How Identity Management Cuts Costs

Identity & Access Management (IAM) solutions aren’t new. Most large organizations have implemented some form of IAM and realized dramatic savings in managing the user lifecycle from the user’s creation to separation. The real driver goes beyond cost because end user productivity and security are greatly enhanced as well. Yet a number of organizations are still supporting their users with manual process and home grown point solutions. They feel that an Identity Management implementation could pose a lot unwanted effort and risk due to their size and complexity. So often, scope creep and corporate politics/ organizational silos undermine IAM projects, which require close coordination between the business and IT. Yet, there are many tools that can simplify the process and make foundational IAM capabilities relatively risk-free and expedient to achieve.

So, how can Identity and Access Management cut IT and Operating costs? The first thing to do is to establish where your money is being spent at the moment with your existing Directories, Processes, and Systems. A thorough audit is a prerequisite in order to create an informed assessment of what needs to change to realize cost saving. For example, the following are some of the crucial questions to ask your teams:

  • Are your IT admins constantly tinkering with user accounts to keep them working?
  • Is the operations team always adding new scripts and changing the way things work to accommodate user provisioning?
  • Is the whole system increasingly unstable and costing you time, productivity, and valuable resources?

If so, the best approach is to develop an IAM Roadmap, which defines an IAM program to lower the total cost of ownership (TCO) of your systems and improve your return on investment (ROI). Some key areas of benefit that most organizations realize are:

  • Reduced help desk calls (Password resets, Access requests, Access issues)
  • Automation of routine provisioning tasks (Onboarding, Off-boarding) reduces IT resource costs
  • Self-service tools (decreased costs and increased productivity)
  • Re-deployment of IT resources to more strategic projects
  • Elimination of errors and re-work
  • Decreased cost of compliance

Implementing a range of IAM management tools, organizations can reduce risk while freeing up the time IT staff usually spend on firefighting access issues. This gives them the ability to focus on improving operations and growing the organization – driving down costs, while improving productivity and service levels.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top