneficial not only to IT and risk managers but also to a business as a whole. They provide
- Improved user experience
- Reduced password sign-in
- Enhanced security
- Improved efficiency of the security teams
- Improved regulatory compliance
- Reduced IT operating costs
With the increasing scope and complexity of data breaches, the demand for advanced identity management systems will continue to rise with steady growth in the industry.
