The time of the Business of Identity has arrived. From an obscure technical topic a couple of years ago, Identity and Access Management (IAM) has gained visibility from CIOs and other C-level executives. Since IT has become central both as a tool for employees and as a way to build and to provide services, IAM aims at organizing interactions with employees, as well as customers. IAM brings a user-centric approach – and therefore more agility and efficiency – to the delivery and orchestration of services, both for internal and external users.
IAM = Processes + Compliance + Security
IAM projects are also an opportunity to improve compliance and security. The former, because they allow an increased visibility by organizations on access rights, helping determine who did what when, in particular when something went wrong. The latter, because they are a way to enforce security policies, define who should have access to what when, and how a person accessing a service proves she’s an authorized user.
IAM is indeed about processes, compliance, and security at the same time. Whichever was the reason that first triggered an IAM project within an organization, the two others should be included in the same project. So, let’s say you’re a system integrator helping organizations revamp their IAM. How will you make it happen on all 3 aspects? To start with, should you really address these 3 aspects? If so, how many vendors should you talk to?
How MFA fits in IAM projects
Let’s focus on security. Identity security is provided by authentication. The good news is that the roles and interfaces between IAM solutions and authentication solutions are clearly defined. Schematically, an IAM solution acts as a provisioning and authorization server, while an authentication solution enforces access security policies. Both talk with each other using standard protocols, for authentication as well as provisioning. Most IAM vendors have integrations with most MFA (multi-factor authentication) vendors, and vice versa. At this point though, native MFA options proposed by IAM vendors are rather limited (the symmetric is also true), so you might have to consider specialized vendors for each component.
Authentication is a key component of IAM projects, and MFA vendors are well integrated – if not ‘OEMed’ – with IAM vendors. All this should encourage system integrators doing service around IAM solutions to also have MFA in their service portfolio, in order to cover the complete scope of IAM projects.
Partnering with inWebo
If you recognize it too, why is inWebo a partner of choice to provide MFA? First, for their product, which meets and exceeds most customer expectations, be it for its security level, its ease of use, or the vast number of real-world use cases it supports. You’ll also have a direct access to our Product and R&D teams, and we make sure to keep some capacity for customer projects in our next development sprints. Second, for their expertise and dedication to support you in marketing, selling, and delivering security projects. Third, for their commitment to the channel and partnership model.
See inWebo as a way to broaden your service portfolio. Our Partner team is there to help you generate more business.